Why I don't work for Caribou Coffee

You know how much it would cost Caribou Coffee to hire me? $3.

Everyone who knows me can tell you that I'm a t-shirt junkie. I'm a sucker for a cool t-shirt -- but I usually don't pay more than $10 for any t-shirt.

A shot of advice for Caribou and other coffee shops -- hire a good designer to come up with some snazzy t-shirts and sell them at near cost ($3ish a shirt) and you'll have the cheapest (free), most effective advertising you could imagine. I promise you if Caribou sold slick t-shirts at $3-5 a shirt they couldn't print them fast enough. There are a lot of people that love Caribou Coffee in Minnesota, and a lot of people that like a good looking, comfortable t-shirt.

Fellow Minnesotan's -- remember the "I heart my Cub" cling stickers? Brilliant. Cub Foods put free cling stickers in the Sunday paper and instantly had thousands of free advertisements on cars throughout the Twin Cities.

It's really not rocket science here -- find a way to get your loyal customers to advertise your business.