Stumbled into a weird coffee shop in Portland that had no prices on the menu

Went to this place called Something Coffee on Hawthorne last Tuesday and everything was pay-what-you-want. I ordered a latte and the barista just says "whatever feels right" - totally threw me off. How do you even decide what to pay for something like that without feeling cheap or getting ripped off?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley_wood8411d ago

Man, I used to totally agree with @taylorshah on this one. I thought pay-what-you-want was just a gimmick to make you feel awkward and pay more. But then I went to a place in Seattle that did it and something clicked. That weird moment of silence at the register forced me to actually think about what the coffee was worth to me, not just what the market says. I ended up paying a little less than a normal latte but I felt good about it because it was my choice. It changed how I look at pricing honestly, like it puts the trust back in the customer a little bit.

joel_clark3711d ago

Has anyone else ever tried just paying what you think is fair and then not looking back? I get what you mean about that moment of silence being awkward, but for me it was kind of freeing. I went to a little bakery that did the pay-what-you-want thing and I was nervous at first too. But I just thought about how much I actually wanted the pastry and what I could afford that day, and I ended up paying a couple bucks less than normal. It felt honest because I wasn't being tricked or pressured, I just had to sit with my own decision for a second. Sometimes having the price set for you takes away the chance to think about what something is really worth to you.

taylorshah11d ago

The "whatever feels right" thing is a trap. I usually just pay what a normal latte costs anyway since overthinking it hurts my brain. Why can't they just put prices on the board like everyone else?