Starbucks Lovers Beware: Your Daily Cup May Be Costing More Than You Think
Did you know coffee is consumed at the rate of 1400 million cups per day? A cup o’ joe is a staple for many of us in the morning, but if you’re a Starbucks regular and you’re watching your wallet, you may want to consider making your French vanilla latte at home. Studies show that if you have Starbucks everyday, you will spend approximately $7,000 over a 10-year period.
Here are a few more interesting financial facts about Starbucks coffee to keep in mind:
- If you skipped Starbucks everyday for a year, you'd have enough money to buy a 32GB iPad Air.
- The average Starbucks customer visits the store 6 times per month while a loyal 20% of customers go to the stores 16 times per month. Yes, I would put myself in that latter group.
- Starbucks earned approximately $10.7 billion in sales alone last year. They have 16,850 shops in 40 countries around the world. Lesson learned: if you’re going to sell something, it pays for it to be an addictive yet legal.
Do you have a Starbucks addiction? If so, here’s hoping it’s under control. I want to see you get that iPad Air.
(Photo Credit: Todd Huffman)
The Most Pathetic Job Ever?
Right after I went to FL last I tweeted @United about some service issues.
Just had most god-awful #Custserv experience at checkin w/ @united. Shameful service. At least it's good fodder for an article...
— Jeremy Goldman (@jeremarketer) April 13, 2014
In any case, right after, someone called me from an unlisted web #, like Skype, and then harassed me, like I was a jerk for tweeting them - and implied it was United customer service.
And then randomly MONTHS later, tonight, someone just did the same thing! Got called a pompous asshole. Which is weird coming from a total stranger. How did they know? I try to keep it a secret until people know me better.
So my question is this: how does one get paid pranking people via the Internet in an unfunny way? What kind of sad little resume do they have to quality for that job? And, how many minutes does it take them to cry themselves to sleep at night?
My Problems with Goodnight Moon
Reading children's books now for obvious reasons, and they raise all sorts of questions I never had back in the day. Like, in Goodnight Moon, why is there a telephone in the little kid's room? Why the heck is there a little mouse running around? Shouldn't the old lady - or the kittens - do something about that? Why is there a random red balloon just chillin' there? And why are they leaving the bowl of mush out overnight? What kind of awful house is this?
9 Awful Things You Didn't Know Happened on Valentine's Day
As a marketer, I understand the need for more holidays. As a human being, I'm not the biggest fan of Valentine's Day. After all, why not be nice to someone you love every day?
If you're a fellow Valentine's Day hater, here's a fun list of the worst things to happen on February 14th (thanks Wikipedia for the help):
- Back in 1349, several hundred Jews were burned to death by mobs. The remainder of their population is forcibly removed from the city of Strasbourg. Even if you're a religious jew not celebrating Valentine's Day, a murderous mob will still ruin your day.
- In 1891, the American war hero William Tecumseh Sherman died.
- V'Day, 2003: Dolly, the Scottish cloned sheep, died. She was just 7. And cloned. Which is weird.
- The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre took place in 1929 where, instead of a nice box of chocolates, seven people were murdered in Chicago, largely as an act of retribution by Al Capone
- The "Stardust Disaster" took place in 1981, when a fire in a Dublin nightclub killed 48 people. Which, honestly, is not so romantic.
- On this day in 1913, Jimmy Hoffa, the union leader and mobster responsible for oodles of organized crime, is born.
- Valentine's Day, 1989: Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a Fatwa that encouraged Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie (author of The Satanic Verses).
- Lebanese self-made billionaire and business tycoon Rafik Hariri is killed on this day in 2005 - along with 21 others - when a massive amount of explosives are detonated near the St. George Hotel in Beirut.
- In 1979, Kabul-based militants kidnap Adolph Dubs, the American ambassador to Afghanistan. He is later killed in a gunfight. Fun stuff.
So...happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
This Week's #YouShouldRead Giveaway: Love at First Click by Laurie Davis
As some of you know, I'm a voracious reader. For better or for worse, my reading is probably 99% non-fiction these days, especially articles I'm reading on my laptop or iPad. Still, I see the value in old-school reading involving - gasp - a book printed on actual paper. So, I decided that every week I ought to use the #YouShouldRead hashtag to give away some copies of some of the best books that I've had the pleasure of reading!
Today's giveaway involves this year's top-selling Love at First Click: The Ultimate Guide to Online Dating by renown dating expert Laurie Davis. As someone who found the love of their life online, I highly recommend this book!
Love @ First Click (rated 4.3 out of 5 on Amazon!!!) is an online dater’s guide to exploring the web with no-fail techniques - for example, uploading the right photos can attract someone who might otherwise pass you over. Setting a time limit on the first meet-up can leave your date excited to see you again. And the phrasing in your date’s thank-you text after dinner can uncover how your click mate really feels about you. Whether you’re a digital dating vet or virgin, this is the ultimate guide to online dating that will take your online crush to offline love.
To be entered to win:
- Simply tweet - or Facebook post (just make sure it's a public post so we can find it) why you'd like to win - make sure to include the #YouShouldRead hashtag.
