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Coffee for 99 cents a pound? It's no java jive

Posted Nov 26 2007, 12:37 PM by Donna Freedman
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Yesterday I bought a pound of Starbucks coffee for just 99 cents.

You, too, can get super-cheap brew, either for gift-giving or for your own frugal morning buzz. All you need is some empty inkjet print cartridges and proximity to a Staples or Office Max.

Both businesses give $3 in store credit for each ink cartridge; certain brands are not accepted, so check each company's rules. The stores where I live let me use up to three credits, or $9 worth, per transaction. Both sell a number of holiday gift items: hoity-toity chocolates, fancy cookies, and specialty coffees, teas and flavored cocoas.

Over the weekend I shopped for art supplies for a community gift program. At Staples, I noticed the coffee cost $9.99.
I handed over three cartridges and a buck, and walked out with a penny in change and a pound of java.

Had I been at Office Max, the brew would have been from another hometown brand, Seattle's Best Coffee.

Jitter bells
This is a frugalist's dream: nearly free gifts, or nearly free morning mochas!

So save those spent cartridges, and start looking for more. Does your workplace use inkjet printers? How about your kid's school or your church/synagogue/mosque?

Ask your friends for their empties. Put a note on a community bulletin board or place an ad on Craigslist offering to "recycle" cartridges. (Be careful not to burn $2.50 worth of gas to get a $3 store credit.)

Or make this a project for your Scout or youth group: Have the kids collect cartridges and "buy" coffee for a homeless shelter, group home or senior center.

To thine ownself give brew
And if money is especially tight right now? Buy yourself some Starbucks or SBC. Collect enough cartridges and you could wind up with caffeine for months.

I'm not a coffee fan myself; the bag I bought will go in a gift basket. But I know how important a cuppa joe can be, especially if you've foregone other luxuries.

Ninety-nine cents for a pound of quality java is a screamin' deal, so invest in coffee futures.

And if you, too, aren't a coffee fan? There are always the Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

 

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Comments

 

Wow...quite a few  "glass 1/2 empty" folk out there...take aim and shoot 'em down.

Santa's little helper (Posted 11.27.07 4:10 PM ) Report Abuse

I get my Dell inkjet cartridges refilled at Walgreens. $10.00 for black and $15.00 for color and they work just fine and saves me a ton of money. That's less than half of what new cartridges cost from Dell or Staples.

Jim (Posted 11.27.07 4:11 PM ) Report Abuse

At first, I thought this was a pretty pointless article.  You know, just something to to fill the space on msn's frontpage.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this article is just a cute way of saying two very important things:

1.  Recycle.  Even those little ink cartridges contribute to global pollution.  Recycling those little ink depots saves the manufacturer money...and maybe if we all recycle,  prices will drop on the products we buy regularly.

2.  Money. How many times can you spend one dollar twice?  We should all be looking for ways to spend our money more than once.  Spending a dollar twice, means you spend half as much money.  And if you live in areas where Cartridge World doesn't exist, recycling a cartridge is an excellent way of getting your money back...again.  Otherwise, you won't get any money back at all.

Tracy - Houston (Posted 11.27.07 4:11 PM ) Report Abuse

Animal lovers should go to PetsMart.  They give you a postage paid envelope for the cartridges and the resulting donations help the animal charities they support.

Susan (Posted 11.27.07 4:12 PM ) Report Abuse

My daughter's school collects empties and THEY (or the PTA) somehow gets credit or money for "recycling" them--so if schools in your area do this it may be a more direct way of doing some community good than getting Starbucks by the pound for the Food Pantry or Homeless Shelter.

"CB" (Posted 11.27.07 4:13 PM ) Report Abuse

fill the ink cartridges to recycle and forget the coffee, it's not very good anyway.

tj

terryjo (Posted 11.27.07 4:14 PM ) Report Abuse

Coiincidentally I am seeing this article today.  I just took in three empty carridges to my Nampa, ID OfficeMax yesterday and was told I could use a max of five (5) in one transaction.  The deal was slick cuz I had another coupon from their Grand Opening and actually spent a total of $9.00 for what was tagged a $28.00 cartridge.

Don (Posted 11.27.07 4:17 PM ) Report Abuse

starbucks? what is that?

go find some REAL coffee, throw the empty cartriges in the recycle bin and pay the full price of the good stuff.

i like pie!

who cares (Posted 11.27.07 4:17 PM ) Report Abuse

Why needlessly plug Starbucks - it sounds like Staples and OfficeMax give store credit for Ink Cartridges, period.

Does Starbucks really need the advertisement? Haven't they driven out enough Mom and Pop cafes in America?

Kenneth (Posted 11.27.07 4:22 PM ) Report Abuse

stupid friggin gimmick - starbucks is so 90s coffee anyway

buubba from texas (Posted 11.27.07 4:25 PM ) Report Abuse

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