Pennywise paper cup, pound foolish Coffee

This morning's coffee reminds me of marketers who in a bid to cut corners turn pennywise, but pound foolish. In a move aimed at cutting costs, the coffee guy's moved on to thinner paper cups. Only that the damn cup's turned too soft to hold hot coffee and to stop the hand holding it burning up. The result? People asking for an extra cup. So now the coffee gets served in a paper cup that's inside another, so its strong enough and the heat doesn't seep through.

Marketer's wanting to cut costs mustn't look to shortchanging consumers. The front end of a business must not be tampered with, as this erodes the value delivered to consumers. Instead its the backend that must be re-engineered for greater efficiency. For example the coffee guy can reconfigure coffee preparation to standardise the use of raw materials. Maybe some coffees are being made with extra powder because the preparer tips the spoon that bit more to pick a bit more of coffee powder. Or maybe he can revisit the amount of prepared coffee he makes and distributes across all offices to ensure there's no wastage. I mean, eliminate coffee that stays back in the flask, is brought back, and thrown away.

If you want to cut costs, thinning paper cup's not the way to go. Instead, its about doing what you do, with greater effeciency. Its isn't short-changing the consumer, its bettering what you do.