To the unsuspecting customer, it looked as though they had been overcharged, but to the more nuanced observer it was actually a glimpse into the future. A computer glitch has resulted in a price rise being applied to Starbucks products in the US ahead of its planned rollout date of 12 July. “On July 12, Starbucks is planning a small price increase on select beverages. Unfortunately, that price adjustment was prematurely entered into the point of sale systems in our US company-operated stores,” the company said in a statement. “As a result, some customers were charged incorrectly. The maximum any customer could have been overcharged is 30 cents per beverage.” This will be the third year in a row that Starbucks has raised its prices in July, with prices rising between 5 and 20 US cents per item around the same time last year.