On Tuesday, Starbucks will donate a nickel to Conservation International for every Starbucks Card purchase

In past years, Starbucks has given free drip coffee to customers with personal cups on Earth Day. This year, Starbucks is donating five cents to Conservation International for every purchase made on Earth Day (that's Tuesday, April 22) with a Starbucks Card at any Starbucks store in the U.S. and Canada. (Read the Starbucks press release)

Comments

[atownsbuxrules]

Hmmm. ...Orrrrrrrrrrrr we can start recycling, pushing for-here cups and traveler mugs, and stop wasting so god damn much of everything? Like when orders come in with more packaging than humanly necessary!!!! (And some stuff still comes in broken, so maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board.)

In the meantime, thank you Starbucks for at least making an effort and stepping in the right direction.

Recycling is up to the individual stores, so calling starbucks to require it for every store is well...kinda absurd. I know it SOUNDS all great a plausible, but certain areas don't have recycling programs or don't do pickup for recycling. I mean, I am ALL for recycling (as are the other partners in my store), as is our DM. We talked to him about it, and because of the amount of recyclable material (we focused on milk cartons only), a partner would have to take bags to the recycling place daily...which is very far across town. And all of us either have other jobs or school. It just wasn't possible.

[hateful.]

I will never understand fellow employees that are so irate about their jobs. If you don't like the way things are done...move on.

Also this tree hugging ultra liberal mindset confounds me. Do you really want to do that much more work? When ever we would have an open forum in ny, the baristas and shifts would all have these "great" ideas, which only would increase our workload. Think things through and stop talking just to hear your own voice.

[meme]

Have you ever SEEN the packaging from when CDs are shipped to the stores? They will send 4 cds in a HUGE box with cardboard dividers and everything in them. Its insane. Its not Starbucks' fault as much as its just how it is when shipping things but its a little over the top.

I work at a store in the downtown core of our city and we can't get recycling. I done blame Starbucks- I blame our municipal government. Not enough funding for recycling programs in the urban areas yet we can build new art theatres and yadayadayada.

Anyways as far as I know we are giving away FREE drip coffee with the use of a personal cup, tomorrow. As per usual. As well as the 5 cent donation deal.

Well said, Hateful

[Coffee Man]

I like the idea of donating five cents from the purchase of a drink, versus asking for a donation from the customer, who I'm sure is usually offended or caught off guard by this. It's Starbuck's idea to donate the five cents, it shouldn't be passed on to the customer to decide what to donate when they just came in for a cup of joe. Bravo, Starbuck's. I hope that more companies will follow this method.

[newbie]

ANY TRUTH to the RUMMOR they are going to increase the personal cup discount. Make it worth while! I saw a study done by a ASU student that basically said that customers prefered starbucks coffee to STARBUCKS coffee if it was in starbucks cups. The research hinted that the cup is a status symbal!

yeah you guys are right, let's just sit back and not give a shit, it really gets stuff done.

And "omg more work to do!" is such a shitty attitude. Get over it.

Its not that is "more work" at work, the sorting and such is easy. Just put up another trash can. The "more work" came from well...let me put it in a personal view. I'm have less work than most other baristas in my store, because they are mostly seniors working to graduate or in intense internships, but I still could never find time to drive an hour there and back to the recycling place (we have some serious traffic in my town). Between going to classes, prepping for exams and essays, and working 25+hrs a week to pay bills...I just don't have time. Neither do my coworkers who have other jobs, or the girl going to nursing school and can only work weekends because she's so busy, or the girl who's a teaching intern and has to grade papers every night.

But thats enough arguing. We all do are part, and its just plain rude to bitch that someone isn't doing enough. We all can do our best, but we all can't save the world.

Now, I'm going back to my essay on the Anthropology of Guatemalan Poverty and Genocide

^pardon my typos for in the above, its late and my brain is starting to lag.

[MusicGal]

Thanks, webmaster, for a positive story (finally)!

Now I'm not your typical tree-hugging eco-crazy green-promoting person, but I still think it's nice of the company...

[sacman]

Speaking of Starbucks cards...my understanding was that if I registered my cards, I'd get comps of things like syrups. However, Ive had my card registered for the last two weeks and each time I've received a receipt showing the purchase and balance it reflects the regular drink price plus the extra charges (syrup and/or soy milk). What do you have to do to get the discount promised? Has it not started yet? They were advertising it a couple weeks ago with little folded leaflets at the register and it didn't indicate a start date.

