Starbucks customers are over being overcharged for non-dairy milk. Under pressure from activists and shoppers, surcharges on milk alternatives like almond, coconut, oat, and soy milk were dropped for good last month in Germany, following in the footsteps of the United Kingdom and France. But the United States and Canada have yet to follow suit, and customers are not happy.
Now, some customers claim they are being charged up to an extra dollar for plant milk at Starbucks locations in North America—a bit of a robbery considering most of the chain’s coffee drinks require less than a cup of milk. Here’s the latest on Starbucks’ vegan milk upcharges:
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Customers Call Out Starbucks For Overcharging Non-Dairy Milk Options
In a TikTok made by a competitor coffee shop, a barista fills a cup presumably with plant-based milk while a text overlaid him reads: "Nah Starbucks, it's just the way you charge extra for oat milk and think it's normal."
One user replied, "When I get Starbucks it adds almost a dollar for almond milk." Over fifty people liked the comment in agreement. Someone else replied, "All alternative milk is free in England," and another added that it's just "USA dragging their feet."
Another user commented, "That's tough, Dunkin' only charges 15 cents, or sometimes nothing."
@sorrycoffeeco Honestly could bever be us, but if you wanna pay extra go agead #coffee #barista ♬ I been drinking - Rea
PETA Urges Starbucks To Stop Charging For Milk Alternatives
Despite recent frustration from customers, these callouts are not new, just possibly becoming more amplified. Animal welfare group PETA has been urging the coffee chain to stop charging extra for dairy-free milk since 2019, citing that it is both bad for cows and the environment, but also bad for business.
The organization became a Starbucks shareholder so they could attend Starbucks' annual meetings and enact change from within. They even enlisted Beatles singer Paul McCartney and Babe actor James Cromwell in its campaign. And last summer, PETA activists blocked the entrance to a Starbucks in Nashville demanding that the chain quit the surcharges.
In response to PETA's demands, Starbucks’ former chief operating officer Roz Brewer told PETA activists that upcharges will come down when plant milk becomes less expensive. “We expect costs to come down as the supply chain for plant-based options matures and we will pass this on to our customers,” he said.
As reported by Quartz, cow milk is cheaper than plant-based milk partially because the US government subsidizes the dairy industry. A half-gallon carton of oat milk costs $2.20 more than the same size container of dairy milk in research found by IRI, a market research company.
Starbucks Plant Milk Surcharges Dropped in UK, France, Germany
Despite plant milk's higher cost, that has not stopped Starbucks chains in some countries from dropping the plant milk's upcharge. As reported by VegNews, upcharges were first scrapped in the United Kingdom after a clever campaign orchestrated by the nonprofit Switch4Good and social hijinks group The Yes Men. The groups banded together to send a fake press release to reporters which pressed Starbucks to end the non-dairy milk alternative upcharges in order to fight "dietary racism," a term coined to recognize that lactose intolerance disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
Now, Germany joins the eco-conscious pack in dropping extra charges on plant milk in their 145 locations. On Instagram, they wrote, “It doesn’t matter whether you like the tried-and-tested old style or are keen to experiment: With us, you can now get milk alternatives at no extra charge." We'll be waiting to see if North America follows suit...
