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opinion:
our view
Coffee upgrade
unwanted
Inflation is an inevitable
part of capitalism and as Americans, we accept the fact that
things cost more than they used to.
We have all heard
our grandparents complaining about movies once being only
a nickel, and we are old enough to remember them costing as
little as $4. But price increases are supposed to be gradual
things.
Heading into a
restaurant or convenience store on the first day of this semester,
unsuspecting students were met with a 30cent increase for
a cup of coffee.
Just as it has
taken over every other street corner in America, Starbucks
has now taken over at Cal State Long Beach.
We realize in today's
corporate driven society, every company wants exclusive rights
to a territory, but with something as vital as caffeine to
college students, the lack of freedom of choice is not a good
thing.
Starbucks represents
exactly the type of international corporation that pushes
away competition from smaller companies. This is the type
of company that generated so much rancor in the recent protests
in Seattle and Genoa.
Though that type
of fervor it not usually evident on this staid campus, when
students realize their daily cup of coffee is now going to
be a dollar more a week, there might be some grumbling.
Fortunately, the
campuses exclusive contract with the coffee giants does not
preclude some of the independent sellers on campus from continuing
to sell a variety of choices.
We realize the
ultimate goal for deals like this one is to generate money
for the university, but some sort of consolation should have
been made so students would not have to face such a jump for
a simple cup of coffee.
Adding a smaller
cup at a lowered price is not much of a compromise.
For the rest of
us, we can rest assured that the price of a hot chocolate
has not gone up at all. We have to get our sugar rush somehow.
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