Starbucks raises coffee prices again

This rise in price will mark the first of this sort since 2004 when the cost of a cup of coffee jumped 11 cents.

However, price increases won't stop at a cup of the patron's favorite morning caffeine fix.

Starbucks will raise the price of some of its whole bean coffees as much as 50 cents a pound, marking the first increase to these products in nine years.

So what is to blame for these spiked prices to a brand many have become addicted to at an alarming rate?

The coffee mogul announced reasons that include the increase in employee and energy costs.

Wages and benefits accompanied by high fuel prices have forced the multi-billion dollar business to raise its pricing in an effort to counter such setbacks in profit.

According to company it's not one specific thing but a part of ongoing evaluation of business costs.

An associate professor in the Department of Economics at WSU, agrees that prices will almost always increase alongside energy costs as they are vital to production and distribution.

However, prices will ultimately rise because customers are willing to pay more.

"If you are paying 3 dollars for a cup of coffee already, you aren't just buying coffee. You are buying the full Starbucks experience," added professor.

While Starbucks may not foresee any decrease in sales or loss of money as a result of its price hikes, what about those who aren't willing to pay the 5 cent increase?

"Starbucks prices are already too high. I don't go there regularly so this will probably stop me from going there altogether," said a junior Rehabilitation and Psychology major at Wright State.

"While I suppose this is the nature of a capitalistic economy, I can't see how they truly need to raise their prices so drastically or so often," adds Ryan Rigel, an Education major in his senior year at WSU.

The Starbuck's Corporation, founded in 1971 and currently the world's largest coffee-shop chain, plans to raise the price of its coffee by 5 cents a cup in each of its 8,624 stores within the continental United States and Canada.