FREE NEWSLETTER
TODAY, I REVEAL this year’s most embarrassing moment: On a recent Sunday, 14-year-old Sarah—stepdaughter of a moderately well-known financial writer—spent $16.47 to have two Starbucks specialty drinks brought to her by the food delivery service DoorDash.
Let that sink in for a moment.
In our defense, my wife and I were away for the weekend, and Sarah was staying at a friend’s house. In my defense, we aren’t talking about my DNA.
As you might imagine, this incident prompted quite the dinnertime conversation. I pointed out that, in many states, someone with a minimum wage job would need to work two hours to buy the two drinks. I also noted that $16.47 represented 11½ days of Sarah’s pocket money. But mostly, I suggested that it simply isn’t right to have an adult pick up two drinks from Starbucks and then deliver them to two 14-year-olds. Children should not have adults at their beck and call.
Sarah’s response: “It’s my money.”
We live in a wealthy town just north of New York City. My wife and I joke that we’re in the town’s low-income housing, which would seem even funnier, if you knew how much our apartment cost. Amid this affluence, Sarah’s behavior is no aberration. From what I gather, students regularly call the local pizza parlor from school and have them deliver to the main entrance—even if it’s just a single slice.
All this appalls me—for reasons good and bad. Whenever I go to the grocery store, I’m shocked at the bill. When did everything become so expensive? I’ve self-diagnosed this as “old people’s disease.”
And my ailment doesn’t stop there: If the cost of living strikes me as expensive, the way people live seems even more extravagant. Who needs those luxury cars, or the latest iPhone, or countless cable channels?
But then I tell myself I’m being silly. Why shouldn’t people live more extravagantly? Inflation-adjusted per-capita GDP is double what it was 41 years ago. We should be living better.
I’m just not sure 14-year-olds should be. When I order pizza to be delivered, I remember being in my 20s—and not ordering pizza, because I couldn’t afford it. That makes today’s pizza taste that much better. There’s nothing like the pleasure of a gradually rising standard of living.
But if you’re 14 and you’re already spending $16.47 to have two specialty drinks delivered, how much better can it get? I fear the good folks at Starbucks have their work cut out for them.
Follow Jonathan on Twitter @ClementsMoney and on Facebook. His most recent articles include Great Debates, Debtor’s Dozen and Here to Retirement. Jonathan’s latest books: From Here to Financial Happiness and How to Think About Money.
Want to receive our weekly newsletter? Sign up now. How about our daily alert about the site's latest posts? Join the list.
Did they tip as well?
Apparently they did. From what I gather, teenagers aren’t great about tipping. We’ve tried to impress upon Sarah that this is how delivery people and wait staff make much of their income, so she needs to factor it into the cost.
I’m actually surprised it wasn’t delivered by drone. Starbucks had issues delivering coffee and it still being hot until they went to drones for a lot of their door-to-door service. No issues with children opening the door to someone either!
I’m wildly over thinking this Starbucks thing, but it’s an interesting topic.
I really think this boils down to living for the moment vs. living for a lifetime. Fast food provides no where near the satisfaction of a purposefully cooked meal, but it takes training and patience to learn this. The long game also becomes more fun in the short term when married to anticipation through experience.
Those with backgrounds that taught the long view are decreasing for a variety of reasons and have done so repetitively throughout history as disposable income increased. See Israel in the Old Testament. Yet people and cultures have also done well in both abundance and want, thus a high level of wealth isn’t the determinate, it’s just an enabler. Wealth can insulate from the consequences of believing and engaging in self-destructive ways. Cultures that believe we are born with positive natures are less likely to promote long view character molding in their youth than those who believe we are born with negative natures.
The incentives for the most powerful cultural influencers have quarterly financial targets or 4 and 6 year election c