Starbucks sees sales declining in 2009

Starbucks says in a filing: "Management expects the company to continue to face a very difficult economic environment throughout fiscal 2009," in the United States and internationally, including in the two largest company-operated markets, Canada and the United Kingdom. || Read "Starbucks sees 2009 same-store sales dropping"

[Note that comments now JUMP to other pages, and that they are NOT ON ONE PAGE as they were previously.]

Comments

[The ASM]

More delegation, less rhetoric and "bright ideas" from corporate! Let us do our jobs without a SM or DM breathing down our necks. This schizophrenic company is going down for a reason.

To "The ASM":
Possibly unlike you, many baristas simply cannot voice our opinions without being threatened in passive ways. This is our outlet.

Posted by: annnonymous | November 24, 2008 at 07:17 PM

also, ASM, you got your promotion for a reason... think about it... cough cough

Posted by: annnonymous | November 24, 2008 at 07:39 PM

I have been working for this company for many years now and I earned the position I am at. I was a Barista for quite a long time so I DO know what it is like. Also, why do you feel the need to bring someone down? I was merely trying to throw a bit of positivity into the mix for a change. Granted I have had more than my fair share of bad days in the last 6 years but I don't try to bring someone down only to make myself feel better. I'm sorry that one person in this apparently horrible company likes what they do and worked *VERY VERY VERY* hard to get it! If you feel that you are not heard then there are outlets for you to speak with other partners - grow adapt and overcome my anon friend.

[grass is getting greener]

No offense Melody, and yes I am new to comment, but I've read stuff here before. My question to you stems from the link to the website, which it appears is through starbucks.com. I was going to waste my words over their too, but when I read through their disclaimer,I did not like what I read. SBUX will not do away with the DM's, but they will cut from the bottom and likely the top. It would be hard to cut the DM's, but they should manage them closer and make it more of a working position. Doesn't matter I've said my piece as accurately as I see it. Howard can excuse his actions and refusal to "cheapen the brand name" by lowering prices as an excuse to further damage relations with his customers and partners which he cares so much about. All he needs to do, or needed to do as it is to late most likely, was to lower the prices on his drip coffee to respond to his customers in an economic crisis. To respond by such things as bringing overpriced oatmeal in as an option, was one of the most foolish things I have seen yet. Wonder how that is working for ya? The lowering prices on drip coffee gesture, because that is all that really would have been, would have gone a long way and also would probably kept traffic up to a degree. I believe his ego will cloud the path.

[Darleen]

Training of all the newbie/wannabe baristas/register monkeys has been inadequate--they have a difficult time drawing a drip coffee and figuring out how to get my gold card to work.

You know, you had me in your corner until I read that statement. Who are you to call people MONKEYS? These "newbies" you rant about, they are in the LEARNING stages. You come off a little high and mighty, in my opinion. If you want to get your opinion across, maybe you should refrain from the name calling, just makes you look bad.

[Darleen]

I went through Servant Leadership through SBUX, and "I read Good to Great" and "Built to Last" by Jim Collins, both indirectly advised readings from Mr. Schultz, through my then Regional Director-Dean Torrenga. What a shame that I don't see these practices and principles being applied

Again, I don't see you applying any of these practices here either. I don't think you will find "name calling" in your Servant Leadership Book. Pot, meet Kettle.

[FLA SM]

To answer the question from above, yes we too received word that our Siren's Eye was to be completed Tuesday night. When I heard that I said "Well, it ain't gonna happen." They want us to schedule three weeks in advance, and then change everything around with only 24 hours notice? F**k that! I am continually amazed at how the company talks out of both sides of it's mouth. Schedule three weeks out, but change it at the last minute when someone at the top panics for no reason. Be prepared to be scrutinized for minor things like line voids but we're going to lose a laptop with the personal info of 97,000 people. They make a big deal about how partners come first, repect & dignity, blah blah blah, but then they announce store closings without closing dates to make partners twist in the wind for months on end, wondering if they will have jobs. Back to basics, espresso excellence, etc. No wait, breakfast sandwiches, Vivannos and a complete reversal of espresso excellence. They require non-coverage task like values walks, QASA self-audits, partner one-on-ones, etc. in addition to interviews, certifications, shift meetings, reviews, etc. on top of the regular admin duties. But wait, now we have to do it with even less non-coverage hours. REALLY? Has any one of the people who make these decisions ever worked in a store? Apparently not. Why do people complain? Because we were sold a bill of goods that said how wonderful Starbucks was to work for and how different they were from other low-wage jobs. We complain because we got lied to. At least at McDonalds, you know it's going to suck before you start. I used to wonder why so many partners complained about their managers. Now I know. All the good ones left Starbucks when they began this downward spiral. Me? I'm outta here as soon as I line up something else. Another good manager will be gone.

