Morning Musings at a Cafe [034/365] by Lab2112

Starbucks has long been touted as a leading edge company rewriting business books and turning business schools upside down. They aren’t the first innovative company to make such dramatic headway and they aren’t going to be the last, but I often wondered when they would catch up with the times.

Most people would assume that coffee shops make money from selling coffee. Truthfully only Starbucks successfully makes money selling coffee, and that’s because their coffee is priced outrageously. Most coffee shops, however, pay the bills by selling things that compliment coffee, such as breads, scones, danishes, teas, mugs, etc. In fact, a quick look at the modern coffee shop would have one wonder “Where is the damn coffee anyway?”!

Oh how often I digress…

Starbucks is no exception. I was tempted to say that they’ve been nickel and diming their customers for years now, but that would probably be inaccurate considering nothing in that place costs a nickel or a dime.

Confession Time

I am not a regular at Starbucks. Gasp!

I find their mochas, javas, and all of those other concoctions to be too sweet and totally overpriced. I will never pay $5.00 or whatever for a coffee. I am a regular coffee drinker anyway. I like my coffee black, with kick, and natural flavor that comes from slow roasting or some specific region or whatever makes coffee taste good. I hate Folgers by the way.

The fact that Starbucks charged for their WiFi only solidified my anger and frustration with them as well. Yes, I was already frustrated with Starbucks as it were (and not just because of their pricing or bad coffee).

Yet again, a tangent…

I am an artist. Which is very similar to being a small business owner (which I have been in the past). So I could relate when all of the fantastic little coffee shops were having to shut down because of “Big Bad Starbucks” taking away their customers. Besides, independent coffee shops have always been a meeting place for artistic folks even allowing them to display their works of art along the walls.

Tangent is over (maybe).

So Starbucks was charging for WiFi. That was the last straw for me. I wasn’t opposed to stopping at Starbucks if it was the closest or easiest and I needed a cup of joe. I would just choose the independent places much more often when the options (time, logistics) were a coin flip.

CHARGING FOR WIFI! I vowed I would never go back. I avoided Starbucks like the plague and chastised everyone who went there. If I saw a Starbucks coffee cup in you hand it was likely met with a “Congratulations, you just contributed to a company that puts small business owners out of business and overcharges people to make them dependant on sugar whilst contributing to obesity in America! Have a nice day.” Oh yeah, I would say stuff like that.

I’m ranting again. I just can’t help it.

So anyway, in case you’re still reading this. Starbucks is rolling out their free WiFi service today. Yay (they need a font for sarcasm). This should have been done a long time ago. I can’t congratulate a company for announcing how underhanded they are when their ripping off their customers. At least you can get free WiFi at Starbucks now, whilst you continue to support a company that helps put small business owners out of business and makes people dependant on sugar whilst contributing to obesity in America. Congratulations! ; P

Fun game to play.  Click on the different Starbucks links as they take you to some really interesting posts written about Starbucks.  Don’t worry, these aren’t ads or anything.