Why Wait For Coffee?

Today I walked into the campus library at 10 am. While I searched for a spot to study, I noticed that the coffee line was particularly long this morning. Then two hours later I realized the coffee line hadn't changed except for the people in the line. Maybe its the cold weather outside, sleep deprivation, or a desire to treat one self, but students today are all needing coffee.

This experience got me thinking about how long people wait in lines for coffee and why they are willing to wait. A New York Times article stated, "Americans spend roughly 37 billion hours each year waiting in line." Based on what I've seen today, I wouldn't be surprised if a large portion of that time was spent in coffee lines. Fifty-percent of Americans drink coffee everyday, which is equivalent to 150 million daily drinkers. The average American drinks 3.2 cups of coffee a day. This statistic implies that Americans are addicted to coffee. The United States as a whole consumes 400 million cups of coffee a day, making it the leading consumer of coffee in the world. Getting coffee has now become a daily ritual.

The longest coffee lines that I've encountered are at Starbucks. I recently had to wait roughly 15 minutes to order my chai tea latte, then another 7 minutes for my drink to be made. Starbucks is well loved by consumers and often has a line because of this. According to a New York Times article, the experience of waiting in line is only partly defined by the actual time in line. People overestimate their wait time by 36%. So when I said I waited in a Starbucks line for 15 minutes, it was probably actually only 10 minutes. The consumers conception of wait time is influenced by the amount of occupied time and the amount of unoccupied time. Occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time. If consumers are entertainment or distracted while waiting in the line, the whole experience feels shorter. Since consumers dislike waiting in lines, they will seek ways to occupy themselves such as participating in impulse buying. Starbucks lines its stores with decorated mugs, bags of coffee beans, small snacks, and other knick knacks to entice consumers to occupy their time waiting by selecting impulse buy items. I know I like to look at all the different mugs Starbucks strategically places next to the line.

As I finish this blog post the coffee line in the library has yet to shorten. Students are stilled packed like cattle into the roped off coffee section of the library. Luckily they have a whole display of sweet treats to occupy their thoughts before they reach the counter.