[greenmug]

"Training of all the newbie/wannabe baristas/register monkeys has been inadequate--they have a difficult time drawing a drip coffee and figuring out how to get my gold card to work.

You know, you had me in your corner until I read that statement. Who are you to call people MONKEYS? These "newbies" you rant about, they are in the LEARNING stages. You come off a little high and mighty, in my opinion. If you want to get your opinion across, maybe you should refrain from the name calling, just makes you look bad.

Posted by: Darleen | November 26, 2008 at 02:14 AM"

--------------------------------------

to be fair, he is the customer and you (were) the employee, so i think it's unfair to say that, darleen.

the way some of these baristas act today, with their poor service abilities, so-dumb-they-can-barely-maintain-life-support intelligence and lack of common sense does have customers frequently compare the folks behind the counter to monkeys. i mean, monkeys can make the drinks better on some days.

i think you don't realize (or don't want to realize) that lots of customers have low opinions generally of the starbucks staff (discussion frequently comes up in line that goes along these lines: "what do you think they're thinking? man, these employees are duuuuuuuuuuuumb." either way, it's generally hushed conversation in line, but still goes on. you may not want to hear that that happens, but it does. generally speaking, the folks behind the counter are there for a reason -- they can't find real jobs. that goes further when they realize they have no prospects so they try to take it out on customers who deserve to be treated excellently by denying simple requests like venti waters.

[waltie]

HEY WEBMASTER!!!

If you are going to put the comments on multiple pages, you have to have a way to jump to different pages (or, at the very least, to the LAST page) without clicking through EVERY page one by one.

The way it is now makes this page unreadable.

[jabanga]

i had a random starbucks dream last night. i had been rehired to work in the store i both started and finished at working for a former manager (she was a great manager, promoted to district manager, now no longer with the company) and i was very excited. so, she was working on the schedule and showed me that she was having trouble getting me any shifts because apparently this formerly very busy store was simply using just two openers and two closers and no mids at all.i was told i would just have to come up with some shifts if i wanted to work. so i was hanging around trying to work and then noticed i was wearing my painting clothes (i have largely been working as a painter since leaving starbucks) and no one had bothered to tell me. then the dream ended with a big "oh well".

something about closure or lack thereof i suppose...

[CounterBean]

Fret not!!! There is still the Starbucks BOOK CLUB to save the day!!!!! LOL

CDs, books, mugs.......

[grass is getting greener]

Darleen,
It is not really name calling, but even if it is, I am not the face of SBUX. Just an observation I believe is correct. My point was Mr. Schultz has/had a big opportunity to set the company on the right path. I do not see that he did it. He likely missed an immediate opportunity which will impact all on board that ship. Not about me,it's about SBUX. Who cares about my opinion anyway.

[Tracy]

if you're not taking your legal breaks, than you're just stupid. the job ain't worth it.

Posted by: that's dumb

------

It took me a long time to learn that when I was a shift. Seriously, it's just a job. take your breaks.

