The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy

Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by NikkiA on Sunday February 02, 2020 @09:01AM (#22216930)

I've always hated it because it makes the assumption that everyone is at the same position in the class hierarchy - I'm poor, the last time I drank a coffee shop coffee was something like 8 years ago and even then it was bought for me by my psychologist, your 'cup of coffee a day' price just sounds extravagant to me.

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by marriedWpt on Sunday February 02, 2020 @09:20AM (#22217018)

Maybe it's by design?

You aren't their target demographic.

People that do spend money on a cup of fast coffee would realize it's fine for their budget, and associate whatever offer with something affordable.

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by TheCoelacanth on Sunday February 02, 2020 @09:59AM (#22217181)

It would be a pretty unusual product if their target market is everyone. They probably have a specific demographic in mind with their marketing.

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by pembrook on Sunday February 02, 2020 @03:16PM (#22219137)

But if you’re poor...you’re probably also not in the market for a $100/m B2B Saas product.

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by notyourday on Sunday February 02, 2020 @04:11PM (#22219448)

If you're poor you are not a target customer for any non-essential paid for monthly service.

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by perl4ever on Tuesday February 04, 2020 @07:46PM (#22242907)

Counterpoint: https://www.rentawheel.com/

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by vhvjkyhkogvv on Sunday February 02, 2020 @04:19PM (#22219508)

A cost of doing business is one of the most essential expenses there is.

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by monadic2 on Sunday February 02, 2020 @04:33PM (#22219591)

The absurdity of an “essential price”... essential to what, class?

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by tomnipotent on Sunday February 02, 2020 @05:41PM (#22219993)

To doing business? Doesn't seem absurd at all. Do you think business should just land in your lap for free without having to spend anything for it? That what seems absurd to me.

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by monadic2 on Monday February 03, 2020 @03:21PM (#22228542)

"business" is just one mode of industrial production, even in a marketplace. So, essential for business, perhaps, but hardly essential in a general sense.

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by notyourday on Sunday February 02, 2020 @04:26PM (#22219553)

If an owner of the business cannot afford or won't frivolously spend $5/day on a coffee, he or she won't spend money on a SaaS feature that he or she can get for free. Even if he would, to get $500/mo the SaaS would need to find one hundred of such owners.

If SaaS is to price its service at $100/mo, then people for whom extra $5.00/day is a big deal won't be looking at this service at all, won't be contacting the owner about implementing yet another feature, etc. To get to $500/mo revenue, SaaS would need to find 5 owners.

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by QuantumGood on Monday February 03, 2020 @09:51AM (#22224569)

> "...anchor against another online service."

So this isn't really against the idea, only against using coffee in the analogy.

One of the underlying principles, "Present costs as small pieces, and rewards as a large sum" is important, but there are many other relevant approaches, e.g. free trial, money-back guarantee, etc., etc. Effective marketing usually combines approaches. Analogizing to other small costs can NOT be the whole pricing strategy.

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by perl4ever on Tuesday February 04, 2020 @07:45PM (#22242896)

Pretty much nobody buys a cup of coffee every day. If people who think they do or might actually did, then places wouldn't sell those "bottomless" cups.

Also, what's a "coffee shop coffee"? Does that mean a place that charges more than $2 for a large?

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by notyourday on Sunday February 02, 2020 @09:42AM (#22217101)

You are unlikely to be a customer of a paid-for commenting service as the alternative is free.

PS. I don't get the downvotes. Someone who says they won't spend $5 on a coffee because they are poor would be willing to pay for commenting feature on their website?! Something that they could get for free?

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by mercer on Sunday February 02, 2020 @11:56AM (#22217863)

> Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.

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Re:The cup-of-coffee pricing fallacy by buzzerbetrayed on Sunday February 02, 2020 @02:46PM (#22218943)

- from the hacker news guidelines, for those like me who didn’t immediately realize this

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