Our Stars, Your Bucks

So Starbucks simply allowed gift after gift purchase to be rolled up on their App in what would eventually amount to something approaching the equivalent of a $160 frappuccino.

It's not that Starbucks didn't eventually realize the error (they were aware of a problem as much as a month ago) and proceeded to make restitution (that would take time.) Thieves were pulling money out of people's bank accounts in record amounts during the confusion.

But the loser here is not Starbucks. It's the Starbucks customers who failed to note that anything "unusual" was occurring for quite some time. After all, Starbucks buyers are used to the ghastly prices (and taste -Jamie Feldmar in Food on Oct 18, 2011) of their dark, liquefied grist and wouldn't think twice about their raided accounts until the damage had been done, a central point of the software swindling muggers plans.

Beyond the need to remain silent less they be seen as middle class commoners with financial issues, Starbucks consumers quietly paid the price in order to acquire their very pricey java. It is the single reason this criminal enterprise superseded its actual value.

And so it goes.