Image from NBC News Video

This could just be another Achieve-the-American-Dream-by-Suing type story, but does she have a point?

A Chicago woman is claiming that Starbucks advertises their drinks by ounces: 12 oz in a Tall, 16 oz in a Grande, 20 oz in a Venti, and 30 oz in a Trenta, but that it’s false advertising when it comes to iced drinks, since it’s about 10 oz of ice in a Venti, meaning you only get 10 oz of iced coffee.

So let’s do a little math with a basic coffee:

Iced:

Tall: $2.25

Grande: $2.65

Venti: $2.95

Trenta: $3.45

Hot:

Tall: $1.85

Grande: $2.10

Venti: $2.45

So already, if you look at the prices, you are paying more for the iced coffee. But if you get a tall iced coffee, you are paying 1.13 for about 6 oz of coffee, and another 1.13 for 6 oz of ice. So that’s 1.33 for 8 oz of coffee in a Grande and 1.48 for 10 oz of coffee in a Venti.

Now ounce for ounce in an iced coffee vs. a hot coffee is almost the same about 15 cents per ounce in both the Venti Iced Coffee and the Tall Hot Coffee. So mathing it out, some of that makes sense… BUT, you’re paying an AWFUL lot of money for frozen water…

This lady is also filing a class-action lawsuit, meaning if she won, starbucks would probably owe everyone who has bought an iced coffee from them a free drink or something. I’m all for free Starbucks!

What do you think? Ridiculous, or does she have a point?

I don’t know, but I think I’ll ponder it over my Venti Iced Caramel Macchiato!

-Kristin

Prices from fastfoodmenuprices.com