Let's get the Labor Day Weekend OPEN THREAD going!

Toss out questions to the Starbucks employees who visit this site. Post your comments about visits to the coffee joint. Discuss the latest concerns of baristas. Gripe about customers. Whatever...just be civil about it. || Jump to the third page of comments.

Comments

[nycstoremanager]

I'm first!

[nycstoremanager]

ok now that thats out the way-

attended the NYC metro VIA rally yesterday where we were told repeatedly that this was the biggest launch in company history, the most important store meeting we have ever held, the most important new product since frapp, blah blah blah...

I have 2 say though that I actually like this product (am sipping on some VIA they gave us as I type) but a goal of almost $3,000 over 7 weeks is giving me both an ulcer and a migraine

[me myself and I]

I still don't see a lot of typical starbucks customers as via customers. They should target a different market with people that love them some instant coffee.
The via is an okay product with the wrong price tag and the wrong people trying to force it once again down an innocent customers throat just to meet sales goals. Keep it on the grocery shelfs, add it to the merchandise shelf in the stores, but please don't give us sales goals for a product people usually don't show up to get at our stores.

On the upside: It's supposed to be warm and sunny all weekend! Yay!

[60broad]

What's going on with this 50$ million lawsuit filed against a NYC Starbucks because one customer was insulted by another customer and the manager kicked her out? Does anyone know more about this? The customer is filing for 50$ million and nobody even got injured or killed? Is this justified? Is it weird? Is it going to get kicked out of the courtroom?

http://urbground.com/starbuckslawsuit.pdf

[j]

VIA should be sold at the grocery stores and sporting goods stores for hikers and campers. If people are making the effort to go to Starbucks they want a cup of BREWED coffee or whole bean coffee they intend to brew at home. People who currently drink instant coffee obviously have no real taste for quality coffee so it won't matter that VIA tastes great because they're used to drinking junk.

[inopethflames]

the good news is that this years pumpkin spice seems to be a lot better than last years, the flavor seems milder and better so im glad about that!

i dont think theres any place on the starbucks website where you can check when your gold card expires, unless im missing it, but i dont think they have that. i wish they did, how are you supposed to know when it expires. i guess for the next year ill have to write myself an email about the date.

[Ettal]

The intent of this huge VIA push is not to get your average Starbucks customer to start making their own "instant" coffee at home. It is a marketing trick to build AWARENESS for the product itself. You can't sell a product that people don't know about.

After this big push, Starbucks is hoping that enough people will be AWARE of the product to recognize and purchase the product for it's intended use in hotels and planes and traveling where there are no Starbucks.

Think of yourselves as a large virtual commercial for VIA... the company needs you to put on a good show :)

[GRTL]

My motivation to put on a good show at this point after every new "game changing" product...is low!

Oh and when we meet sales goals and are promised rewards of money for parties etc that never materializes...

[Hayley]

Hey has anyone seen the new 'to go' cups yet? I didn't know they were introducing cups that have the new siren on them. They were pretty cool, I was surprised because I on Friday I got a regular cup and then today I go this new one...is that part of the fall phase?

[nycstoremanager]

@Hayley

Each store was auto-shipped one case in each size if I remember correctly

[aeiou]

I don't understand why we have to have store meeting about VIA when we had a store meeting about VIA when it first came out in the limited markets (Seattle, Chicago I think?). I feel like the labor could be put to much better use (non-coverage cleaning tasks, a little bit of overlap in the schedule so people can actually take breaks, etc.).

[Shifty]

Hi everyone. I'm looking for some advice.
My district in Southern California has 3 assistant managers for 11 stores. One of the positions is open. I'm being tagged for the promotion.
The way I see it, I already do a whole lot of managerial work, including both orders, as well as researching pastry variance and milk usage for the HFS standing order. I'm not sure that getting promoted would mean much more than more money for essentially the same amount of work.
However, the DM has made it clear that only people who will become managers will be promoted to ASM, so I feel like this is a huge and somewhat irreversible decision so I'd like some feedback from current or past ASMs. Is the pay much better? Is there a larger workload, more responsibility?
Thanks everyone.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

Shifty, you you will just be training to become a SM, meaning you'll have a better understanding of ALS, soon to be GLS.

[DairyVariance]

GLS?

[Rafe McAllister]

Does anyone know why you have to get the gold cards on line only now?

