My neighborhood Starbucks has been sold out of Pumpkin Spice VIA for days; how about your store?

This rack in Evanston, Ill. has been empty for days.

"When will a new shipment come in?" I ask.

"I don't know," says the barista.

A big seller at your store too?

Comments

[PunkyBrewster]

We sold out the first week, and we've been told we are not getting it any time soon, as the distribution center (Nashville) is out.

[notevenclose]

I think we are in the same boat ^^ You'd think they would assume it would do well instead of the other way around.

[otterinthewater]

I do the orders in my store and have been told we (company wide) are out of Pumpkin Spice Via. I have attempted to order it despite that and we have been zeroed out of getting it.

Good job, Starbucks R&D Team!

[just another partner]

yeah, when you are out, you are out... :(

[frapatte]

Starbucks is really flailing this fall. Pumpkin pastries at my store are always out by mid-afternoon. Pumpkin Via's been out since it basically shipped in. I'd rather have one or two extra pieces of expired product to toss than have these crowds of angry customers everyday getting more exasperated over our lack of items. Apparently corporate disagrees.

[brucebanner]

Refresher via, refresher beverage base, now this? Planners need to get their act together.

[Hirayuki]

There seem to be plenty in stock at my many local Starbucks in metro Detroit. Every year there's a huge windup for pumpkin spice lattes, and every year I'm lucky if I hear three people order them. (I'm not one of them.) But I'm a customer, not a barista, and things may be different on the other side of the counter.

[lattelady]

Out of Refreshers, pumpkin loaf and PS Via...way to let the ball drop!! I get tired of trying to explain & apologize all day long. Throwing the baristas under the bus corporate.

[ManagerMatt]

Our store had two shipments, the initial and then a refresh (not sure if we got more yesterday). I'm sure it's tough to anticipate what items are going to flop (Indivisible Blend?) or soar. I guess we can look forward to having WAY TOO MUCH next year!

[notevenclose]

It's a pumpkin spice item. They should have known it would not flop. Big difference between a coffee blend and something like this.

[justanobody]

yeah, they failed on this. there was an action item before the promo even started that said we should anticipate being out of them pretty quickly, and that partners are only allowed to mark out one box each (for the entire promo). they know pumpkin spice is a huge seller, but they want to keep customers coming into the stores to get their pumpkin-flavored crack water.

[Barista Ben]

The thing is, with the way the refreshers sold so fast, I bet managers (like myself) ordered MAX. I got in about 3 cases initially then maxed out the next order. A lot of managers probably did that. That probably drained the warehouse faster then expected.

As far as pastry items, I haven't had Amy issues ordering those and I have plenty on hand daily. Maybe it's certain areas or managers not ordering enough?

All this being said, it isn't an awful thing that these items are selling so well. I wish the kcups sold this well!

[Yo Starbucks]

I ordered a case of the PS Via, so I have plenty for myself :)

[imout]

Welcome to LEAN. Gotta cut costs! Deny customers popular product! Deny baristas markers, pens, and equipment repair! Then lets piss off the customers even more with poor service by having ANOTHER labor cut (we'll just tell the baristas that we've tested repeatable routine and they should be able to run on two part coverage most of the day)! It's a cost cutting orgy for Wall Street! Got those Q4 earnings out soon, then we gotta start Q1 with a BANG!

[D]

Sorry you guys are having problems. Plenty of stock all around greater Seattle metro.

[Amazing Grace]

Lean! Lean! Lean! Its the perfect way to screw baristas, shifts and managers--while keeping Howie in double trouble bonus bucks and peeing all over his own philosophy (Pour Your Heart Over It) before he revised it for his new uber-capitalism maximum cash flow (Onward). We should have a corporate Occupy Starbucks as we truly are the 99% feeding Howard's bank account.

[nematode]

Were out and apparently not getting any in in nm....

[Starbucksgossip Webmaster]

Of course, the Seattle stores are going to be well-stocked -- corporate doesn't want Howard seeing empty display cases, like we're seeing in other cities. Also, they don't want Howard's pals in Seattle complaining that they couldn't get their Pumpkin Spice VIA. Howard is clueless about what's happening outside of his neighborhood Starbucks.

[Barista Ben]

If you have no markers or pens, it has nothing to do with Starbucks and everything to do with your manager sucking. My store has markers and pens. When we run out / low, guess what? I order more.

Coincidentally we also still have pumpkin spice VIA!

[Yo Starbucks]

Every Starbucks near where I live is out of them. Looks kind of bad having an empty VIA rack day after day.

Also, I wanted to shore up my PS VIA supply and went to the official online sbux store: it's not even listed there! Wow, it's not even October and they're not re-stocking? Yikes.

[imout]

Perhaps your region is different, but our entire region is on orders of: No more staples orders, no more maintenance calls, no p-card usage (not even for milk) and strict rules on ordering even cups (people are shuffling cups all over our district since we can only order so much). We get a corrective action if we call something in, order something, or use the p-card for anything without DM approval. I asked my DM about buying a box of pens and markers and she said "make it work"

[Amazing Grace]

Ha Ha imout your DM is trying to be Tim Gunn. Only this isn't a reality show. Unless Howie just enjoys playing with our lives.

[uwgirl]

There are lots of these available at the uvillage starbucks in seattle. I bought one yesterday, yum

[PSVia]

I see it all over Seattle, not sold out anywhere. Hrm, wonder if this would be a good item for EBay...

[Ben]

Its back in SB store online and back in my non-Seattle Sbux.

[Seattleguy]

Barista Ben- Thanks for your post! It amazes me how lazy some managers can be, and then place the blame on others. You have payroll cuts, guess what, dont as a manager spend hours a day yapping on the phone to other area managers about how bad it is... get up and work with your team, dont sit in the office and complain!

Low on supplies- Order some. Supplies in hand is happier guests and happier staff. This equals more sales because energy builds on enegry and guests spend more... thus more supply budget!

Starbucks is a very smart company, they know what is best.

[Bonnie Cate]

can't find it anywhere! :-( My hub works at Starbucks and they've been out for weeks. Super bummed!

[Ken FIsk]

WHY is there a shortage of PSL Via????
I cannot find any in the Denver area. If Starbucks cannot supply their stores, they should sell it on their website with FREE postage!!

[Homefrontsix]

Funny...Target has plenty in stock...