Coffee seems to be getting more expensive by the day. While we all enjoy treating ourselves to the occasional cup of fancy coffee, with rising prices, every latte feels harder to justify.
According to CNN, retail coffee prices are up over 20% compared to the same month last year. This is the largest annual jump since October 1997.
Seeing these high prices, one might want to forgo the upscale coffee chains in favor of cheaper options. However, you still have to be careful ordering a budget cup of coffee, as TikToker @key_irl recently learned at a Mobil location.
How Did This Gas Station Coffee Become So Expensive?
In her video, the TikToker explains that she went to a Mobil gas station to get a coffee. While some may think of a gas station as a poor coffee destination, the TikToker says that her location has “a pretty nice coffee section.”
The one downside, she says, is that they don’t have dome tops for coffee. That means that, if you get a coffee with whipped cream, you’ve got to either forgo a lid or waste a little coffee space in order to fit the cream.
Knowing this, the TikToker says that she came up with a solution. Instead of using the standard Mobil coffee cup—which is a size she describes as a “shmedium; it’s not small, and it’s not medium”—she would pour her coffee into the original cup, then move it to the bigger cup from the slushee area. That way, she would be able to have enough room for whipped cream.
While she may have thought this was innovative, she soon encountered a problem.
Are You Charged By Your Cup, Or By Your Order?
Upon arriving at the register, she was charged $5.
“I remember looking the guy in his face and I’m like, ‘I literally just poured the coffee in here because I wanted to add the whipped cream,’” she recalls. “And he looks me dead in my face like, ‘$5.’”
“I am not paying $5 at the gas station for [expletive]coffee, OK?” the TikToker continues. “It’s either I’m at Dunkin’ or I’m at [expletive] Starbucks. But to pay $5 for iced coffee at the gas station is sending me.”
To close, the TikToker says she’s on her way from Mobil to Dunkin’.
“If I’m gonna pay $5, at least let me go somewhere where I can get my cold brew, cold foam, my four pumps of either caramel, French vanilla, or the peppermint chip, which is like, really good,” she states.
What Happened Here?
There are a few reasons why the TikToker may have ended up paying more for her coffee than expected.
The first is the size of her cup. Even if one doesn’t totally fill up a cup, many stores with self-service charge people based on the size of the cup they select.
The second reason her coffee might be so expensive is due to rising coffee prices in general. While she does not say what she specifically ordered, increased demand for coffee and other factors have led to higher prices.
@key_irl “$5 for a gas station coffee?! Nahhh Mobile, you lost me there. ? At least Dunkin’ doesn’t rob me AND forget the right lids. Wawa >>> Mobile all day. Don’t play with my caffeine budget! ☕? #CoffeeLoversUnite #GasStationFails #NotWorthIt #CaffeineDrama #RelatableRant #MomLifeUnfiltered #MorningStruggles #DunkinOverEverything #DelawareFam ♬ original sound – key_irl??
Are There Any Other Reasons Coffee is Getting More Expensive?
Not only that, but some chains are charging substantially more for specialty coffee drinks than they did before. While a black coffee may cost someone a dollar or two, chains like Starbucks charge much higher prices for special beverages. For example, as noted by Visual Capitalist, the price of a Tall Mocha Frappuccino has gone up by over 30 percent in the last 10 years.
Regardless, it seems that the TikToker has made her decision about where she’ll buy her coffee from now on.
“$5 for a gas station coffee?! Nahhh Mobile, you lost me there,” she writes in the video’s caption. “At least Dunkin’ doesn’t rob me AND forget the right lids. Wawa >>> Mobile all day. Don’t play with my caffeine budget!”
The Mary Sue reached out to ExxonMobil via website contact form and @key_irl via TikTok direct message and comment.
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