…with things to do as the days tick away until the Grand 2017 Filial Piety Tour of Appalachia and the West of England begins. It will include a once/twice-a-decade gathering of clan members from exceptionally far-flung parts of the English-speaking world like Melbourne and Maine.
Aside from family ties and linguistic heritage, it appears that we will all be able to rejoice in our shared access to cheap Starbucks. According to a big chart here, the world’s six main native-Anglophone countries happen to occupy the bottom six places in the list of Starbucks markets ranked by cost of the product…
The Netherlands – Europe’s honorary quasi-Anglo country – comes seventh from last, preceded by Japan (supposedly hyper-expensive, but also always weird) and Brazil (the place there’s an awful lot of coffee in).
Why do English-speaking countries have the cheapest Starbucks? Is this liberty-loving Anglo-Saxon free-market, low-tax philosophy in action? Or economies of scale owing to poor-taste, junk-food-addicted Anglos’ willingness to drink dregs, while civilized and sophisticated French, Austrians, Italians consume the decent pricey stuff?
In (unmentioned) Hong Kong, meanwhile…
Well wouldn’t you?
Are you enjoying the smog and dust in Central today? That’s capitalism for you. They even rob you of the air in your lungs. In Britain meanwhile the Government is breaking the law regarding air quality and being sued by those citizens still able to breathe at length.
Have a nice holiday. With questions like “Why do English-speaking countries have the cheapest Starbucks?” even vaguely in one’s supratentorial regions, perhaps five miles high will give you a shock redemption of sorts.
England. Glad I left in 1980. Far far far too many Tories. And just like you, all they really want to talk about is the price of property. Otherwise, quite nice in a weird kind of way.
Pip, pip!
Sorry Hemmers, unless in espresso dorm, coffee in France is, while not at American levels, is pretty awful.
Maybe Americans realise that the McDonald’s next door sells better coffee, for cheaper, and it’s easier to order there, and you get your coffee faster anyway.
Or maybe Starbucks customers are paying for the “experience”, and the foreigners in foreign places insist on a better experience than at the typical American Starbucks.
Starbucks is a dirty word in Melbourne.