- Share the Facebook post announcing this promo publicly
- Use #YouShouldRead in any Instagram post
There will be THREE winners of this awesome book - we'll keep entries open for a week (midnight @ 12/25) (I know it's Xmas).
Happy holidays & good luck!
Introducing #YouShouldRead - Win One of the Fall's Best Books
As some of you know, I'm a voracious reader. For better or for worse, my reading is probably 99% non-fiction these days, especially articles I'm reading on my laptop or iPad. Still, I see the value in old-school reading involving - gasp - a book printed on actual paper. So, I decided that every week I ought to use the #YouShouldRead hashtag to give away some copies of some of the best books that I've had the pleasure of reading!
Today's giveaway involves a book with one of the best titles ever. Why Do Only White People Get Abducted by Aliens?: Teaching Lessons from the Bronx is an incredibly compelling read from a good friend, Ilana Garon - and by compelling, I mean that I've read it 1.5 times already, and it's only been out for 2, 3 months.
Why Do Only White People Get Abducted by Aliens? is the true story of Ilana's attempts, as a young teacher, to change lives in a very troubled educational system. Ilana wrote this book, in part, because popular books and movies are inundated with the myth of the “hero teacher”—the one who charges headfirst into dysfunctional inner-city schools like a firefighter into an inferno, bringing the student victims to safety through a combination of charisma and innate righteousness. The students are then “saved” by the teacher’s idealism, empathy, and faith. This is not that type of book.
In Why Do Only White People Get Abducted by Aliens?, Ilana reveals the sometimes humorous, oftentimes frustrating, and occasionally horrifying truths that accompany the experience of teaching at a public high school in the Bronx. The overcrowded classrooms, lack of textbooks, and abundance of mice, cockroaches, and drugs are just part of what she had to deal with on an everyday basis.
To be entered to win: simply tweet - or Facebook post (just make sure it's a public post so we can find it) anything you want - you can link back to this piece, or tweet why reading is important, and so on - but make sure to include the #YouShouldRead hashtag. There will be THREE winners of this awesome book - I'll keep entries open until midnight. Good luck!
Marriot, Sheryl Sandberg, Katie Couric, 23andMe, and LinkedIn Profile Updates: the Social 6 for 11/25/13
I haven't done one of these in awhile, but it's fun to collect some of today's most popular links all in one place for posterity. Here's your Social 6:
#6: How @Marriott Leverages Photos, Videos, and Presentations to Inspire and Hire
#5: Sheryl Sandberg Gifts, Sells Facebook Stock
#4: Couric Describes Her Move to Yahoo as 'Being of the Moment'
#3: 23andMe told to ‘immediately’ stop selling its DNA-testing kits until they are approved by the FDA
#2: Facebook is for grandparents: What we need in a next-gen social network
#1: 9 Reasons Why You Must Update Your LinkedIn Profile Today
A Major Professional Milestone: Inbox Zero
HUGE thing in my life.
For the first time since June 2007 (really), I am at INBOX ZERO. No unread messages in my Firebrand Group inbox to deal with! I can actually focus on real work! No one send me anything for at least an hour!
Tumblr Adult Content, Pinterest Categories, Google Plus Upgrades: the Social 6 for 5/20/13
No, I won't say the top story is related to Yahoo or Tumblr - that's #2 ;). If you've been living under a shell you won't understand what I'm talking about, but the vast majority of you guys undoubtedly will!
There's plenty of other great news and views I've shared out over social media today, including an interesting ReadWrite post about Google+, a possibly game-changing move by Pinterest, and a very important read by Dave Kerpen over on LinkedIn. Here's your Social 6:
#6: And the Future of Social Media Is (LinkedIn)
#5: Gmail and Google Plus Upgrades: Simple but Significant (International Business Times)
#4: 5 Signs Your Social Media Campaign Goes Against Permission Marketing Basics (Business 2 Community)
#3: Google: Please Fix The Crippling Problem Plaguing Google+ (ReadWrite)
#2: Yahoo XXX? Tumblr's Adult Fare Accounts For 11.4% Of Site's Top 200K Domains (TechCrunch)
#1: Pinterest begins categorizing pins based on content & introduces share button for mobile apps (The Next Web)
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Soundtracking, Facebook + Waze, YouTube Visualization, Hangouts On Air: the Social 6 for 5/9/13
Well, it's been an eventful day here on Planet Earth - at least in the social/digital/tech world. You've doubtless heard of the news about a potential marriage between Facebook and Waze, but there's so much more to read up on, from Google's upgraded Hangouts On Air, helpful new tips & tricks to master YouTube, and SoundTracking (which I recommend) getting even better. Here's your Social 6:
#6: Visualize The Most Shared & Viewed Videos On The New YouTube Trends Maps (MakeUseOf)
#5: Google improves Hangouts On Air functionality (Examiner)
#4: This 17-Year-Old Coder Is Saving Twitter From TV Spoilers (Mother Jones)
#3: SoundTracking has just gotten even better, adding Instagram support (The Next Web)
#2: How to Turn YouTube Channels into Subscribable Podcasts (Lifehacker)
#1: Facebook reportedly buying social mapping & traffic app Waze for $1 Billion (TechCrunch)
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