[The Siren's eyes]

Whats going on in the regions out there with SMs leaving in record numbers. I'm in the Boston area and its crazy how many SM have left if the past few weeks. There was one week where ten managers gave their notice at once. Is this going on everywhere? I wonder how much RDOs have to do with it. I know the RDO in the area where this happend is a hard ass with a "its never good enough" additude. Its hard when you work your ass of and all you ever here is what you didn't do. I don't know how my SM deals with it everyday. So is this going on else where??

[Marcus]

I have had a very frustrating experience with Starbucks and need to find a way to contact their corporate headquarters and speak to someone other than customer relations. I will try to make my story as brief as possible.

About a month ago I went to the Starbucks web-site to find the nutrition information for a grande iced signature hot chocolate. The nutrition information for it and every other SHC product was obviously wrong.

For example, the venti size of the SHC lists that it has 40 g of trans fat when the total grams of fat is 23 g. It also claims to have 79 g of fiber, 56 g of protein, 60% of your daily iron, only 9 g of sugar, and yet miraculously has 210 g of carbohydrates total.

If you know anything about nutritional values, you can tell this is way off. (That amount of trans fat is ungodly, that amount of fiber would make you sick, there's nothing in it that has nearly that much iron, and there is more sugar in a plain cup of milk.) And Starbucks has stood by it for a month talking to me on the phone and by leaving it on the web-site!

So it was about a month ago, I wrote an e-mail to their customer relations. To this date, I have not received a reply. So about a week after I wrote that, I called, and the person I spoke to was quite rude. She said that the information was correct, she asserted that only the baked goods are trans fat free. I said but can't you see it's impossible for the number of grams of trans fats to exceed the overall number of grams of fat? She ignored that question. She said someone would get back to me. No one ever did. I called back in maybe 4 times over the course of the last month and never spoke to anyone who cared or even wanted to fix the web-site. I eventually found the corporate number for Starbucks, and got an operator, explained the situation tried several times to get them to transfer me to anyone in the office who had any authority, they refused and said my only point of contact was customer relations and advised me to ask for a supervisor, which I did twice. I finally spoke to someone who said he would forward it on to another department. They were supposed to call back and never did. Someone finally called this Wednesday and said there had been a typo (not quite a typo when it's every product in the SHC line and every size). She said the data was incorrect. And she said they would be updating the web-site very soon, as in within hours. However, a few days later and the site is the same.

I did a lot of legwork for a company that in the past has treated me well. But this time they did not at all. They made me feel like I was a burden for calling them. They were rude, dismissive to my intelligence in consistently claiming their info was right, not once did anyone apologize, or thank me. I actually assumed eventually someone would offer me at least a free drink coupon, although that is not why I was doing it and I never asked for one, and it was never offered.

I am just surprised that a company with that many employees can let a mistake stay on the web-site for so long. It seems like that now that they have admitted it, it must be somewhat illegal to knowingly keep the wrong information up there.

You can check for yourself. I was a bit peeved more at them never thanking me or apologizing and seeming so mad at me. I was being polite through it all and never asked for anything other than the correct information. And lately at my the Starbucks I go to every day (where I didn't mention any of this because it's really not something they can handle), I've been annoyed because the iced grande cup lids are leaking, and I got the wrong pastry this last week after standing in a long line and didn't notice it till I drove away.

Save this customer! I like Starbucks, but I don't like feeling like they don't like me. Does anyone have a number to Starbucks where I could relate my story of what happened and the fact that the web-site is still wrong other than customer relations?

BTW, just go to the web-site to check it out for yourself. As of Friday evening (Sept 4) it's still the wrong info.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

Francesca Peri, if you're referring to the RDO of New England North, is possibly one of the best ones out there. She doesn't let people get away with stuff. She expects people to exceed expectations...

[Brown Dot]

Thank you Marcus for pointing out the gaffe. it is quite possible that customer relations did not understand what you were trying to tell them. It is more likely that they did not care. And of course, you were just talking to customer relations, so they do not know a lot about the nutrition values and that is why they were telling you the info on the website was correct. And I am sorry the info was not updated immediately. Perhaps they are trying to calculate the correct nutritional values for each category.

[Marcus]

Thank you Brown Dot :) You both apologized and thanked me : ) And it wasn't your fault! Hehe, I appreciate someone hearing me.

