A video showing a Starbucks receipt from just three years ago has blown minds as commenters called the increase in prices "so sad."
Kelsie Marie, 26, was recently putting up her Christmas tree in preparation for the holidays when she found a Starbucks receipt tucked up in an ornament. She told Newsweek she was "shocked" at the prices on the receipt, and "sat on it for a day before I posted it" to TikTok.
Her simple video to her account @kels00ii, just 18 seconds long and showing what she paid, sparked a huge conversation since being posted on November 16, with over 267,000 views and hundreds of comments. The receipt from Decatur, Georgia, shows she got a series of drinks in August 2021, including a grande iced white mocha for $4.75, and a grande pumpkin cream cold brew for $4.75.
"Look at how much the specialty drinks used to be," she laments in the clip. "What happened? Inflation?"
She said the drinks are almost $6.95 now, calling it "crazy," and added in a caption: "My mind was blown when I saw this & I just had to share."
Approached for comment, a Starbucks spokesperson told Newsweek its pricing reflected the quality and innovation of the products, but that like all retailers it had experienced inflation, including wage and costs increases in recent years.
The company intends to not increase menu prices at company-owned and -operated stores in the U.S. and Canada until at least the end of September 2025, the spokesperson said.
Marie told Newsweek: "I do feel like the price of everything has nearly gone up. I somewhat get it, but Starbucks is such a big company that I feel like they could still keep going without raising the price during inflation."
"I feel bad we can't simply go treat ourselves to a coffee how we once could," she added.
TikTok commenters agreed, with one writing: "I got a TALL holiday drink the other day and it was $6.22. No subs or add-ons!"
"I remember going in high school in 2014 and I could go with a $5 bill and get change back on my iced white mocha. So sad," another wrote.
One thrifty customer said: "The coffee I usually buy is up to like 8.50 so I just buy iced espresso instead and add my sauce."
And one lamented: "We can go eat at a restaurant and leave a tip for what breakfast and coffee at Starbucks costs now."
The inflation rate in the United States rose to a peak of 9.1 percent in June 2022, according to data from Statista. In October 2024, it had lowered to 2.6 percent, but with many customers still feeling the pinch of significantly higher prices.
Maxim Manturov, head of investment research at online broker Freedom24, said Marie's video was a "strong indication of inflation at work, and how its slow effect can still shock consumers in the span of just three years."
"The state of inflation for companies with international supply chains was exacerbated by challenges in importing many different products in the wake of the pandemic," he said. "For chains like Starbucks, this prompted an acceleration in product prices at a rapid rate."
With inflation rates reaching an average of 8 percent in 2022, this alone would have added 40c to a $5 coffee, Manturov said, adding there was also a "snowball effect" where suppliers increase their rates and stores like Starbucks "may have to increase prices at a higher rate than inflation to see the same profit margins on their sales."
Marie told Newsweek she was "glad to see I wasn't the only one who noticed the spike in prices."
She added: "You can buy an entire gallon of coffee at the store for that price, which is what I started doing!"
English (US) ·