How to save newspapers? For starters, get them out of Starbucks

The newspaper industry is struggling, and it's not being helped by the daily thefts that take place in Starbucks stores. I sat in one this morning and watched person after person grab the New York Times or Chicago Tribune and not bother to pay for it. The "Just Say Yes" culture at Starbucks contributes to this thievery -- want a paper and not pay for it? Sure, go ahead! -- as does the placement of the racks (far away from the register) and the baristas' indifference to the thefts. So here's a message to newspaper publishers: Pull out of Starbucks. Putting your product there is a money-losing proposition; trust me, I see the thievery day after day, in store after store. (Any other ideas on solving this problem?)

Comments

[javajohn]

I think anyone who has spent any amount of time inside of a Starbucks has seen this happen - it's endemic. It's also a crime. People just grab a copy of the paper, take it to their seat, read it, fold it up, and walk out with it. Some leave it on the table - which other people assume was purchased and take it with them. I say put them behind the counter and the paper thefts. Powell's bookstore in Portland had to move the papers to their registers because they were dealing with high newspaper theft costs.

[Boston Starbucks Rebel]

I always steal the Sunday New York Times when I work. Oh yeah! -- a $6 value -- free for me!! Just one of the benefits to being a barista! =)

[somehoser]

this won't save the newspaper industry....remember the stores still get hit with the cost of the newpaper....

[FLA SS]

The idea that the theft is hurting the newspapers is patently false...hurting the stores yes but not the paper. The papers are already paid for by the store before it arrives and what is not sold most often needs to be left outside for return the next so that the store can get some money back and know how many papers they are over ordering. This type of thing hurts a store on their p&l and any decent manager or shift supervisor would not allow for it to occur especially in this business climate when we need all the sales we can get.

[Ashleigh]

Stealing journalism rocks! I can't wait to see the newspaper completely collapse - old people are going to go completely apeshit! It is gonna ROCK! It's already fun watching one paper after another go under...hopefully Mr. Jim will be out of a job soon enough!!! One can only hope, right?

[TW]

Errr what would be wrong with putting a newspaper box just outside a Starbucks or even inside?

[Pat Nerr]

Newspapers have threated their business like the record industry... Paper Newspapers are a thing of the past... change with the world around you and you will succeed... The TV Industry is next...

Stupid paper news...

[cheerycherry]

Ashleigh - were you dropped on your head as a baby?

[Larry Chandler]

We don't need newspapers. But we do need news. Somehow reporters have to be paid. Some people will cover news for free, but that leaves them more open to bribery and more dishonesty in reporting.

As far as people stealing newspapers from Starbucks, it's a non-issue except for Starbucks. They can figure it out. Or can they? If their coffee was better, I might actually go there and either buy or steal a newspaper too.

[Starbucks Gossip webmaster]

Ashleigh -- "Mr. Jim" has three jobs (three money-making websites), so he's just fine even if your wish comes true and the newspaper industry collapses.

[Will]

Doesn't most of the newspaper's revenue come from advertisements?

So doesn't the increased circulation from Starbucks help that revenue?

[CamSpi]

I'll admit to grabbing the Sunday New York Times to read the magazines and read a couple of articles... Not something I'm proud to admit, however! :)

I'm really good at folding it back nice and neat and putting it at the bottom of the newspaper rack. Does it not count as badly if I put it back? Does it? no? really? Aw man!

[No used NYT, please.]

Hmmmm... do I buy the spanking-new paper? Or the one that's already been read?

A no-brainer, CamSpi.

[noodoggy]

in case you were wondering...starbucks pays for the paper..and hope to recover the money from sales...the newspaper gets paid up front...so...rethink your arguments please

[poppy]

On the other hand, a free newspaper is one way to get people into a Starbucks store.

[SBUCKS DRONE LOS ANGELES]

No one hardly buys the paper at my store, since we're located in a predominantly Asian area (our customers of Asian descent choose to bring in their own paper instead). I could care less if they did get rid of them or not, but I know it wouldn't hurt the newspaper companies one bit. Sbucks already pays for the papers to be delivered, the money being lost is Starbucks'.

[aeiou]

We get credit for unsold Philly Inquirers, but not for unsold NYTimes, so I kind of try to keep an eye out for the Philly papers but not so much with the Times. I admit that I'll read a Times if I'm working a closing shift, knowing that no one is going to buy it (especially if there are five left), but not so much with the Philly papers.
Also, we have a basket where people can put their used papers, so usually if someone is just looking to browse the paper while they sit in the cafe, they will go to the basket rather than steal a paper from the display.

