In a rare feat of perseverance, Ray Feldman has completed a coffee shop punch card and with it gained a tangible sense of spending $50 on coffee.
“It’s kind of cool, because with most purchases I just pass over my credit card knowing that money will come out of my bank account, but the process is so removed,” says Ray. “With the punch card, I have something sitting in my wallet, illustrating exactly how many $4 cold brew/$1 tip combos I’ve purchased this month, and it’s a lot!”
The undertaking of the “buy 10 and the next is on us!” punch card was started on a lark by Ray, who has been spending exorbitant amounts of money on coffee for all of their adult life without ever requiring an external incentive to do so.
“Now that I’ve worked my way through the card it serves as a nice little memory lane,” says Ray. “Or like a graveyard for my money.”
“Here lies seven dollars, marking the time I just had to have an oat milk dirty chai latte,” Ray chuckles, a flicker of panic in their eyes.
“But the good news is, my next drink is free, so that offsets the whole thing financially,” they say.
When the free beverage is factored into the total cost, the net price of each drink is reduced to $4.55.
“Either way it’s just neat to have a physical embodiment of this process,” Ray says. “Not that it took that long or anything. I actually went through this pretty quick, which is funny because this coffee shop is three blocks from my apartment where I have coffee I could make for free.”
But these intrusive reflections didn’t stop Ray from proudly making their way to the local haunt, punch card representing a week’s worth of grocery money in hand, laying it down on the counter and requesting one cold brew, please.
“And since I’m getting the coffee free,” Ray says, “I may as well throw in an almond croissant. It basically evens out.”
Here’s to $54 down and endless more to come!