[SBUCKS DRONE LOS ANGELES]

So in my district we're being told to pre-sell VIA to people, they handed every partner a little packet with information regarding the new product and who to target. There's also a little sheet taped to the packet where we're supposed to write the person's name and info confirming their order. I am wondering if anyone else is doing this.I sort of feel like a kid when I used to sell chocolates to relatives/neighbors for fundraisers in school. The one question that arises from all of this is, are we supposed to get paid to do this if we're doing it outside of work? Isn't it technically work OUTSIDE of work?

[Brown Dot]

Sbucks Drone

Time worked = time paid. SO yes you should be getting paid (esp in cali where our work rules are so stringent) So if you are not on the clock, don't be preselling VIA. If you are asked to go outside of your store to sell VIA, go to your store clock in, then go sell, come back and clock out. Also, keep track of your mileage cuz in cali we get paid for that too!

[Brown Dot]

shifty,
if you have no interest in being promoted to SM then do not take the ASM position. Save that for someone else who actually has interest in moving up. There is more accountability when you become an ASM and more responsibility. You may feel like you are doing everything, but you aren't. You deal with more partner issues and that sort of thing as well.

[SBUCKS DRONE LOS ANGELES]

Brown Dot

That's what I was wondering. The problem is, my SM didn't say anything about anyone getting paid. He just gave me the packet and said we need to sell the hell out of this stuff and there would be an "incentive" for the partner who sells more. It just seems a bit weird to me. I am all for helping out and selling, but I want to know for sure if I am going to get paid out of this.

[Aces of Eight]

According to my SM we get a bonus for a party for our store if we sell a lot of VIA, and that some stores that met the top goal got the maximum payout, I don't remember but it was really high.

As for as what my SM told me, if we sell a ton of VIA, we get a big reward for it.

Mine isn't the highest volume store, we are a mid traffic cafe, and we are a high brew store, and we didn't do as well as we could have on the Gold card sales, but we still all got 8 dollar best buy gift cards for how many we sold. Honestly, we didn't promote them all that well. We could have got a lot more.

I think he said the maximum payout for selling via (if we meet the very top goal is like 1000 USD for a party for the partners of the store...) and he said some stores have actually managed to pull that off.

[Beantown Bearista]

For once I agree with Boston Starbucks Rebel...Francesca Peri our RDO is freaking awesome!!! Love her!

The Siren's eyes...
Which Boston SM's put in their notice??

[Brown Dot]

sbux drone
well did the packet specifically say do this off the clock? or did your SM? Or is that what you are assuming? Does the packet just give you instructions on how to sell it on the streets? or in the stores?

[Not willing to sign my name. Sorry. (I'm a chicken)]

Personal opinion by a shift who has seen way too many SM's bolt in the south:
A DM who wants to know how many drinks, beans,etc were sold and expects reports at least once per day. SM's are working 50hours plus a week and on call constantly. More license stores keep popping up right around the corner but SM's are expected to keep their sales the same or higher. Partners aren't getting breaks and shifts are often clocking out for meals but actually working because their just isn't time to eat --- then they find quit. Expectations for customer expectations are totally unrealistic since we do not have time to do all that we are expected to do. Shifts and partners cannot find coverage even when they have the flu so the SM is having to cover above her 50plus hour week. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

[Not willing to sign my name.]

Oh, and let's not forget my biggest gripe. We do not want to sell promotion beans to customers when we KNOW that it isn't a coffe they would like. But we haven't met our quota on the specific promotions. How many customers have we prevented from becoming weekly bean buyers because they were sold Rwanda when we know they would have prefered Antigua or whatever? How many times have we sold promotion drinks just to sell promotion drinks when the customer might have become a daily Mocha drinker but we had to sell CRF's.
It is no longer about finding a perfect drink for a specific customer. It is about selling promotions.
Here comes Via. BTW, the Columbian is the best instant coffee I've ever drank. But I don't drink instant.

[SBUCKS DRONE LOS ANGELES]

Brown Dot

The packet gives us a full description of the product, when its being launched, how it was made, etc. It also comes with tips on where to go sell the product (Dental offices, Auto Mechanic shops, Churches, etc.). The packet does not mention anything about what specific times you could go selling. It does mention about trying to sell it in the stores as an alternative to Coffee Travelers though. My SM just mentioned that we wanted to get a head start to pitch the product to people and meet our sales goals, but nothing else.