[steve]

In my store we have problems with people stealing coffee. Yep, that's right, they'll just walk up behind the counter, serve themselves a tall or a grande, and then head back out before we can say anything. I think it's because we're so busy that we just can't take the time to stop them.

Yet another example of the "Just Say Yes" culture run amok.

[me myself and I]

It's called "free refill" and people don't understand we still have to ring it up to track inventory.

But still, they serve themselves??? How is your store set up? They would have to either have 2m long arms or walk around the espresso machines and behind the registers at every single store I worked at so far. But seriously, how busy would you be to let that happen????

[me myself and I]

Oh, and about the papers, I was told by more than one manager they don't care and are not telling a regular to pay for the paper they claim they just peek into...

It's just considered a necessary expense to keep the customers happy.

Not that I like this self entitled behavior of some customers (especially since the honest, paying customer is once again considered the stupid one), but I learned to live with it. We kind of train the customers that way by rewarding them for not paying (as in not making them to pay).

[OverCaffeinated]

I have personally had at least two instances of customers going off on me because I told them that they would need to pay for their paper. "I come into Starbucks everyday. I spend so much money in this store, blah, blah, blah....." Very loudly and VERY ANGRY that I would even bring it up.

[New York City customer]

At least in some of the New York City Starbucks, they have a weight on top of the papers that says something like, "New York Times, $2" to remind customer the papers aren't free.

The Times costs as much as a couple packs of VIAs. Can I slip a few freebies into my pocket, and argue, "I spend so much money in this store, why should I have to pay?"

[Jojo]

I'm a former starbucks store manager who never cared about newspaper theft because as of a year ago in the Chicago market, we only actually paid for newspapers rung in through the pos. Starbucks margin on newspapers is tiny - so small that at a low volume store, selling tons of Sunday new york times could wreck your budgeted cost of goods, as the profit from newspapers at the store level was a few pennies. They're truly there only as a convenience for customers and starbucks gains very little financially from them, so there's no loss really on starbucks' part when people steal them...

[New York City customer]

>>>>>so there's no loss really on starbucks' part when people steal them...

What's the profit margin on VIA? Will there be much of a loss when I begin stealing them? Since it's OK with newspapers, why not low-margin coffee products?

[Sandra]

Customers refilling their own cups? Whaaat? If I saw that I would wack the person upside the head with a rolled-up newspaper! (No pun intended.)

[Jojo]

what low margin coffee products? :)

[NYSM]

"I'm a former starbucks store manager who never cared about newspaper theft because as of a year ago in the Chicago market, we only actually paid for newspapers rung in through the pos."

No wonder you're a former Starbucks Manager. This is all false. We pay for everything we get. If all we paid for was what was rung through the POS, how could the new paper company keep tabs on us, on what they were actually selling, or if we were on the up an up? Every week we get billed for the papers sent to us, less any that were credited. It doesn't matter if they were rang into the computer or not.

and BECAUSE newspapers are such a low profit item, its even MORE important to keep tabs on them. If a paper has a retail price of 1.25 stabucks is usually payin about 1.15 for it. Why would we allow 1.15 dollars to just walk out the store! It's insane. I'd actually rather give someone a free coffee if they buy a paper.

[nysm]

Jojo I misread your post. I read it like your were saying as of a year ago you were a Store manager. Not as you meant it, as of a year ago they were charging for papers in a certain way.

Perhaps in Chicago it's different, but I really really really would like to know why it's different there. I have worked in Several markets and that's not how it is anywhere else.

[me]

the paper makes money off the adds and gets to sell those ads at prices based on circulation.

starbucks woud be loosing, not the paper as it would be circulated, except for the nyt. its pay on scan

[Marcus]

i wouldn't take one if they were free...it's online...without the smudgy mess : )

[brown dot]

You know I had a customer pick up the paper, read it while ordering and when I asked him if he was getting the paper too he said "no I'm just reading it" to which I quickly replied, isn't that why you buy the paper? to read it? he laughed and bought it.

We have our rack right in front of the registers so they have to pick it up while they are in line...or go around people to steal it!

[me myself and I]

Thats where our newspaper rack used to be until my ingenious DM thought they are in customers way and moved the rack out of sight. Now we only sell maybe one paper but never have any left at the end of the night... Same actually happened to the former CD racks (moving it out of sight I mean)

[brown dot]

Well its time to tell your DM they are wrong. I honestly dont understand why partners are so afraid to tell their DMs that they are wrong or their idea isn't the best. As long as you have proof they will learn to keep their mouths shut (I know mine did!)

