Are you addicted to Starbucks?
We are too -- so much so that we're seriously afraid to find out what horrible detox we'd go through if we didn't have our daily allowance of caffeine and sugar.
Recently looking at our bank statement, we were shocked to see all the Starbucks charges. At about four bucks a pop, that got us a little depressed at the fact that we probably spend about $1,000 a year at the coffee chain.
Until, of course, we read the Wall Street Journal and thanked our lucky stars we didn't live in Norway...or Sweden...or Switzerland.
The Wall Street Journal researched the price of a grande latte in 26
cities around the world, converted all the prices into U.S. currency,
then listed them, by price.
The difference was astounding -- In
fact, the same cup of coffee ranged from $3.87 in Hong Kong to a
staggering $9.83 in Oslo. Sorry, but no one needs to get caffeinated
that badly.
Being the Wall Street Journal, they also used some
currency charts and graphs to better describe the practice -- known as
purchasing power parity. That basically means that in countries with a
strong currency (like Norway), a latte...or a sandwich...or a car would
cost more than in a country with a weaker currency (like India).
So
where does south Florida fit in? Although it wasn't included in the WSJ
study, a quick call to our local Starbucks confirmed that a grande
latte (no soy, no sugary flavors) was $4.23. That's on the low scale of the
spectrum. Which, according to the Journal's theory of purchasing power
parity, might not be great for the dollar, but it does make us feel better about
our Starbucks addiction...and that we never decided to move to Oslo.
Here are some Starbucks prices from the Wall Street Journal Chart (see the complete chart here):
Oslo - $9.83
Stockholm - $7.40
Moscow - $7.27
Zurich - $7.12
Athens - $5.84
Frankfurt - $5.53
Paris - $5.18
Beijing - $4.81
Madrid - $4.65
Tokyo - $4.49
New York - $4.30
South Florida - $4.23 *Added by New Times
Buenos Aires - $4.18
Istanbul - $3.92
Hong Kong - $3.87
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