Keurig Coffee Pods and Machines: The Coffee King No More? Assumptions and Failures

There was a time when I, along with most of the office working world, was mesmerized by this little machine called the Keurig, an individual cup of coffee brewer. You can call us lazy, but the option to have multiple single hot beverages uniquely different one after another instantly with the push of a button, captivated our fickle minds.

Keurig became well known for its “K-Cup” individual pods, which consumers loved for its “quality, convenience and choice”. According to the Seattle Times, US consumers purchased $132 million worth of these pods and $3.1 billion in 2013. These pods were not limited to just coffee — there were also teas and soups included! Using these pods were so simple and intuitive. Just, insert the pod into the opening, where the brewer would punch a hole into the lid of the pod containing coffee grounds. Then hot water would fill the pod at the press of the button and brewed coffee would spout out into your receiving cup underneath. The user then would chuck the pod into the trash.

It sounded so intuitive and simple so obviously the hype was warranted.

But, with so many single use pods tossed into the trash, of course came the mountains of packaging and waste.

Let’s be honest. No one has the time to separate the waste of all of these individual cups into individual components during a 40 hour work week. We’d need separate bins for the aluminum, coffee filters, coffee grounds, and plastic containers!

So people loved the convenience of single use coffee pods, but couldn’t be bothered with separating the individual components of these pods. You know that saying, “Out of sight, out of mind”? Well, critics were quick to complain that these non recyclable and biodegradable pods would generate large amounts of plastic waste, which wasn’t inconceivable when you reflect upon the rate that consumers were purchasing the K-Cups. Apparently, some critics claimed that enough K-Cups were sold that they could circle the globe 12 times when placed from end to end. A petition at KillTheKCup.org called for Keurig to improve its product and consumers to either abandon further use of the unstainable K-Cup or use refillable pods.

So how did Keurig respond to the consumers? Well, in 2014, Green Mountain, Keurig’s parent company, decided to make all coffee pods recyclable in 2020, giving into the demands and assumptions for a more sustainable product. Additionally, Keurig introduced reusable K-cup filter pods that allow for consumers to spoon coffee grounds of their choice, which then created questions for the need of the Keurig brewer over the cheaper conventional brewer.

Then, in 2012, when the K-Cup design patent expired, third party competitors created their own versions of the pod to get a piece of the lucrative K-Cup industry.

So what did Keurig do? Keurig decided to create the Keurig 2.0 coffee makers which only accepted Keurig brand pods. Because the K-Cups were the company’s largest source of income, Keurig believed their business would be sustained if customers were forced to purchase their branded pods with the purchase of the Keurig 2.0. The problem then became the usability of old K-Cups, third party pods, and reusable K-Cups. Many customers became frustrated with Keurig’s response and their lack of freedom to use their familiar old K-Cups that some began to hack the new machine technology, cutting off the lids of official K-Cups and placing the tops into old K-Cups or third party pods.

Since then, Keurig’s sales have been down, $60 million from 2015 to 2016, and the demand of Keurig machines and pods have drastically declined with the increased interest in traditional drip, cold brew, and nitro coffee.

I’ll admit, I’m one of these people that let Keurig down. My Keurig machine to this day sits quietly covered in dust, tucked away in the corner. It just became no longer relevant to my daily lifestyle that has evolved over these past three years. It became unrealistic to walk over to the Keurig every two hours to get a hot beverage when I could invest in equipment that would brew 3 to 5 cups of tea at a time. I learned that I am still that lazy human that prefers convenience over work.

So whether Keurig inconvenienced customers to purchase their branded pods, separate all individual waste in a pod, or simply walk over to the Keurig machine frequently throughout the day, the brand should learn that users want a product that fits into their lifestyle — whatever makes their life efficient and aligns to their values and goals. Yes, the pods originally were a quick fix solution to make coffee and beverages at the push of a button. Companies should take notes from Keurig’s mistakes. As the pods ran their course of fame, concerns about environmental waste started to surface. When criticized, Keurig first responded well in address these concerns with a solution to improve packaging materials. But consumers became more frustrated at Keurig’s decision to focus on financial gain over improved user experience when regarding the inability to use to use old and reusable pods in updated models. As the company’s profits keep dwindling every year, it’s probably a good idea if Keurig considers incentivizing a recycling program (i.e. money back in gift card) for unused old pods so that customers will feel they are receiving great customer service and the freedom to get newer branded pods for their updated machines. When Keurig rebuilds and reclaims positive customer trust and experience with the brand, its reputation be finally be restored to a “quality, convenient, and choice” brand.