[PArtner]

hello everyone! I have a sbux conundrum!

I have worked for starbucks for 2 years and I just went away to school. I transferred to another store and started working there. Balancing school/activities/work (and having to take the bus) has become very stressful and time consuming. I am wondering if there is any loophole to be able to quit my position at school, yet still maintain partnership (staying in the system, keeping the same pay rate) and working on breaks (turkey break! christmas! spring break! summer!?).

I love my job and essentially want to have my cake and eat it too!

[goldcoast]

@PArtner: that's something that you would need to talk to your home and school manager about. I know several people who go away to school and come back to my home store in the summer, and I work full time during the school year at a different location. However, a few people just work on school breaks. The thing is, they lose value as partners because they aren't in practice and aren't up to date on promotions and standards changes, etc. Keep that in consideration, because your home store manager will think of that as well. The worst that could happen in leaving the school store is that the people there will think you're a little flaky, but it shouldn't affect your position at your homestore.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

PArtner,
I am sorry to tell you but under Optimal Scheduling, I would tell you can make a choice 1) Starbucks or 2) school. There is no sitting on the fence. And if you chose school over Starbucks, I would enter your termination "WITHOUT REHIRE" in case you decide later on to try to get back in the company.
You need to see the perspective of both your store managers. Joining a new store and then quiting is SELFISH. You took away a position and/or hours from other partners who might need it a little bit more than you.
Starbucks does not serve your needs. You serve Starbucks needs. You can find some other job, somewhere else, shelving books maybe or folding sweaters.
Honey, learn how to chug the koolaid and you'll go far at Starbucks.

[bcshift]

I'm going to Pike Place this weekend! WOO!

I'm also going to 15th Ave Coffee & Tea! WOO!

I can't wait to taste that clover coffee.

[hard sell]

@SBUCKS DRONE LOS ANGELES

Sounds like your RDO (and we know who we are talking about) is pretty desperate to achieve results. And yes, the packet instructions imply working off the clock - get that to partner resources asap!

[Cranbliss]

@PArtner- I had a few partners at my store that only worked during Winter/Summer breaks from school. It's something you'd need to speak with your manager about.

Really though, give it a couple more weeks doing both school and Starbucks. It takes a while to work out a routine (when to do homework, study, SLEEP) but you might find it to be much more manageable with time and practice.

[(former) FLA SM]

Marcus wrote: "I did a lot of legwork for a company that in the past has treated me well. But this time they did not at all. They made me feel like I was a burden for calling them. They were rude, dismissive to my intelligence in consistently claiming their info was right, not once did anyone apologize, or thank me."

Now you know what it feels like to be a Starbucks employee!

[meme]

it seems that the "new" via product is actually the frap coffee base in the packets. If you taste a small amount of that mixed with hot h2o it is the italian via. Are we about to shot ourselves in the frap foot? The public I fear will understand how to simulate the fraps at home for cheap. hummm

[Starbucks Melody]

Is there a new brewed coffee calendar? The last one posted on MSI was this was (now out of date) -
http://blogs.starbucks.com/blogs/customer/archive/2009/06/29/brewed-coffee-calendar-bold-pick-of-the-day.aspx

It was nice to be able to look ahead and see what was coming up on the calendar for the bold pick of the week option. AND I must say, I am loving Anniversary Blend as a drip brew. Wonderful.

Hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend! "StarbucksMelody" ;-) (It is possible to completely overdose with a brand association, but I've perhaps long since reached the point of no return.

[Bouncing Barista]

BSR- Really? Uneligbile for rehire...now the only reason you can mark a partner for that is job abandonment and/or theft....

And everyone knows that only works if the SM actually calls and checks on rehire status...

[Brown Dot]

PArtner

I have seen it go both ways, a partner being able to come back for the summer and work, then go to school and come back. You have to wrk at least 1 shift in 30 days or risk being terminated. Your SM will get a barrage of emails saying this person has not clocked in in the last 30 days, 45 days, etc.
I personally would not allow you to do that, I would ask that you figure out a schedule that works best or quit. You are holding a spot that could go to someone who needs/wants the job. So what I am saying, no you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

[The Siren's Eyes]

@BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL

Trust me I'm not talking about Francesca Peri, or Karen G. I had Karen for a about 6 months when I frist started, she was great. Our RDO will come in and make a partner remake her drink two or three times, she will tell partner that our manager should have done this or that. Our manager is great, our store is clean, partners are well trained, and customer voice is allways in the mid 80s. Nothing is ever good enough, right now so many SM have to duel store to cover for the SMs who have left. Its our of control, I would hate to see my SM leave but I don't know how she puts up with they way SM are being treated. I started with SBUX in a hope to move up, not anymore....