[ReadItandWeep]

If the newspapers are just in a pile on the counter, it is not clear to customers that they are not free: they look like the free pile in the hotel lobby. And there is usually one lying on a table for anyone to look at anyway. But, if the store wants income from the newspapers, it needs to somehow make it clear that there is a cost. Is it not really the case that a decision has been made at corporate HQ that the newspapers bring people in and the cost is too small to worry about?

[STEA]

My store allows this bull to go on all the time. Its a joke, these people steal in front of our eyes and no one does anything about it.

[embean]

when I worked at sbux, my biggest arguments with customers were over newspapers. on one very heated occasion, this guy insisted that since he as buying a coffee he should be able to read the paper for free, leaving it in condition that no one would buy it in.

In my store, we also had the NYT on weekends. that's no cheap newspaper

at some stores we even made signs with the prices, with no success.

[Patrick]

At my store, we've taken to wrapping the Sunday NYT in plastic wrap and writing in huge lettering, "For Sale Only!" with a black marker on the wrap. No mistaking that, I think. Some people still ask, "Do I have to buy this to read it?" Really?! C'mon!

[New York City customer]

The Sunday New York Times is now $6. You'd cry foul if someone grabbed six bucks from the tip jar; you should also stop customers from taking $6 newspapers.

[Barista Joe]

Solution: Keep two in the lobby for reading, keep the rest behind the counter, and when somebody wants one, you ring it up for them. BAM.

-J

[mike]

When some one steals a newspaper from a Starbucks store the publisher does not loose a dime. Starbucks does! Starbucks only gets credit for the papers still on the rack at the end of the day.

[Nacho]

I agree with Barista Joe. Keep a couple around for customers to read, and I'd go so far as to say in most places, don't worry about having any to sell. At the Panera I worked at, we got just one paper delivered in the morning and left it in the dining room for customers, as well as some that regulars would bring in to do their crossword, then leave in the basket for others to read. Not many people buy the paper anyway.

[Blackcoffee]

The papers are a draw for starbucks it gets people in and maybe they will buy something while they read.

[jeezlouise]

DM's hate the ugly paper rack and don't care where it is. The customers would get pissed when we approached them to pay for the paper they wanted to "Read in house". But, I had the benefit of lots of Sunday coupons come Monday!!!!

[jabanga]

actually, jojo was right, at least in my area: the new york times was only tracked by the pos. there were no "returns" whatsoever and the store only paid for those that sold. the times used to send us WAAAY more papers than we ever sold, i would constantly try to get them to send us less, but they get paid by advertisers for how many papers are "circulated" not sold and they would just keep coming. it would disgust me how many unread copies of the sunday times went unread every week. the local papers were different: we had to write down the remaining copies every night, and someone actually listened if you told them to send less.

[Peter Smith]

yes, newspapers -- hurry up and pull out of starbacks! that will save you lots and lots of monies and your business will be saved forever do it quick now really!

redonk.

[drive]

We also have a basket for used newspapers so that others can read them. A few years back the manager took the basket away and we got a million complaints. (I am in NYC). So he brought the basket back.

We also have a lot of people who want to buy the paper. So those who want a quick read with their coffee go to the basket. It works for us.

Some of the nearby stores use the basket to close down one of their condiment bars at night. So they clean the condiment bar and then put this basket (it's a wire-racky thing), which typically sits on the FLOOR, on top of the condiment bar. This is gross and filthy.

[puddle]

As a former Starbucks assistant manager, i also hatted the papers. Every month we lost about $200 due to the papers being taken. people don't realize that any store only makes about $0.07 per paper and it isnt the company that you are hitting as much as the local people trying to run that store. WE DID NOT BONUS one quarter due to how much we lost to the f***ing papers!

[anonyMOUSE]

I work in Chicago, and we have 4 or 5 regular customers who steal all 3 papers (sun times, nyt, and chicago tribune) nearly every day. when i approached my manager with my discovery, i was informed that (word for word) "it's not your money, don't worry about it".

*slaps forehead*

first its papers, then via, then rtd items, then the espresso machines are going to grow legs and walk out. but i didn't pay for those things, so i guess i just wont worry.

on another note, taking papers out of sbux wont save newspaper companies. the main source of revenue for them is advertising, and the biggest of those are car dealerships. think about whats happening in the auto industry right now.

[oops]

i have the unfortunate or is it fortunate problem of being so remote that I can only get the Sunday edition of the New York Times and no one else will deliver to our store unless someone is waiting on the curb to collect the papers when they are delivered, so I think the newspaper business is putting itself into trouble in cases such as ours because I have dowzens of customers a day asking for a paper

[Acacia Regular]

Simple. Get rid of the papers. NYT isnt worth the paper it's printed on.