[Me]

Yes, breaks are legally required. And it does not really save you any time if you don't take it.
First, you will hit the wall just sooner than later.
Second, Starbucks pays you for this 10 or 15 minute break (depending where you are) If you decide to work through, you water down your payment package (which by the way isn't as crappy as some people make you believe, just consider everything, e.g free partner drinks, weekly markout, benefits, if you are eligible).
Third, if your work isn't to be done during the scheduled time, either stay longer (you get paid for it), or leave the store at the scheduled time the exact way it is. If everyone would do that, corporate would have to see it is not doable. Unfortunately, if we say we can't do it with the given labour, then they always point towards the people who are able to handle it. This would be the partners not taking breaks, store managers spending 60-80 hour weeks etc. Once they are burned out they just get discarded. Please do not support that. Do your job as good as you can, maybe even try and stretch yourself a little, but don't spent your personal (in some cases unpaid) free time to help out a multi billion dollar corporation.
Go and help the local soup kitchen, if you are looking for ways to spent your free time.
But this is just me saying...

[152****]

Trixie, that marginalist "jobs are supply and demand" line is a bit too simplistic.

There is far from the perfect competition and perfectly mobile labor that would allow the ls and ld curves to be as balanced as you suggest.

[Nerfebarista]

Trixie is just another one of those (badword) that thinks they are better than everyone else. I serve you when you come to Starbucks. You have an excellent point and I'll do anything that is required to make you a happy customer, BUT I know YOU serve someone too. No matter what it is you do for a living, you serve or cater to someone else's whims. So all of you "customer comes first" (badword) out there, just remember, You probably serve me in some fashion or another. thanks for reading.

Sorry for the Ire and personal attacks. When people are referred to as monkeys and shat on by someone who thinks they are better than anyone else, I gets a bit silly. We are all Servants and Customers to someone else. No one person is top of the food chain.

Can we talk about the new mission statement soon? :)

[sbuxnewbie]

Grass is greener:
You asked:
"When is the last time your DM showed up first thing in the morning or on a busy weekend and put on an apron?"

Let's see....

About once every other week.

Usually he stops in 2-3 times a week, and calls every other day to see how things are, and if he can help us with anything. He returns every phone call within an hour (unless he stops by in response), and if he sees we're quite busy, he jumps right in.

Sweeps the floor, does cafe sweeps, takes out the trash, makes coffee - anything he can do to make things flow smoother if we're jammed up.

He also coaches, answers questions, and sits down with each partner at least once a quarter.

That's "just" the DM; the SM is on the floor with us at least 3 shifts a week, trusts us to do our jobs, firmly coaches when needed, and has a one-on-one with each partner at least monthly.

I came to Starbucks after a long Civil Service Career. I can't speak for any other district, but ours is a very comfortable place to be. We know what is expected of us, and strive to exceed expectations. So far, we're doing just that.

[ensenadajim]

Love the escapism. Yes, starbie cannot manage the macroeconomics, but why the ding-dong can't they handle their own microeconomics?

[Suki]

Can anybody tell me if there will be an after Thanksgiving sale in stores?

[grass is getting greener]

sbuxnewbie,
Then he is a good role model and probably earns respect. I'd also bet he does not glorify what he does. I'd also guess your store/district is one of the higher performing ones. I hope your store manager is on the floor with you every day, as 3 days a week is 2 days less than necessary. But obviously not all day every day. If your store/district is doing well, then it sort of validates my point. I'm not throwing stones, I'm pointing out what I saw and still see. I had the good fortune of working with a strong DM for a little while, although not as you describe yours, but effective. The problem is they need accountability too. To do away with DM's would create an accountability void at the store level, but neglect does as well. I'll take a guess that your store is not a remote market. Mine was a remote market and thus maybe that is where the DM is more prone to irresponsibility. Your circumstance may be somewhat rare, but should be commonplace. Our whole state had a DM problem, and from what the SM's I still keep in touch with tell me, it is not much better. Count your blessings (sounds as if you already do). Your Seattle leadership should role model or recognize what your group does. SBUX will survive, I just hope they resemble the company they once were, but with some positive progression as well. Good luck!

[Darleen]

to be fair, he is the customer and you (were) the employee, so i think it's unfair to say that, darleen

I have to disagree, I would ask anyone not to call someone a MONKEY. That to me is the epitome of disrespect. This has nothing to do with the fact that I once worked for Starbucks, this totally has to do with the fact that someone would refer to another human being as a monkey. I know we all say things that can be taken out of context, but I don't think I missed on this one. I do appreciate your opinion though, I know I tend to defend Starbucks, and the partners, and I appreciate the way you responded.

