After the Liberation Day tariffs were deemed to be a failed experiment (read: unconstitutional), the US government was ordered to repay the over $100 billion they collected. The repayments began going out over the summer, with many green coffee importers deciding to refund the coffee roasters to whom those tariffs were initially passed onto.
It was a good first step, but the larger hurtle would be to figure out how to get the money back to those who ultimately footed the bill, the consumers. Which is ultimately a near-impossible task. Keeping track of every bag of coffee purchase and every espresso and filter coffee ordered is simply not feasible.
Blueprint Coffee came up with another solution. Announced last week on their website, in lieu of tracking down all tariff-affected sales, Blueprint will be giving a 5% discount on coffee purchases, both retail and wholesale. And they will continue to do so until their tariff refund runs out.
There is no legal mandate to return the money, so the choice came down to it simply being the right thing to do.
“Could we hold on to the money? Yes. Could we reinvest it into inventory, building maintenance, special projects, or pad our bank accounts with operating capital? Yes. But could we – in good conscience – move forward and operate business as usual? Is that the right thing for us to do? The only answer for us is, no.”
Limited to 10 per customer, using the code TARIFF-REFUND will automatically apply a 5% discount to any coffee order and will stay active until the funds dry up. (So long as the yellow banner on the website about the refund is up, the discount is active.)
Looking forward, Blueprint will be looking into reducing prices across the board so that a coupon code is no longer necessary. This will take place as part of their semi-annual pricing review in December.
Read more about what went into Blueprint’s decision here,
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