[hi]

SACMAN..
I suggest mentioning it at the register next time. Its not automatic, we have to press another button and swipe the card an extra time. Its not hard at all but its one of those things thats just so easy to forget to do since its new and a little unfamiliar to us still. Just nicely remind the register barista on your next visit.

Speaking of Starbucks cards:
I cant get the syrup discount to work on a Caramel macchiato. It doesn't DO anything when I swipe. Thats a bit silly dont you think?

SACMAN..
I suggest mentioning it at the register next time. Its not automatic, we have to press another button and swipe the card an extra time. Its not hard at all but its one of those things thats just so easy to forget to do since its new and a little unfamiliar to us still. Just nicely remind the register barista on your next visit.

This confuses me. While it's a new procedure, I'm confused as to why Starbucks vaunts this new feature of the registered card, but leaves most of the onus on the customer to get it.

It's just poor customer service all-around to leave the inquiry of a given discount on the customer.

As a customer, Starbucks would have done better to not put this promotion out unless it could have done it right. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time I go to use my Starbucks card and have to remind the barista for a silly 50 cents in savings.

While the gesture is nice, it soon becomes annoying and a little frustrating to know that with one swipe of a card and automatic processing, Starbucks can take my money, but when it comes down to a very small discount that I initially never asked for, it becomes multiple swipes of cards and a manual process plus time wasted due to confusion.

Just leaves a bad impression of Starbucks' customer service (which I know is decent for the most part, but a new customer with only one experience may think differently), makes them come off having poorly planned and executed promotions and having extremely lacking communication between Seattle, the stores and the customers.

[hateful.]

just because you want it to be so, does not make it a "rummor." There has been no talk about increasing the discount.

I also wonder where you read this college study? "Symbal"?

The validity of your statement is only as valid as it's presentation.

[M]

All of our baristas ask the customers if their card is registered...but usually only if the discount counts towards their drink. If you order a basic drink, there's no need to ask. We have been asking anyway, just to make the customers aware of it. Makes me wonder where these Starbucks are that people get keep getting bad customer service and confusion...the extra card swipe takes 2 seconds and nobody at our store seems to mind...maybe b/c the people who get the drinks w/ all the add-ons aren't the ones who are in a hurry...the ones who are get their black coffee and go.

We don't take the syrup off the Caramel Macchiato b/c it's part of the original 'recipe'...the discount only works on EXTRA syrups and add-ons.

happy earth day. starbucks should be more environmentally responsible EVERY day. I know for a fact that in northern CA recycling IS available, everywhere, you just have to pay for pick up. and if you were really good, you'd become a certified green business. but instead starbucks goes for the PR of an earth day donation.

starbucks does nothing that doesn't have marketing value.

[Make love not war]

@HATFUL

"ultra liberal"???

I'm ultra conservative and so I support resource CONSERVATION. Get it?

I blame government as well. Let these folks swim in landfills

[Melody]

I'd be curious about the people who somehow find fault in Starbucks giving money to a non-profit (Conservation International). They call it a PR stunt.

Do these people, with such animosity to towards Starbucks, buy all their groceries at a co-op? I assume they would NEVER set foot in a walmart or Sams Club? Do they shop at the Gap or Old Navy and buy clothes made in third world countries? (or for that matter, most large chain clothing stores have clothes made under conditions that might horrify us.)

[...]

Does anyone know if it is against company policy to schedule employees based on "how legendary" they are? As in, "your hours depend on how legendary you are on the floor"

Please answer asap.

[maggiemunkee]

... at 8:36:38, if you feel your hours are being cut, schedule a one-on-one with your store manager. that should not be happening. if your performance is less than legendary, it is up to your manager to connect with you and help you out. being manipulated into quitting is not the starbucks way.

[hateful.]

More hours go to the best partners. This is how all stores are run. Why put a weak barista on the floor for 30 hours when its just going to stress out the other partners who have to pick up the slack, and piss off the customers who get a cup a foam instead of a latte.

Make sure that after you quit, voluntarily, because you don't get enough hours because you don't deserve them, that you file a lawsuit. That's the barista way.

[hateful.]

Make love not war.

A true conservative would not want to waste money on conservation initiatives. Also a true conservative would not want the government or anyone else to force them to do something.

Small government, less spending.

'Now, I'm going back to my essay on the Anthropology of Guatemalan Poverty and Genocide'

And we're all soooooo impressed. LOL!

[...]

Nope, not the issue at all.

I'm not quitting, I'm just concerned at this trend of managers making it known that "the more legendary partners get hours" Last time I checked, this was against company policies.