[Darleen]

Darleen,
It is not really name calling, but even if it is, I am not the face of SBUX.

To be honest, it is. However, you do have the right to your opinion, I just think that it was a bit disrespectful to call someone a monkey. Again, you are entitled to your opinion.

[Darleen]

On a more positive note:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING FOLKS!!!! I hope all of you have a great day, spend time with loved ones, pig out and have a blast!

[Melody]

I'm going to have to agree with Waltie that this new format is hard to follow. You have to scroll through a bunch of pages. Maybe the site could default to most recent comments first?

Yes HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! :-)

Melody

[P.R.I.D.E.]

I agree- please limit the clicks, webmaster! It only takes a few times of being frustrated...and this thread only has 60-70 comments...

my thoughts on the DM role- unless you've been one, you have no idea. I remember in my early years thinking "If I were a DM I'd do it THIS way!"...how naive I was...

Sure, there are crappy DMs, and there are crappy SMs, and crappy ASMs, and on and on. But you can't use your own experience to make a statement across the board. I don't care if you worked for 10 DMs- that is still not representative of the DM population.

And another thing- maybe DMs were able to avoid accountability back in the day, but I can absolutely confirm that they are being micromanaged even further than the stores are. Their schedules are dictated, their focus determined, they have just as many checklists, frustrations, etc. So please don't think the DM role is this glorious, work from home 25-30 hour a week role. It is soooo far from that.

[UsedToBeAmericanoMan]

Darleen,

I used to have respect for a majority of Starbucks employees, now it is a very small minority that deserve my respect. As a customer, when I come into "your" store I will treat you with courtesy and respect and expect it to be returned. When you cannot operate a POS system, make a simple espresso drink (or even drip coffe), keep your work space clean and neat, and do it all with a smile then it is you that do not have a clue and should seek a job with no public contact.

I used to know most of the employees at the three Starbucks I frequent. Used to be that most of the time I was introduced by the "old hands" whenever I came in and there was a new employee. NONE of the newbies have picked up on this little gem of customer relations. If the store was busy and one of the "old hands" had not introduced me, I would extend my hand and do it myself--still do, but the newbies do not seem to care.

I am now retired, but I have worked in the trenches of retail and food service so I make a conscious effort to not be the type of customer that I hated to serve, but did serve with attention, courtesy, and a smile

If you want people to respect you and your job, then you need to have respect for your job--be the best you can be and try to do better.

[Sheik]

I really don't like the way we have to click a few extra times in order to see the latest post/reply to a topic.

Terrible idea.

[Roger Kimble]

The company is juicing up sales by helping AIDS: http://a-days-pay.blogspot.com/2008/11/starbucks-red.html

[Kenya?Yukon!]

Telling a partner who disagrees and complains about something within Starbucks to quit and get another job is like telling someone who disagrees and complains about how this country works to find another country to live in. Ever think that maybe some of us are still so passionate about Starbucks that we hate seeing some of these things? Just like when we see injustices and inconsistencies that happen here in America (if you live here of course) and voice our disapproval to FIX or CHANGE what's going on? I thought the point of "complaining" was to vocalize what needs to be changed?

[C]

Dear Grass -

Shut up. You type too much.

RE: CLOSING DOWN THAT NIGHT
Yes, that's what I understood too. The purpose was training -- namely to show how we might for regroup and to explain how Sbux was going back to the basics. Since then, not much has changed. In fact, at our store, we seem to have same or even more non- coffee-related food and trinkets. When is management going to help us provide the basics and promote our efforts?

[Me]

I assume we can complain as much as we want about the annoying clicks. Jim apparently wanted to bring up the click rate on his site, which in return brings him more money for ads. So I guess we should either get over with or leave to other sites, but I don't think he will change it anytime soon. This was most likely a business decision. But hey, this is a starbucks gossip site, not a "we hate the new navigation" site.

