Last week we told you about Keurig’s new 2.0 coffeemakers that no longer work with old Keurig K-cups and will now only accept their own brand or licensed K-cups with special markings on the top.
Well, it seems the company has had a little change of heart. What prompted them to come to their senses? Their first quarter financial results came in last week and showed that sales of brewers and accessories dropped 23 percent compared to a year ago. During a conference call with investment people last week, their CEO said this:
“We were wrong. We missed — we didn’t — we underestimated it, it’s the easiest way to say it. We underestimated the passion the consumer had for this,†Brian Kelley said. “We heard loud and clear from consumers who really wanted the ‘My K-Cup’ back. We want consumers to be able to bring any brand and bringing the My K-cup back allows that.”
What Mr. Kelley is referring to is a refillable and washable plastic K-cup the company sold that allowed consumers to buy a pound of whatever brand of coffee they wanted, and then just scoop a spoonful into it.
Fine, but that is only one part of the types of cups the company disabled. What about all the other brands of K-cups that don’t have that magic mark on the lid, and all the old K-cups consumers may have in stock?
Their PR manager declined to address those issues when we asked last Friday:
“Plans are still in progress, so I’m not able to provide any additional details at this time.”
The company’s stock is near a 52-week low.
It’s pleasing when people effectively speak with their money.
“Geeze, we underestimated our customers’ intelligence, and overestimated the marketing value of adding a poison-pill feature to our already grossly over-priced and much too complicated coffee pots. Well…retreat for now and it’s ‘back to the drawing board.’ There’s always next year.”
Funny, Marty, funny. And well said.
Even greed has a cap…how far do companies stretch ethics for profit to point of losing customers. hmmm.
There are workarounds to use the old or competitive K cups in the 2.0 machines. One California coffee seller even provides a tool that fits in the Keurig maker and defeats the DRM. Their cups are also biodegradable which Keurig’s are not.
They have another problem ……….the coffee DOES NOT COME OUT HOT. We were told they reduced the temp. it cooks the water at. Also as I wrote in a previous comment
it barely drips out. I am returning my second machine real soon! I mentioned their older models work great …..coffee pours out quickly and it’s hot!!!
Jean
Bob K, or just use a good old $15 coffee maker which makes just as good coffee….
I agree with Jean about the issue of the coffee not being as hot as the old Kuerig. Also, I used to be able to hit the button once and get a full cup of coffee, now I have to use 2 different size settings in order to get the same cup of coffee full.