Costing out your machine

Reschsmooth

Has anyone gone through the process of working out what the payback period for a coffee machine is for home use? I mean, assuming that you would otherwise buy the same amount of coffee you drink at home (including coffees made for other people), taking into account the cost of the roasted coffee (whether you do this yourself or buy elsewhere), cost of the milk, your time, etc as well as all the incidentals (milk jugs, plenty of cups, etc), how much 'profit' are you making per cup.

For example, if you are saving, say, $1.20 per cup (compared to the cost of take away coffee), it would take you 2,000 cups to get back the value of a standard HX/E-61 machine. If you average 4 cups a day (for others), then it would take you about a year and a half to pay for your machine - doesn't seem like a bad equation to me!

Of course, you would need to add back, assuming you could value it, the intangibles such as the enjoyment of making the coffee, the flexibility to make great coffees for dinner parties (how many local cafe's are open at 11pm on a Saturday night), the control over quality, etc.

Just some quiet, Monday lunch musings.

Feedback welcome

Patrick

JM

I have never thought about this, until I read your note. But I don't intend to do the maths. The only number I know is that it's of zero interest to me. I didn't get into quality home espresso to save (or spend) money, but for the quality and enjoyment of the experience.  But hey go right ahead - this isn't a criticism, just that I'm 180 degrees in a different place! EDIT: I thought I'd add a comment here as my opinion sounds kinda OTT and the question posed was fair enough. I guess I just don't want to think about the "investment" in case it doesn't stack up financially - but value wise, I'm more than happy.

Reschsmooth

"I thought I'd add a comment here as my opinion sounds kinda OTT and the question posed was fair enough. I guess I just don't want to think about the "investment" in case it doesn't stack up financially - but value wise, I'm more than happy." That's mainly the point, however, I just wanted to see if anyone had actually priced their 'investment' in financial terms.

mattyj

a mate of mine did, with his sunbeam/delonghi setup. ... but I can't remember what he said! Having a good run of forgetfulness lately - left my house keys at work today, had to walk back, get let in, find them, walk back home...

Remus

i dunno. an average of say 30 cups per week @ around $3 a pop. thats $360 a month. won;t take long to pay itself off. my old pavoni is still in the office and has made a gazillion cups of coffee and i bought it nearly 10 years ago for $600.  every 12-18mnths i took it to my retailer and paid around $50 for a good clean and decalcify and the occasional seal but it never busted, ever. now THATS bloody value. 8)

tom

take away coffee $3 Home coffee $1.20 Espresso you love to drink- priceless