Anyway, if you do care, Jim, please at least give the option to jump right to one specific page. You could do that by numbering them. This way we could read a long thread and come back later reading the rest of it by knowing we have to start on page 6 of 10 or something like that.

[Athena]

A whole bunch of comments back, JJ said "coffee was never Starbucks' product," and I want to comment on that.

Coffee *is* Starbucks' product. Because so many partners (primarily at corporate) don't get this, Starbucks spends a lot of time, money, and effort on the wrong things.

I was a Starbucks customer for almost 15 years before I became a partner. I went to Starbucks because I wanted to buy the product they were selling (quality espresso drinks). As a customer, I didn't know anything about green apron values, third places, or any of the other mumbo jumbo Starbucks is all about internally, and I didn't care about any such nonsense, I just wanted a good drink.

I didn't even patronize Starbucks because of better customer service. The customer service, frankly, has always been pretty much the same as it is everywhere else in retail: sometimes good, sometimes great, sometimes not-so-good, sometimes really bad.

When I became a partner, I discovered there was a whole different world inside the Starbucks bubble, a world of goofy idealism, quasi-mystical sentiment about the "Starbucks experience," and a weirdly inflated sense of the importance of serving coffee that had no connection at all to my experience as a customer all those years. I seriously wondered what people were smoking in senior leadership meetings.

Starbucks thinks it's "different" and "special" in ways that it actually is not, ways that are imperceptible and irrelevant to its customers.

Several people in this thread have commented on the need for us to understand that we are simply a coffee shop, or even (gasp) a fast food outlet, and they're right. If senior leadership understood that, we might be more focused on things that actually matter to our customers.

These days, there are a lot more options than there used to be for customers who want to buy a quality espresso beverage. On days off, I generally find myself going to an independent coffee house instead of Starbucks because they make better drinks and the atmosphere is more chill. Maybe it's because they're not trying to "inspire and nurture the human spirit" or save the earth or change the world or whatever it is Starbucks thinks it's doing this week. They're just serving good coffee.

[brando]

amen, Athena.
On my days off I don't go to starbucks unless I need my tips... THEN if I want coffee (and not just my markouts) I go to the local shops. Yeah, they take a few minutes to make a latte, but you know it's made with care and it's going to be f*cking good. If starbucks wasn't fast food, then we wouldn't be worrying about the whole THREE MINUTE deal.

[Darleen]

Darleen,

I used to have respect for a majority of Starbucks employees, now it is a very small minority that deserve my respect.

Can we get something straight here? I am not saying this based on Starbucks, okay? Look, this is basic Humanity 101. Treat people with respect. I don't think it's that hard to comprehend.

[grass is getting greener]

Darleen,
You must have confused some others comments with mine. I have not referred to anyone as a monkeys.
Kenya? Yukon?
Don't read it if you don't want. But your right, those were way to long. I'm not really trying to force my opinion on anyone. Honestly, that all provided me with some much needed closure with a company that I really cared about.

[Darleen]

grass is getting greener,
I don't recall saying your posts were too long, maybe you have me confused with another poster. I would never begrudge you getting closure. In fact, that's why I'm still here. Good Luck to you!

[grasss is getting greener]

Darleen,
Your comment said I had called someone names (monkeys I think), which was not me. The long string closure comment was to Kenya?Yukon?. But its not really important. Good luck to you as well.

[Robert]

As I told HQ this morning in an e-mail I sent to them (after the 5th incident of brewed coffee not being ready in the past month at my local store here in San Francisco): "I recently read that "The company will face an extremely challenging fiscal 2009 because Starbucks customers may have less money for discretionary purchases as a result of job losses, foreclosures, bankruptcies..." etc. Be sure to add "Starbucks employee apathy" to that list. I have a Tully's around the corner. If I wanted indifference, I'd order coffee from my cats.

Shoe = open store

Manager menu = flag
manager portal menu = salad
staff portal menue = freeway

time and attendance mgr glass
ALS mgr then house

[ASoldiersStory]

It's that crappy Pikes Place stuff. Also the customer service just "ain't what it used to be" at my local store.