Coulson Loptmann, 21, says he was fired from Seattle Starbucks for eating an "expired" plastic-wrap sandwich that had been tossed into the dumpster. "I hadn't eaten all day and I was on a seven-hour shift," he says.
Loptmann (on the right) was later told by his boss that what he did was considered stealing, "so I’m sorry, but I have to terminate you." A Starbucks spokesman won't discuss Loptmann's case, but says “it is a violation of our policy to consume marked-out products."
Loptmann, who collected food stamps because he couldn't make ends meet at SBUX, says: "I understand completely they don’t want someone to mark something out just to eat it. I didn’t mark it out, someone else did."
* Starbucks fires a barista for eating a sandwich from the garbage
My only question--how did he get caught? Pretty much every barista has eaten an "expired" food item...they're just going to go in the trash and usually don't even get donated, it's beyond wasteful.
Honestly, I can't feel bad for him though. While I think it's very over-the-top that he got fired for this, every barista knows eating marked out food is against policy. If you're going to do it, be smart enough to not get caught. It's not that hard.
Posted by: an | August 28, 2013 at 07:05 PM
Seems unlikely. That girl doesn't have nearly enough tattoos to work at Starbucks.
Oh, it's Seattle? Not enough tattoos and ear plugs. She must work at Tully's.
Posted by: 3SliceToaster | August 28, 2013 at 07:14 PM
From another source view google:
Hutson confirmed Loptmann's firing and said an employee wouldn't normally be let go for a single violation of this policy, but that in Loptmann's case the incident was the straw that broke the camel's back. Hutson went on to say that while Starbucks "sympathizes with [Loptmann's] personal situation," the young barista had had "multiple documented performance issues in the past year, including failing to show up for shifts as scheduled."
It wasn't just him eating a marked out item.
Posted by: PSL | August 28, 2013 at 10:14 PM
Yeah PSL, because as we all know, Starbucks always tells the truth and never, ever lies.
Posted by: BurntBean | August 29, 2013 at 08:25 AM
there is more recent interview where the loptmann confirms write ups for missing a whole shift, being late, and having some sort of disagreement with the staff. All those write ups and warning eventually lead to a final write up that isn't a warning ...
Posted by: buxy | August 29, 2013 at 10:15 AM
This is my favorite part:
For the company's part, Starbucks spokesman Zack Hutson says that while they can’t comment on individual employees for privacy reasons, he can confirm that “it is a violation of our policy to consume marked-out products." But he says it’s not considered stealing—it’s for the employees’ own good. “We do not want our partners to consume potentially spoiled products and get sick.”
And yet right above, it says:
According to Loptmann, his manager sat him down a week later and told him she’d found out about the sandwich and contacted HR, “and they consider it stealing, and it’s against policy.
------------
So is it stealing, or is it just concern for workers' health? Because that item was considered saleable and fine to eat a few minutes beforehand... Concern my behind!
Posted by: Martha | August 29, 2013 at 12:04 PM
Like many Partners, I find this story jumbled: there is too much information not being accounted for.
That said, gut feeling says that past behavior led to the firing.
Posted by: ImChiquita | August 30, 2013 at 09:21 AM
I will continue to eat and take home markouts at the end of the night because everyone does it, including managers.
Posted by: anonymouse | August 30, 2013 at 03:20 PM
"every barista knows eating marked out food is against policy."
this. I don't have much sympathy for this guy. we all know sbux policy on marked out food is wasteful--maybe some people can get it some press and then they'll start donating the food to charity.
Posted by: a former partner | August 30, 2013 at 05:51 PM
As a former SM, I always let my partners take home expired sandwiches at the end of the night. It is so wasteful and most of these kids went to college. I refused to throw them away when they could be eaten by people who needed food.
My partners always knew never to tell the DM, because it was against policy, but I know so many SMs that give their partners the sandwiches.
Posted by: Guat.my.mala | August 30, 2013 at 07:27 PM
I took over 25 of the la boulange pastries to a shelter after work last night. You should have seen how happy they were. Throwing away food is shameful
Posted by: mykindoftown | August 31, 2013 at 08:03 AM
Just another example of employees (not just Starbucks) refusing to take personal responsibility for their actions. There is no question that this is against policy. Instead of saying, "Hey, yeah. I shouldn't have done that," it becomes a pathetic sob story of how hard your life is. Things may be tough for you, they are for a lot of people, but there is opportunity out there if you work hard and go after it. I'm just tired of people blaming their indiscretions on external factors.
Posted by: . | August 31, 2013 at 09:06 PM
Are you kidding!! We have closers, in our store, that take home EVERY sandwich at the end of the night that gets marked out!! It's not an excuse because they are college students, but it's just a given that they do it. There are never any left anywhere at open. It's just common knowledge that they take them and as much pastry as they can.
Posted by: lattelady | September 02, 2013 at 01:50 PM
I'm sorry, but once it is the dumpster it is no longer property of Starbucks. If he took it out of the dumpster, then he wasn't stealing or breaking any rules. End of story.
Posted by: Psl10 | September 07, 2013 at 05:27 PM
I must agree with the following poster. If he retrieved from the "dumpster" then he's not a thief, but a scavenger! And if he didn't have multiple performance issues, then he ought to find an ambulance-chaser attorney and then wake up 6 months from now, walking out out in pajamas to the mailbox to say. HELLO CHECK!
"I'm sorry, but once it is the dumpster it is no longer property of Starbucks. If he took it out of the dumpster, then he wasn't stealing or breaking any rules. End of story."
Posted by: northernshift | September 07, 2013 at 08:43 PM
In my store we never eat waste cause we know people have been sacked for it. But If I was struggling to make ends meet I would speak to my DM and my Manager and asked to work more hours. Just saying.
Posted by: Barista | September 13, 2013 at 03:05 PM
When I was with the company, we donated our pastries to a local homeless shelter, but the sandwiches, and fridge products were marked out and "Thrown" away(Once they expired). Our SM knew that we took the items home(I don't know how I would have made it without those egg sandwiches/yogurts), the only request she had was that we didn't flap our gums about it, and we didn't mark stuff out merely to eat it.
From the looks of this case, this was likely a lousy employee that management was looking to get rid of, and this was the opportunity to ditch them. Unless you were outright stealing food(Marking stuff out just to eat it), you weren't getting fired for taking advantage of the markout policy. Frankly, my SM would encourage people on long shifts to eat something out of the markout bin, because she didn't want her employees falling apart.
Posted by: Broyling Waters | September 25, 2013 at 04:27 PM
So. Ridiculous. They are being thrown out. Everyone eats them. Everyone. People who say otherwise are lying. It's also "against policy" to work sick....but you sure the hell don't see partners fired for that...that's only saved for if they DONT work sick.
Posted by: My peace | September 29, 2013 at 09:15 PM
Even if he's a terrible worker, he could have a legal case here because of the dumpster angle.
Courts have ruled for years that dumpsters are public property and you can take whatever you want out of them. It's why TMZ and similar outfits can get away with digging through celebrity trash bins.
I don't see how Starbucks has the legal right to tell someone not to take something from the dumpster, employee or otherwise.
Posted by: 3SliceToaster | October 03, 2013 at 04:41 PM