Maps: Starbucks, Walmart, and more

Via Marginal Revolution, maps representing per capita distribution of Starbucks and Walmart, respectively:


An interesting feature of these maps is that while most areas seem to be saturated with either WM or SB, there's a relative lack of saturation on the east coast -- neither Starbucks nor Walmart has acheived high per capita distribution here. Do east coast shoppers and coffee drinkers have a stronger preference for independents or regional chains?
Here are a couple more maps for comparison--
Median household income (2006 data):


Deaths from heart disease (white males, based on 1997 CDC data):

Starbucks and secret pricing

Whoa! Via Katherine, my favorite Hit & Run-er, behold the secret Starbucks 'short cappuccino':

Here's a little secret that Starbucks doesn't want you to know: They will serve you a better, stronger cappuccino if you want one, and they will charge you less for it. Ask for it in any Starbucks and the barista will comply without batting an eye. The puzzle is to work out why.

[The short cappuccino] is the Starbucks way of sidestepping a painful dilemma over how high to set prices. Price too low and the margins disappear; too high and the customers do. Any business that is able to charge one price to price-sensitive customers and a higher price to the rest will avoid some of that awkward trade-off.

The difficulty is that if some of your products are cheap, you may lose money from customers who would willingly have paid more. So, businesses try to discourage their more lavish customers from trading down by making their cheap products look or sound unattractive, or, in the case of Starbucks, making the cheap product invisible.

A firm in a perfectly competitive market would suffer if it sabotaged its cheapest products because rivals would jump at the opportunity to steal alienated customers. Starbucks, with its coffee supremacy, can afford this kind of price discrimination, thanks to loyal, or just plain lazy, customers.

First of all, how did I miss this crucial bit of information, being a more-than-occasional Starbucks consumer? Second, what's the problem here? The author of the above analysis faults SB for making this special bargain 'available only to those customers who face the uncertainty and embarrassment of having to request it specifically.' Isn't this true for basically every type of service profession, and many types of goods? Although America has never really taken to the haggling concept, it's effective for getting better deals on (just from personal experience) car repair, phone service, clothing, printing costs, and airline tickets. Not one of these businesses advertises the fact that lower prices are available for the asking. I understand that for right now, Starbucks = Evil Corporate America, but is this really that different from other, popularly accepted forms of price discrimination?

Rant: Starbucks

Things I believe about Starbucks:

1. They are a big, powerful corporation. They sometimes screw their franchisees by building stand-alone stores in the parking lots of grocery stores with SB kiosks. Is this my problem? No. Sophisticated business people ought to know that a company with Starbucks' market share is powerful -- build better protection into your contracts if you want to deal with them.

2. A cup of SB coffee is like a well-made Long Island iced tea -- it packs more punch than you'd guess. Just like a LI iced tea is dangerous because it tastes much less alcoholic than it actually is, SB coffee is tricky because it's about twice as caffeinated as your standard cuppa. Which is fine, but good to be aware of.

3. Starbucks charges more for their coffee than other places. Does this mean it's "overpriced?" Probably. Are you entitled to choose to pay more for coffee that's standardized across the universe, so that you always know what to expect? Yes, if that's your thing. If it's not your thing, please feel free to explore every last independent coffee shop in the world, but leave the Starbucks convenience-buyers alone.

4. Some people think Starbucks defines the nature of the American coffee experience. Mostly these are people who never drank coffee outside their kitchen before SB. Some people think SB coffee is mediocre or worse. I can understand trying to persuade people to broaden their experience of coffee by buying it at a variety of places; I can also understand the argument for supporting independent coffee shops rather than SB, when their coffee is just as good or better. But I don't understand why, when I went for my Friday lunchtime frappuccino today, I was on the receiving end of at least 6 scornful looks between the Starbucks and the office. I have consumed a goodly number of iced/blended/frozen mochas in my life, and I've learned that no one comes close to SB for cold, sugary, highly caffeinated Friday afternoon beverages. Why shouldn't I buy this (in my opinion) completely superior product, even if it happens to come from SB? Boulderites, stop looking at me like that.