Actually, it's not against company policies, it *is* the company policy. Every barista gets a "skill level" rating in ALS, which ALS uses along with your availability to auto-set the weekly schedule. It seems that a manager would have every right to consider your customer service when assigning you a skill level. And in a company where partners are always always always "competing" for hours, isn't skill level the best way to assign them vs. pleas of who needs them more (lots of sob stories circulated when store sales go down!!)?

"""Hmmm. ...Orrrrrrrrrrrr we can start recycling, pushing for-here cups and traveler mugs"""

Two things: for-here cups take up alot of existing space and waste water energy - when you're talking about a business who does nothing but beverages - more people go through a Starbucks each day than a night club might see in one night's beverage service. You'd have to make room to keep enough ceramic mugs on hand to keep the in-store customers happy, then you'd have to wash them daily in between uses, per health code standards. You're talking a BIG hike in water bill charges, more time taken away from service to handle the clean-up, etc, especially when you consider the # of people that frequent some of the busier shops.

It's not exactly as cut-and-dried as it seems. Paper cups properly disposed of can make up for the water energy wasted. Traveler mugs save the shop some money with not having to go through paper stock so often, and they spread out the water usage since the individual washes it out at home as needed, and not necessarily each day. That would be the ideal - but you can't expect every person to walk around with a mug handy at a momen'ts notice, so there's going to have to be an alternative. Keeping the paper is actually a better option than doing in-store mugs. Put a recycling bin in the store - negotiate for a pick-up service that wouldn't send employees in their personal cars halfway across town in order to do it - you can store used cups and do a 2-3x weekly run to the recycling deposit site, even if the locality makes it a big distance. It's still do-able, and cheaper than an increase in water use.

To anon above (12:28:29):

That is a sound argument. However, go to and European Starbucks and look behind the counter. There will many, many for-here ceramic mugs. They make it work, so can we.

To Hateful:

The validity of your statement is only as valid as it's presentation.

Redundancy also weakens your arguments. Oh, and there is no need for an apostrophe when attaching a possessive noun to "it."

Stop being so hateful, it's not nice.

[tyvoor]

Hateful.

A true conservative would recognize that Starbucks is a private company and that it can do whatever it wants. I don't think Make Love not War brought government into it.

[Bronwyn]

"Starbucks is donating five cents to Conservation International for every purchase made on Earth Day (that's Tuesday, April 22) with a Starbucks Card at any Starbucks store in the U.S. and Canada."

Urg. The location I go to regularly didn't have a clue about this. They were a proper location too! Made me frustrated. I didn't end up buying a card.

[CoffeeMaster33]

This would've been a great idea, except nobody (not even my manager) knew the correct discount code for the free coffee. Of course we still did a Right Now Recovery, but are we getting our 5 cent donation counted?

[dmanagerLA]

ugh... it wasnt' free coffee. it was 5 cents donated when you paid with your starbucks card.
managers, read your portal, read your mail

[dmanagerLA]

and people, come on, baristas...
ask your customers "Want to know how you can get this soy/syrup/refill for FREE?"

it isn't that hard!

I registered up a card just to see if I would get my free vanilla syrup in my iced vanilla latte...

Nope.

It was sad. Good thing I used fake information.

I can see that this new "discount" isn't really that effective and is just another way for SBUX to collect customer's info to spam messages to and sell to third parties who want customer lists.

It's sad, too. I wonder if maybe someone could take SBUX to the cleaners for false advertising. I mean, I held up my end of the bargain by handing over my info (well, sorta.)... SBUX hasn't done the same.

And to those who want to say it, it's not my job to tell the staff that I want my free 50c syrup. It's their job to make sure I get it WITHOUT asking.

Poor service all around.

[Ruby Doomsday]

No, anonymous poster, it shouldn't be your job to ask for free vanilla syrup, but make sure you do anyway. Most of us will be happy to give it to you, but where most of the time we are made well aware of the promotions, this one was a bit of a sleeper. I've heard a lot of baristas from a lot of locations mention that they learned from the customers that these new changes were made in the first place! Starbucks kind of dropped the ball on this one. Great idea, but a shaky execution. It'll get beter though, just bear with us through the growing pains. I think if a few helpful understanding customers would have the patience to remind their barista "don't forget to mash the 'card benefits' button", before long it WILL become routine. Free vanilla for you, a reminder for us, better service for the next guy... it's a slight inconvenience to the customer, and I DO understand that, but it does help make a positive change you will benefit from in the future.

[Robert]

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[Elvis]

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[John]

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