Comments on: How Did 2% Milk Get So Complicated Starbucks? http://www.thinkwriteconnect.com/starbucks-milkstarbucks-milk/ Connecting Writers and Social Media Mon, 13 Dec 2010 18:20:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: swag http://www.thinkwriteconnect.com/starbucks-milkstarbucks-milk/comment-page-1/#comment-5 swag Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:06:24 +0000 http://www.thinkwriteconnect.com/?p=156#comment-5 When you serve 10 billion pumpkin-pie-flavored buckets of Cool Whip a day, any accommodation you make to one extra ingredient multiplies 10,000-fold (given the number of Starbucks outlets) in inventory management and storage. Not to mention that it might create an extra second or two to the employee's decision-making process, which at that volume adds up to hundreds if not thousands of dollars a day across all stores. That's why things get complicated. Starbucks operates in a massive volume game right now. And all businesses that thrive on volume have every interest to convince the consumer that they have dozens of options all the while they're being sold pretty much the same exact thing 10 billion times over every day. When you serve 10 billion pumpkin-pie-flavored buckets of Cool Whip a day, any accommodation you make to one extra ingredient multiplies 10,000-fold (given the number of Starbucks outlets) in inventory management and storage. Not to mention that it might create an extra second or two to the employee’s decision-making process, which at that volume adds up to hundreds if not thousands of dollars a day across all stores.

That’s why things get complicated. Starbucks operates in a massive volume game right now. And all businesses that thrive on volume have every interest to convince the consumer that they have dozens of options all the while they’re being sold pretty much the same exact thing 10 billion times over every day.

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