What's with all the cars plowing into Starbucks stores?

Here are just a few of incidents from recent years. Last month, a car struck a customer at suburban Milwaukee Starbucks and sent her through the window. I went to that store last weekend and noticed that they'd put up heavy posts (photo at left; click on for a larger image) to stop "runaway" cars; good move!

Comments

[SBUX Alum Bill]

Maybe those are over-caffeinated customers looking for a refill on their Trentas!

[Darth Sidamo]

This isnt rocket science. Over half of our customers are on their phones, not paying attention to anything you say at the speaker. What makes you think they pay attention driving? Go ahead. Ask if they want a permanent marker latte. They will say no and go on to ordering their no water soy chai.

[Sheik]

^^ AGREED with Darth sidamo

[saturn]

Before everyone makes suggestions as to why this happens so often to Starbucks, first research how many cars run into buildings in the US each year, how many of those buildings are businesses vs. homes, how many of the businesses are coffee shops vs. hair salons vs. restaurants vs. doctor's offices etc., and how many businesses are plowed into by their own customers vs. people in the area for another reason. If the number of Starbucks (or perhaps coffee shops) that get hit by cars is statistically significant, then ask what's causing it.

[Herman M.]

It's all the customers trying to check in on Foursqaure trying to get the latest "mayor discount".

Many moons ago we had a person drive up on the patio along the side of our store one night trying to get to the drive through window...which we didn't have. Can't say I've seen that happen at any other job.

[Next topic please...]

I agree totally with "saturn"... this happens everywhere, all the time. I suppose if you counted up the number of incidents that made the news and counted the total number of possible stores and came up with comparable ratios for other establishments you could argue the point... but not without hard data. I don't wish to spend the time but if someone else does, they could start with these:

Car crashes at Dunkin Donuts

Car crashes at McDonalds

Car crashes at Pizza Hut

VIDEOS of car crashes at laundromats

Although, I will admit, some of these videos
make me a bit anxious and nervous for my own life...

[Barista G]

I don't know if Starbucks is hit more often than other customers, but something turns off when they approach our store. I once spent three hours answering drive-thru as "Peter the Talking Penis". My DM decided to surprise us and when he got to the window, he complimented my suggestive selling.

[merrynl]

Maybe these people all learned to drive in Kentucky. I've NEVER seen so many vehicle-building accidents as I have living in Kentucky.

[Doppio Con Karma]

I for one take borderline sick pleasure when a customer runs their car into our drive thru handoff plane or building exterior and then tries holding us at fault. It's a building, it didn't jump into your way.

[Darth Sidamo]

Im not saying that Starbucks is the only place in American History where somebody has driven a car into a building. Not many people wreck cars while paying close attention, except for Jeff Gordon. It is a single lane with no passing. All of those places mentioned, are places where consumers ignore everything but their phone (if it were a Nintendo DSi then I would be more forgiving).

[Coffee Soldier]

I agree with you Doppio Con Karma...I know it's mean but come on pay attention people!

[me, myself and I]

I've never worked in a drive through. Are you guys allowed to laugh when someone wildly damages his car bumping into things while on the phone?

[Darth Sidamo]

Sometimes I am surprised to hear people dont work in DT stores. Minus downtown I can only think of maybe three cafe stores out of about 45 of them.

[Doppio con karma]

I heart my headset. Are people looking forward to the new all in one models?

[Kro]

The new all-in-one models don't work well with glasses. They pinch your ear and cause the glasses to shift so that one lens is higher than the other.

[Crema_the_crop]

We just got the new headsets on Wednesday and they are FANTASTIC. It's like having a face-to-face conversation with someone. You can also set up the system to automatically play reminder messages like "change sanitizer" and "check restrooms". No more timer madness. Also, I wear glasses and mine are unaffected by the headset. I also love how they light up like a disco when you b-button someone.

[Doppio Con Karma]

the buttons are located on the headset, correct? still not sure how the new ones are going to play out. While I hate the cord, I like being able to just touch my belt while I'm doing 6 things at once instead of making a touch gesture at my ear. Guess we'll have to find out.

[JoBarista]

One of my guilty work pleasures is watching people too busy texting or talking that smack into the POS counter and sometimes the condiment bar in our busy store. These are inevitably the same sort of people who will stand in line too busy with their cell phones to be bothered to look at the menu boards and decide what they want. They step up to the register and ask what drinks/flavors we have.....causing an audible groan from the people standing in line behind them and holding up one of our lines needlessly while other customers tap their feet and give annoyed looks or just walk off.

[costa rica investments]

Interesting stuff .. I'm way behind on summer movies, but will finally be going to see this one today and am hoping the visuals manage to trump the very familiar storyline