Dear readers, the weather has been hot and humid right. In fact, hot and humid may be an understatement as even at night, right after I come out from my bathroom following a bath, my body perspires once again, right away.
On these hot days and hot nights, it is no surprise that I, like many Singaporeans would prefer to order an iced drink outside to cool ourselves! And this was precisely what I did yesterday, when I ordered my first caffeine fix for the day with ice of course and in a large cup, from a popular heartland coffee chain.
When it was time to pay the bill, I was shocked! $2.40 for this cup of iced coffee in takeaway form!
I was shocked because $2.40 is easily the price of iced coffee from a more high-end coffee café but I have never expected this price tag to come from the popular heartland coffee chain: I would expect $1.80 at most for this takeaway order.
I asked the stall owner to the effect of checking with them whether they have keyed in the prices wrongly. They said the price was correct as I have ordered a double upsized portion. I checked the receipt to understand what they mean:
Ice coffee (with ice): $1.30 (I believe coffee without ice is priced at $1.10)
Upsized: Add $0.50
Double Upsided: Add another $0.50
Takeaway: Add $0.10
So, based on the above receipt, yes my iced coffee in double upsized portion adds up to $2.40.
But to be very honest, the cup size was rather average and worse, after I finished the coffee, I noted that more than half of the cup was filled with ice cubes. I have no doubts that the real coffee portion in my iced takeaway could be the non-upsized one (the $1.30 format) even though the size of the takeaway could look, deceivably much bigger based on the larger cup size used and filling up more than half of the cup were actually ice: yes, in effect, I paid $1 more just for the ice in my belief.
With the costs of living here heading north, I am really more careful with my monies but sadly, if I am not careful, I can fall prey to the different tactics employed by merchants who, understandably also have to cope with the rising cost of materials. The above episode was another instance of shrinkflation, which I had earlier shared with readers how I fell for one as per the post here.
While some merchants might have stated price increases upfront, I am actually getting lesser portion of the ingredients and quality than before, as what has happened to my favorite Bak Chor Mee.
I am grateful for now that I still have the choice to buy what is, to me, Singapore’s best coffeeshop coffee at just $1 here. Even if the coffee is priced slightly higher, at $1.20, the price of this very good coffee is still very reasonable.
I am not sure whether you also are of the same view as me that in general, food prices are increasing but food quality is decreasing right now here in Singapore.