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Comment by version_five | Hacker News Reader

  Most people spend $3 per day on coffee, so why not $3 per month for the heads up on flights that are hundreds of dollars off regular fares?

I dont find the comparison very compelling. If I can save more per year than I pay, it's a good deal. In that vein, I'd like to see how my travel habits could be accommodated by the info the newsletter provides. If I believe it's a fit, I'd happily pay the money.

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It’s unbelievable amusing that this is the thread people are pulling on :)

I certainly don’t use this coffee comparison in the actual marketing. I anchor the price against the average per ticket savings and sometimes compare it to “less than the cost of a checked bag”

Thanks for your reply - it's funny because my comment, which led with a nitpick about the logic of "you spend x on y so spend p<<x on q", then apparently triggered a debate about whether people actually bought that much coffee :)

Maybe what I should have led with is that it would be nice (from my perspective) to know when your info most often leads to savings, so one can decide if that matches their travel needs/wants. It looks to be like you're targeting people who can be flexible about dates and destination; this is useful info to set expectations for how best to use the information

Agreed— good thought!

I find this to be a good approach if done properly. It definitely should be done visually eg. checkout/pricing should contain visual comparison (actual coffee). That should really put things in perspective.

Most people spend $3 per day on coffee, so why not sell them coffee?

Sorry, could not help myself :-)

I seriously doubt most people spend $1000/year on coffee. Many, maybe, but definitely not most.

Probably not globally but if you restrict your focus to working age adults in America (the people who might be using this service) then it is not far off . The average American does spend about $1000 on coffee per year[1], which is probably where the author is getting this figure. The caveat is of course that this skews to fancy drinks with sugar injections and whipped cream, but close enough. https://www.renolon.com/coffee-spending-statistics/ [1]

I think those figures are wrong. Here's another source, suggesting the spending is $250 per capita, and 90% of that spending is out of home. This necessarily implies that people who spend more than a few hundred dollars per year on coffee beans, like some replies suggested, are a tiny minority.

https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/hot-drinks/coffee/unite...

I spend about 10/ a week on coffee for 2. Drip brew so seems low for latte folks. Starbucks latte is like 6$ now or something

If a bag of quality beans is $15 and you go through one a week, you’re most of the way there.

How big is this $15 bag of coffee that you finish in a week? Here in New Zealand a standard 200g bag of beans from a good roastery is no more than $10 NZD, about $6 USD.

San Francisco and the Bay Area will also easily charge $20 for sometimes even just 12 ounces of beans. Pretty wild, but IMHO San Francisco has some of the best cafes, baristas, and actual drinks. I moved to Southern California and it's still good and they charge almost as much too but still not as good.

In my area, the cheaper end of quality beans is roughly $1/1oz, so 200g would be $7 (Though, I find beans are usually sold 12oz (340g) per package). Personally, a 12oz bag last me roughly 2 weeks, but I only drink 1 cup per day.

maybe 12oz, but this is high quality, not at all like the stuff you would get in Wellington

Pretty standard in the PNW: https://www.olympiacoffee.com/collections/coffee/products/mo...

I don't doubt that some people will spend as much, that's not hard. My point is that most definitely don't. Most people don't buy $15 bags every week. Hell, instant coffee is something like 20% of the whole market by revenue, and considering how cheap it is compared to quality coffee, I think there are more people who drink Folgers than those who spend $1000/year on coffee.

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