[HoratioBucks]

meme,

That's exactly what I intend to do!

[Asher]

@Brown Dot -- as it stands now in our region with optimal scheduling, a partner needs to average a minimum of 12 hours per week every month or they will be let go.

[iGod]

"She expects people to exceed expectations"

Do you mean that she expects people to meet higher expectations? Because if she is expecting it... it doesn't... ummmm... follow... I mean.... If you met expectations, then you wouldn't meet expectations.... that is.... uh....

DOES NOT COMPUTE!

[Starbucks Melody]

omg omg omg Please indulge me in this post.

As I write this, I am in Anderson, California - just passing through, driving to my destination for a labor day road trip. I stopped inside and got coffee, sat down and had some food, and relaxed.

Then, after sitting there for a while, I got back up and got a refill on my coffee. I stocked up on a number of items from the pastry case that I may drink as I continue my drive. I grabbed 2 Pelligrinos, and took one and mixed it with Via with Classic Syrup (there was no vanilla Dry & Vanilla Dry mixed with Via and over ice makes my day). My new improv drink creation tastes great!

I went to pay for my stuff - mind you it's like 3 drinks and a cookie for the road - and the barista says to me, "the man before you paid for it."

I was floored. That had to have been expensive!

I catch up with the man before me while is putting some sugar in his coffee and the condiment bar!
Wow this was SOOO cool! It was such a Starbucks moment for me. So I met this totally totally totally nice guy who simply would not take any money from me. And he was using a personal tumbler from 1912 Pike Place!! How cool is that. I tell him I'm from Seattle, on my way to Labor Day plans, and he tells me that he's recently visited Seattle and made a pilgrimage to 1912 Pike Place and he shows off his brown original logo tumbler.

We got to talking, and I thought I was on cloud 9. He is quite the Starbucks fan too, and drinks coffee, and uses a personal tumbler. So we exchanged email addresses and I'll send him some Clover coffees that wouldn't be readily available if you're living in Anderson, California!

Last but not least, since he would take money, it finally occured to me that I had some Via on me I could give to him, and I told him about Dry mixed with Via, and he sincerely sounded like he would like it! He said he would try it.

Please pardon my gushing moment here. But that was a very cool Starbucks experience in my book.

[CO SBUXTER]

2 things:
Is an RDO the same as an RD? Regional Director?

and then there is my main question for everyone- if you have a mocha or a white mocha with no whip do you guys put foam on it or not. I am in an ongoing argument with my fellow baristas and manager over it. Weve all looked in the manuals and all it says is put whip on top but it doesn't say what to do if there is no whip. I am convinced that it needs foam on top because I still consider it a latte but everyone says no foam. You know it is steamed milk and espresso with just some syrup in it...that sounds like a latte to me. So what does everyone think and does anybody with some real authority have the standard way answer?

[Corbo]

@ Melody:

That is such a cool story! I loved reading it. How nice of him! It's like the person who pays for the next guy behind him/her at the tollbooth... only on another level! I hope that you are having a nice Labor Day weekend. :)

@ CO SBUXTER

I am pretty sure that a mocha/white mocha does not get foam at all, whether there is whip cream or not. Don't quote me on this of course because I am not at work at the moment, but this is what I have heard from others. Unless of course someone would like foam, then you just say yes. :)

[Michael]

Marcus...why is some misinformation such a big frickin deal to you? So you called? So what? Why pursue this issue to the point where you've made that many phone calls and not have it resolved? What are you, the "internet correct info police?"

If YOU know the info is incorrect, move on. Why force the issue, then demand an apology and free drinks? It wasn't intentional or personal...so give it a rest.

YOU are the one who made this molehill into a mountain...then threw yourself off of it.

[Andy]

Melody,

The next couple of weeks stores are brewing through the old style flavor lock bags. So, right now my store has Sumatra and House Blend. Once we finish our "old style stock" we are going to brew Anniversary (at least for a while). Anniversary seems to be less acidic this year and is more popular among the baristas and customers at my store.

Andy