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A researcher has stirred up the commuter coffee mug with the
suggestion that morning rush hour traffic is worsened by stops
for daily morning gourmet coffee at Starbucks and other premium
coffee houses. Nancy McGuckin, a travel behavior analyst,
studied a report called ?National Household Travel Survey? by
the U.S. Department of Transportation as the basis for her
provocative conclusions.
It has long been known that frequent starting and stopping
during a commute drastically reduces fuel economy due to the
need to rev up the car engine to accelerate to traffic speeds
and then stop for traffic lights and accelerate once again. This
is the reason why manufacturers estimaged "city" mileage is
always significantly lower than the estimated "highway" mileage.
In addition, if the engine is turned off and restarted, mileage
is decreased significantly, because it is at startup of the car
engine that the most fuel is wasted.
This behavior is exactly what is required when visiting
congested shopping areas on the way to work, find a parking
space, (where gourmet coffee shops are often located) stop the
engine, return to the car with coffee in hand, restart the
engine and make your way back to the highway and finally to work.
McGuckin, the travel analyst, dubbed her discovery, ?The
Starbucks Effect? because during the period she studied,
Starbucks added over 4000 new locations (1995 ? 2001). Although
not limiting this research finding only to trips to coffee
houses, the research suggests that running additional errands in
the morning on the way to work has contributed to traffic
congestion and increased gridlock. This is because people divert
from the shortest and fastest route, to one that leads them past
the coffee house or dry cleaners.
The shorter route between home and business office would be much
more direct and require fewer bursts of acceleration, engine
starts and stops and less frequent visits to crowded shopping
areas, which require commuters to search for parking, with trips
around the block to find spaces or idling the engine waiting for
others to leave spaces nearer the coffee house.
Burning small amounts of extra fuel during those waits over and
over each day adds up to very significant wasted fuel and
lowered mileage over time. Wear and tear on engines increases as
this behavior continues, and becomes habitual.
The cost of gourmet coffee at premium coffee houses is also as
much as six or seven times the cost of home brewed coffee from
premium fresh ground whole bean blends. Coffee houses have
either a "house blend" or "featured" blend on brew and you get
whatever they have chosen for you. Then your only choice is to
elbow your way through the crowds and merge back into the city
gridlock to get to work, further slowing traffic and decreasing
gas mileage.
A Washington Post article by Catherine Shaver, discusses the
commuter study and quotes Alan E. Pisarsky, Author of ?Commuting
in America? as saying, "It's more of a problem from a traffic
point of view than from anything else."
Increasing the number of stops in the trip decreases gas mileage
and stress levels, while brewing coffee at home can actually
save you gas over a relatively short period of time. Taking
fresh brewed coffee from home could actually reduce stress and
wear and tear on the car. When brewing your own gourmet coffee
blend at home, you have a choice of fresh ground coffee beans
from fine Italian Espressos to the rare and exotic Indonesian
Kopi Luwak.
Commuters can consider making gourmet coffee drinks at home
before departing for work and enjoy it at home while spending
quality time with the family or take it along in a commuter
coffee travel mug. You?ll save money by paying less than .30
cents per cup for your favorite gourmet coffee made from fresh
ground beans, as well as help to reduce gridlock and increase
mileage by taking the fastest route to work instead of detouring
to the coffee shop.
About the author:
Written by Mike Banks Valentine for Tastes of The World coffee
company. Focusing on specialty gourmet coffees which are not
readily available in the United States. Rare Gourmet Coffee is
their business so they make shopping with them risk free. Tastes Of The World
Gourmet Coffee Company
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