A year ago I didn’t drink coffee besides frappuccinos. Today I can’t imagine starting the day without a cup (or two…or three) of coffee. Part of this is due to my self-inflicted 5:30am wake-up time and the fact that I still go to sleep about the same time as when I was waking up later. Combine that with not being a morning person and you have a coffee-addict in the making.
I’ve mentioned in the past that we try to save money through couponing, and with coffee that is no different. What I want to focus on today, though, is how we saved hundreds of dollars at a coffee shop.
The savings came from social media and deal sites. Below is a breakdown of the savings we realized in the past few months:
- Google Deals – $10 for 10 drinks ($40 value, $30 savings)
- CrowdCut – $10 for 10 drinks ($40 value, $30 savings)
- AmazonLocal Deals – $17 for 10 drinks ($40 value, $23 savings)
- Facebook Offer – 1 free drink ($4 value)
- Various Twitter Deals – 3 free drinks ($12 value)
- YELP Review – 1 free drink ($4 value)
- Grand Opening – 1 free drink ($4 value)
The savings comes out to $107. If you double that because my wife also took advantage of these deals, we saved $214 off of menu price. Between both of us, we paid $74 to realize these savings so in total we saved 74% off menu price.
This does not include any buy-one-get-one (BOGO) deals (and there have been quite a few in the past year) that we have taken advantage of at Starbucks, Caribou, or Dunn Brothers. All the above savings were from one coffee shop: J Arthur’s Coffee.
How were we able to save that much money on coffee?
J Arthur’s is a brand new coffee shop, and they used these deals to get people in their doors to try their coffee.
While I have never seen a company take social media and deal sites as far as J Arthur’s has in their initial few months, I do think that this will be the preferred form of advertising in the future. Whey pay for print, radio, and TV ads when you can spend the same amount through deals that get people in your store? These giveaways also help companies build a following on social media. As many people know, it’s not always easy for a startup company to get Twitter followers and facebook likes.
You might wonder why my wife and I pre-bought so many drinks and the answer is that we both like to go to coffee shops to get work done – there are often many distractions at home that make it hard to be productive. Since these pre-bought drinks don’t expire, we will be going to J Arthur’s for many months to come using the deals we bought.
While these deals will not go on forever for a given company, if you keep an eye out for newer businesses there is a good chance they will run deals and promotions at the beginning of their existence. I think it’s a win-win for both the customer and the business. Keep your eyes out for deals like these and capitalize on them!
Have you taken advantage of deals and giveaways for coffee or other products?
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Photo by journeys coffee
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Holly is a complete coffee addict! She is drinking a cup right now as a matter of fact. When our youngest child was born, we took advantage of formula being on sale. Holly traded coupons for Similac dollars. Essentially, we bought most of her formula for free. We ended up getting a years worth of formula for about $100.
@GregatClubThrifty That’s an awesome story of saving $$$!
Wow that’s great! Neither of us like coffee thankfully!
@SenseofCents Thankfully?!? You are totally and absolutely missing out!
We regularly take advantage of deals like this. If you know what you’re doing you can save a good bit of money. In regards to coffee we also make our at home quite a bit. We bought an espresso machine about four years ago for about $80, I think its more than paid for itself by now.
@FrugalRules Oh an espresso machine would be nice. We make coffee at home every single day, when we go to coffee shops a big part of it is essentially renting space to study or work on things. It sometimes helps me hammer out a few solid hours of work on the blog. At home I get pretty distracted as there are 100000 things I always need to do or are on my “get to eventually” list.
I just drink coffee at home. We have a keurig so its $0.50 per cup, and you know that it’s not going to be too strong or too weak. I also bought one of the little adaptors so that I can use my own coffee.
@OneSmartDollar We brew at home every morning. When we do go to the coffee shop it is mainly to study or work.
I sometimes wish I liked coffee. People see to get so much enjoyment from it. I’m just as bad about my fountain Diet Pepsi’s in the morning. If I don’t get up early, there is no way would ever work out, so, sadly, I just have to admit I need the caffeine. I do get every sixth one free from a promo deal. Most people don’t even search for coupons or freebies. Don’t understand why.
@Eyesonthedollar I used to have pop every morning until I switched to coffee. I feel a bit healthier that way (I don’t drink diet…I like the regular stuff too much). Instead of drinking one in the morning and one in the afternoon, I just drink one pop in the afternoon and consume coffee all morning. I am a total night owl but force myself to get up around 5:30 and get to work by 7. I don’t get enough sleep during the week because of this, so I consume lots of caffeine. I absolutely LOVE fountain pop but have stuck to cans since we get them so cheap.
