Holy (gulp)! Five cents more for Starbucks coffee

Where else does a five-cent rise in a product get so much coverage?  You can't escape the big news today on TV, radio and print (some of the latter will be under big headlines in tomorrow's newspapers) that Starbucks plans to raise prices of its lattes, cappuccinos, drip coffee and other drinks by a nickel starting Oct. 3 at its 5,500 company-operated stores in the U.S.

All this earthshaking reporting while prices of many other consumer products, from paper clips upward, have jumped in recent weeks without even making agate type in newspaper business sections.

Starbucks coffee-gulping news gatherers, some with tighter wallets, obviously are shook up by the "steep" 1.9 percent increase in java and seek to convey that to their audiences.  Then again, perhaps Seattle-based Starbucks Corp. has a nifty PR department.