The price of an espresso

The third year of instruction for French Navy Officer, after two years at the Naval Academy in Brittany, was practical experience on two ships, the "Jeanne d'Arc" and the "Victor Schœlcher". We were more than a hundred "officer students" on the Jeanne d'Arc and we had our own wardroom and our own bar.

There were two sailors that were spending their year of military service as bartenders. They would serve us our coffee and alcoholic drinks (there is no alcoholic restrictions for French Navy officers on ships). The cost of an espresso was 50 centimes, equivalent to 10 US cents at the time.

At some point, the two sailors indicated to the bar management that collecting the 50 centimes for each espresso after lunch was taking them too much time. As the bar was making an healthy profit on alcohol, and the income from the espressos was not very much, it was decided by the bar management to no longer collect the 50 centimes.

However, the consequence of this decision was very surprising: the consumption of espressos after lunch doubled! And the two sailors had to work even more making espressos than before when they were collecting the 50 centimes. So, the price of the espresso was quickly back to what it was before, and the consumption of espressos too.

I have always wondered why some of us, who were making more that the equivalent of US $1000 a month, would not spend 10 cents for a coffee, when we could not spend our money at sea.