We drink (Costco) coffee at home, and rarely eat out. Wifey is a gourmet cook and we’ve become snobs in our old age: no place has better food than Chez Cowie. She has a fast metabolism, so she stays skinny, but I now need an industrial scale for those higher readings. All’s to say we don’t avail ourseles of meal deals. The only exception is Papa Johns Pizza – 50% off when the Broncos win. For the first time it REALLY matters to us if Peyton gets it done. :)
@William_Drop_Dead_Money I hear you, we are pretty busy so we take advantage of meal deals quite a bit, as we don’t usually have as much time to cook. Hey that Papa John’s deal is amazing! They have it for when the Vikes win (and they have been winning!) and also when the Twins won. I’m surprised most people didn’t know about it, it’s super cheap pizza that is much higher quality than most $5 pizzas you can find.
Also I have been enjoying your guest posts, I just saw a second one today. Keep it up!
I didn’t realize there was so many deals on coffee. I don’t drink it myself but I almost all my friends do. Whenever I meet someone at a coffee shop I just milk or nothing, lol.
@Liquid_Independ Nice, I used to get smoothies and whatnot at coffee shops, but now that I like coffee it’s a lot easier to find something I like ;)
Ah, the great part of social networks and technology in general! I thought i knew it all when it came to coffee, yet keep learning something every day. I figured there might be some sort of a deal on groupon but would never think there are all these other places to get good deals.
@Veronica @ Pelican on Money Yeah there are a TON of deal sites, seems like they popped up overnight almost. I’m hoping another small business opens up and copies J Arthurs strategy so that I can get massive savings! haha
There are savings to be had all over social media if you have the time to source them out, or have friends that share and post them. We’ve found some great deals like you have but not on coffee yet. I think I might have to look around a bit more. I did do a coffee and lunch breakdown to the penny actually of someone who makes it at home and someone who buys it every day. The numbers were outrageous and enough for me to make my home brew my #1 choice. Cheers Mr.CBB
@CanadianBudgetB We also home brew! We only go to coffee shops if we have work or studying to do.
Wow! Well done! I wish there were that many sweet deals to be had here on coffee. Thank goodness it is provided at work (crappy Folgers stuff) and all I have to do is buy my (terrible, I know) flavoured creamer stuff.
We got hooked on a local roaster’s espresso beans at home though… pricey but oh-so-good!
@Ugifter Not terrible at all! They have crappy coffee at my work and I definitely need some strong creamer to make it less crappy. I’m totally in the same boat as you!
Espresso sounds pretty good right about now!
I’m not really a hue coffee drinker but I sure wish they had these deals with beer! While I do like looking for deals I’m not huge on looking through apps or websites hunting down BOGO’s but you may have just inspired me to pay more attention of the possibly savings that are at there!
@ryanparedez Honestly I don’t usually have to hunt too much. I get emails, see things in my facebook and twitter streams, and that’s about it.
And Beer would be good, of course ;)
I’m a big coffee drinker, and if I ever see one of those deals for the coffee shops I frequent, I usually jump in on it. We don’t really have too many local good coffee shops in our area though, mostly Starbucks and Caribou – and I only infrequently see deals for them. Maybe I’ll have to check out J. Arthur’s if I’m ever up in the Roseville area. Maybe we should do our FINCON bloggers meetup there!
@moneymatters Caribou used to have deals all the time for about a six-month period, mainly from Twitter, Facebook, and email (BOGO or $2 drinks, etc.) but haven’t had one for a couple months now. Starbucks I get discounted gift cards from Discover cash back rewards, which helps justify when we go there to study/blog/etc.
J Arthur’s is in a bit of a random location, but it is owned by ACR homes so it is next door to their main offices off of Rice in Roseville. I’m moving to Roseville in a few weeks so I’m always around there, tho J Arthurs might be a bit east for most people….we’ll have to see what city everyone lives/works in and try to find the best place? Maybe one of us should shoot out an email to everyone sometime soon? I know you got that Twitter list going so I would imagine that would be who we invite? Enough questions for you? haha
@DC @ Young Adult Money Yeah, i’m planning on sending out an invite to the folks on the Twitter list tomorrow or Friday to see when would work for a FINCON local meetup. I chatted with PT who runs FINCON, and they will sponsor and pay for apps and drinks for a FINCON meetup sometime soon, so we can all get together and have some free food and drinks. So stay tuned – and feel free to invite any MN local bloggers!
I have saved the ultimate amount of money on coffee. I’ve never had more than a sip because it is gross and have no desire to acquire a taste for it. :) Do I get a prize? :)
@Money Life and More You’re missing out and you sound like me about 2 years ago ;)
I just took advantage of a half off Starbucks deal. That means I can drink Starbucks for the price of other, regular coffees!