Multi-millionaire Kevin O’Leary blasts ‘idiot’ workers for buying daily coffee
A multi-millionaire and Shark Tank investor has blasted “idiot” workers for “pissing away” their money on a daily cup of coffee.   


News.com.au
September 6, 2024

Canadian multi-millionaire Kevin O’Leary has blasted “idiot” workers for “pissing away” their money on a daily cup of coffee.   

In a rant reminiscent of Bernard Salt and Tim Gurner’s infamous avocado toast commentary, the Shark Tank investor and businessman – who has an estimated net worth of $593,460,000 – didn’t mince his words when discussing the “stupid stuff” people spend their money on.

“Stop buying coffee for $5.50. You got to work and spend $15 on a sandwich – what are you, an idiot?” Mr O’Leary said in a clip shared to Instagram.



“It costs you 99 cents to make a sandwich at home and bring it with you.

“You start to add that up everyday, it’s a ton of money. Most people, particularly working in metropolitan cities that are just starting out in their job making their first $60,000, piss away about $15,000 a year on stupid stuff. And that’s what they should stop doing.”

Canadian multi-millionaire Kevin O'Leary didn’t mince his words when discussing the ‘stupid stuff’ people spend their money on.

Many in the comments agreed with Mr O’Leary, writing it was “common sense” for people to dial back their spending on takeaway coffee and dining out.

“Bringing my lunch to work for decades saved me countless thousands of dollars,” one person wrote.

“100 per cent! $10 here, $7 there, another $12 here & another $9 there sure adds up quickly,” another commented. “Before you know it you’re spending $357 every month totalling a whopping $4284 per year.”

Others, however, poked holes in Mr O’Leary’s “out of touch” advice – saying he was clueless to the actual cost of groceries if he thought people could make a sandwich at home for less than a dollar.


While “cost of working” research conducted by McCrindle found that Australians spend an average of $2436 on lunches each year – with those in the office spending $6 more per week ($41) than those who work from home – more recent data has shown many are pulling back on discretionary purchases.

In June, transactions data from digital payments platform Square showed a rising number of Aussies were ditching their pre-work takeaway coffee, a move driven by hybrid work arrangements and the high cost of living.

The number of purchases at food and drink businesses between 7am and 11am on weekdays have dropped to below pre-pandemic levels in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

At the same time, transaction volumes have risen during weekend brunch hours, signalling a change to how people prioritise their spending.

‘Stop buying coffee for $5.50. You got to work and spend $15 on a sandwich – what are you, an idiot?’ Mr O’Leary said.

According to Square’s analysis, weekday breakfast transactions are down by more than five per cent in Melbourne, but up by four per cent on Saturdays and Sundays.

It’s a similar situation in Sydney, albeit to a lesser degree: transaction volumes are down 2.4 per cent on weekday breakfasts, but up 1.6 per cent during weekend brunch hours.

Square Australia’s head of business development, Colin Birney, told The Guardian that venues catering for professional workers are trying to adjust – starting an evening service to capitalise on the after work economy, opting to close an extra day, or sell groceries and other goods as a way to increase revenue.

More employees are working from home and packing their lunch when they do head to the office, and “that seems to be playing out as demand for weekday breakfasts decreases”, Mr Birney said.

“We’re often told that making your breakfast at home or having cereal at the office are some of the easiest ways to save a bit of cash,” he noted.

Aussie spending habits have evolved in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.

Mr O’Leary’s coffee spray comes after he made headlines for rubbishing Australia’s new Right to Disconnect legislation, which came into effect on August 26. 

The laws give staff working at a business with 15 or more employees the right to refuse contact outside of their working hours.

His demands of workers often go too far IMHO but I kind of understand the daily brought coffee thing.

I was at a barbecue last year and got chatting to a young guy friend of family etc. Building his first house and was in trouble he said as the buiding cost had risen 20-30K (from memory can't recall exact figure) as happens regularly over here at least, mid contract and part built.

He was a worker no problem, doing 6 days a week, building labourer and had got the initial loan, just. Now however the bank wouldn't loan him the extra as he was assessed as short on required extra income of roughly 50 bucks a week and they wouldn't extend the loan time frame further or change serviceability requirements etc etc.

He was debating getting out of it all together somehow and trying to sell as is or asking parents to chip in perhaps etc. I did that standard quick spending/expenses check with him verbally there and then and guess what I found within 5 minutes?

A $6.50 spend every morning, 6 days a week on a large coffee on the way to work. That was $40/week right there. I went through the obvious with him and guess the response.
No way was he prepared to give that up. I said you don't have to give it up altogether, just buy one $6.50 jar of coffee at Coles and take your own in a thermos etc.
Nope, wouldn't hear of it. Claimed he couldn't work without it. I quickly touched on some realities of trying to bail now, part build and likelihood of losing 10s of thousands etc and he just couldn't see it. He would rather that than give up his daily $6.50 purchase.

Now you can debate all you like as to whether in this day and age one should have to give up a daily $6.50 coffee buy, I mean it's obviously a major sacrifice right .
Nonetheless I posit, it's an example of entitlement idiocy.

Sacrifices of varying degrees, basically every minute of every day have always had to be made by people to get ahead.
If you can't make that small one, you deserve your own failure.

But... but... but... everyone needs to support the poor CBD coffee shop owners.

After all, they were the "go to" people (after airline CEO's - especially that evil little leprechaun who retired last year) for such great advice about how to deal with the (ongoing) COVID-19 pandemic.

And, if you're lucky (or unlucky) you might get a free serve of Covid soup with your coffee. Pure bliss!