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Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is paying the price for going ‘woke’
NY Post ^ | July 23, 2022 1:03pm | Kevin D. Williamson

Posted on 07/23/2022 2:12:53 PM PDT by conservative98

Howard Schultz should have listened to me.

A decade ago, I wrote a book in which I observed that one of New York City’s most infamous and intractable municipal problems — its lack of public restrooms — had been in part solved by the private sector, and by one business in particular: Starbucks. That was the case in my neighborhood, at least: On any given afternoon, the Starbucks at Park Row and Beekman would have a restroom line ten or twenty long, mostly European tourists carrying Century 21 shopping bags — it must have been in a guidebook somewhere.

It was a classic case of the private sector creating a public good while bringing in new customers. But

[cut]

Schultz ushered in a policy allowing anyone to come off the street and use Starbucks’ bathrooms, without having to pay like these customers. The move backfired when junkies started using the facilities to shoot up.

Only a few years after opening all of its bathrooms to the general public as a grand social-justice gesture, the coffee chain is closing stores around the country — mostly in big, progressive, Democrat-run cities — because the locations have become too dangerous for customers and staff. Homeless people camp in the bathrooms or make mad scenes in the cafes. So many junkies are using Starbucks restrooms to shoot up that the company has been obliged to install needle-disposal boxes in some of its stores — Welcome to Portland! — and the employees who had to clean up those messes understandably complained about possible exposure to HIV and hepatitis.

Here are two things that don’t go together very well: 1.) Selling caffeinated adult milkshakes for six bucks a cup and 2.) hepatitis.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: drugs; hepatitis; homeless; howardschultz; starbucks; starsucks
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To: conservative98

$5.00 fr overpriced burnt coffee is BS. McDonalds has coffee for $1.09 out the door. Plus McDonalds has the same crappy service as Starbucks.


41 posted on 07/23/2022 4:36:55 PM PDT by Psycho_Runner (Have a good day, unless you have other plans.)
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To: americas.best.days...
Kevin Williamson? Oh, is he that real big fat guy?


42 posted on 07/23/2022 5:42:15 PM PDT by KevinB (''...and to the Banana Republic for which it stands ...")
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To: conservative98
I've worked in NYC a number of years and here's a tip: Almost all establishments have a restroom for their customers to use, even if they have a sign stating "no public restrooms".

This is just to keep out the riff-raff.

If you are clean, well-dressed and conduct a transaction there, they will 9 times out of 10 give you access to a restroom if you politely and discreetly ask.

43 posted on 07/23/2022 5:46:52 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (3,590,232 users on Truth Social)
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To: conservative98

Giving them space in a restaurant during the day isn’t going to end homelessness for one single person.

The restaurant isn’t their home. And giving them space in the restaurant isn’t doing anything to get them working and into an apartmemt/home.

Its an idiotic poster. Because feelings.


44 posted on 07/23/2022 6:13:42 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: BrexitBen

“Starbucks is a great racket. High prices for sugared coffee drinks.

A cup of freshly ground, organic coffee, brewed at home, is much better, and much, much cheaper”

Yeah, but no one sees you drinking superior coffee at home. Being seen, and therefore being cool, is all that matters to tens of millions of losers paying their $4 for 14oz. of burnt coffee.


45 posted on 07/23/2022 6:48:59 PM PDT by DAC21
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To: conservative98
Homeless are a problem with public libraries, where they'll probably return now that SB has basically closed its doors. (At least the restroom doors.) I used to see drunks, perverts hanging around the stacks.

I work at a college library. Before COVID we used to get people asking to study or read there because they were avoiding the public libraries.

46 posted on 07/23/2022 8:01:00 PM PDT by MoochPooch (I'm a compassionate cynic.)
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To: BrexitBen

yeah, but you don’t get a cup with that cool logo ... that will be thrown in the trash.

Honestly a small town coffee shop is far superior to this place. Starbucks has certainly done well with branding, however, to get people coming into a mediocre shop.


47 posted on 07/23/2022 8:41:02 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: metmom

I lived in cities for most of my life due to earning potential in my profession. I loved it for the most part.

Currently we live in the country on acreage with great views which we love. We do have two neighbors we see which I like so we can tell we are alive! Yes, we do love the country over the city currently!!!!

We move where God wants us to be when he needs us...


48 posted on 07/23/2022 8:56:12 PM PDT by YouGoTexasGirl ( )
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To: conservative98

Everyone here at FR should make a sign and hangout in front or nearby Starbucks, or homeless shelter and generate more foot traffic... once a month by just a few thousand do goodness could help this CEO “out”!


49 posted on 07/23/2022 9:23:09 PM PDT by Jumper ( )
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To: BrexitBen
A cup of freshly ground, organic coffee, brewed at home, is much better, and much, much cheaper.

It is, but that's not what they are selling. They are selling things that sometimes have a dozen different ingredients, and if you drink it there, high speed WIFI, open restrooms, and what many find as a pleasant environment to work with their laptop for a few hours on the road or as part of a SOHO or remote work operation.

If you get it to go, on the way to work, or for driving with in your car, you are paying for the convenience of someone to buy the half dozen ingredients in the specialty drinks, possibly a latte maker or something else that costs a couple of hundred dollars. If you like a different specialty drink every time, you wouldn't have room in your fridge and kitchen for all the caramel, spices, chocolate sauces, creams, fruits, etc.

It isn't hard to have to pay $6 for a milkshake these days, either (Five Guys, Shake Shack). If you like their specialty drinks just as much, you aren't out anything.

For the record, I take my coffee from Lifeboat Coffee, with cream, and it is better coffee than anything Starbucks makes. Lifeboat also has specialty coffees for those who want them, and the prices are better. Lifeboat, unfortunately, is not on every third street corner, has no drive through and comparatively restricted hours. I'm just saying that one can choose a Starbucks type experience because it provides a product and experience that making a cup at home does not match for some people.
50 posted on 07/23/2022 10:30:41 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (What was 35% of the Rep. Party is now 85%. And it’s too late to turn back—Mac Stipanovich )
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To: YouGoTexasGirl

Funny, SF, I almost got into a fist fight there, at Fisherman’s Warf, 22 years ago. A bum refused to let me walk by without giving a donation, got in my face screaming at me.

I live in FL now, and have a neighbor from California. He admits, the state is insane. He gave up on it and moved to FL.


51 posted on 07/24/2022 3:03:12 AM PDT by PA-RIVER ( )
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