Defending Starbucks.

[Bob Hubbard]

[h=2]Starbucks' CEO acknowledged that Obamacare might increase insurance costs, but said the company's benefits are non-negotiable.[/h] While other U.S. companies have cut staff or benefits in anticipation ofnext year's health care overhaul, Howard Schultz said Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500)' insurance plans will stay in place -- for everyone.
"It's not about the law. It's about responsibility we have to the people who do work and who represent us," Schultz told CNN on Tuesday.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/27/news/companies/starbucks-obamacare-schultz/index.html

100 Best Companies to Work For:
73. Starbucks
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/2012/snapshots/73.html

Starbucks has supported the LGBT community for many years, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. We have one of the largest Employer Resource Groups for LGBT employees in the United States helping to raise awareness about issues in the communities in which we live and work. Our benefits program has always offered domestic partner benefits in the United States and Canada, and Starbucks partners actively participate and organize local LGBT events in their communities. We’re also very proud of the 100% score we received on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign. We will continue to work very closely with this organization and others on topics relevant to the community.

http://www.starbucks.com/blog/our-dedication-to-embrace-diversity

[h=1]American Companies That Give Back The Most, 2012[/h][h=2]10. Starbucks[/h] Charitable contributions in 2011: $30.5 million
2011 giving as a share of 2010 pre-tax profits: 2.1%


http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mkl45ihgi/10-starbucks/

Starbucks Newsroom: Starbucks Position on Open Carry Gun Laws
While we deeply respect the views of all our customers, Starbucks long-standing approach to this issue remains unchanged. We comply with local laws and statutes in all the communities we serve. That means we abide by the laws that permit open carry in 43 U.S. states. Where these laws don’t exist, openly carrying weapons in our stores is prohibited. The political, policy and legal debates around these issues belong in the legislatures and courts, not in our stores.

http://news.starbucks.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=332

Starbucks and the environment

The company has won several accolades for its environmental initiatives.

 

[elder999]

Yeah, but their coffee sucks!

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Blond roast isn't bad. I usually buy tea or chai though.

 

[Takai]

Yeah, but their coffee sucks!

Unfortunately, I would have to agree.

 

[Big Don]

Never have I ever stepped inside a Starbucks, or visited the drive-thru.
Not too many of us left...

 

[granfire]

I might have gotten one 20 years ago in Seattle, but it's just not for me...

 

[Dirty Dog]

I've always thought that coffee smells heavenly.

Pity about the taste...

 

[Big Don]

I've always thought that coffee smells heavenly.

Pity about the taste...

It tastes fine, if you dilute it with enough Bailey's...

 

[Sukerkin]

I used to be a huge coffee drinker up until just about five years ago. Then I stopped 'using' it as I was getting jittery off it - and now I can't stand the stuff. How odd that your tastes and indeed your physiology can change so much (I tried a cup a couple of months back and, no word of a lie, it made me sick).

 

[arnisador]

I have literally never tasted coffee. People warned me I'd get hooked and I believed them.

 

[granfire]

I have literally never tasted coffee. People warned me I'd get hooked and I believed them.

lol,
you believe everything people tell you?

 

[arnisador]

Not everything, no--but I'd seen enough coffee-zombies to be concerned in this case.

 

[Grenadier]

The coffee isn't too bad, since they do use Arabica beans. At least they're not using Vietnamese Robusta beans (aka 'Cong Coffee') in their coffee...

As for Starbucks themselves, they can be a rather ruthless business. There's a coffee shop near my lab, that's a small business. This store is a combination coffee bar and small-time restaurant, where they serve freshly prepared sandwiches and desserts as well (unlike the re-heated pieces of plastic that Starbucks serves).

That's when Starbucks decided they wanted to conquer the area, despite the fact that there were already two Starbucks stores within a half mile of this small shop. Nevertheless, they opened up a location right next to this coffee shop.

I have to hand it to the small shop, though, they hung in there, and are still there to this day, even though Starbucks left that location just after a year and a half.

 

[granfire]

well, so much for you gun toting folks () loving Starbucks....they just announced their 180 on the issue...

(plus it seems they rather raise the prices even when the cost of beans are down...)

 

[arnisador]

Starbucks asks U.S. customers to leave guns at home

Coffee chain Starbucks Corp has asked U.S. customers to leave their guns at home after being dragged into an increasingly fractious debate over U.S. gun rights in the wake of multiple mass shootings.

While many U.S. restaurant chains and retailers do not allow firearms on their properties, Starbucks' policy had been to default to local gun laws, including "open carry" regulations in many U.S. states that allow people to bring guns into stores.

In August, this led gun-rights advocates to hold a national "Starbucks Appreciation Day" to thank the firm for its stance, pulling the company deeper into the fierce political fight.

The coffee chain did not, however, issue an outright ban on guns in its nearly 7,000 company-owned cafes, saying this would potentially require staff to confront armed customers.

The Seattle-based company hoped to give "responsible gun owners a chance to respect its request," Schultz said.
The CEO told Reuters the policy change was not the result of the Newtown Starbucks Appreciation Day event, which prompted the Newtown Action Alliance to call on the company to ban guns at all of its U.S. stores. Nor was it in response to the mass shootings this week at the Washington Navy Yard.

"We've seen the 'open carry' debate become increasingly uncivil and, in some cases, even threatening," Schultz wrote, noting that "some anti-gun activists have also played a role in ratcheting up the rhetoric and friction," at times soliciting and confronting employees and patrons.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

It's a request, not a ban. They are still holding their old position of referring to local laws. I see nothing wrong with their making a request.

Here's the fall out:

The idiot gun grabber crowd will see this as a win because now Starbucks will be as safe as every other gun free zone (you know, those killing fields where it seems most mass shootings occur.)

The idiot gun nut crowd will scream how this is a violation of their rights, and "take their business elsewhere".

The common denominators here are these : Idiots who can't Read.

They don't want to be a wild west saloon, no more than I ever wanted MT's non-art areas to be mudpits. They closed their Newtown store for the day rather than let a 'Gun Appreciation' day be held there. They've also gotten very aggressive anti-gunnuts showing up and causing trouble. Point is, they want both sides to sod off and just drink coffee.

No problem here with that. When they put up the gun-ban signs, I'll consider taking my business elsewhere. Until then....I've got a free birthday drink to snag.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Reply from a "Gun Nut" as Arni like to refer to them:

This is our fault.
Starbucks never wanted to be a part of the pro/anti gun fight. They made that quite clear by refusing to actively support either side. They just wanted to be left alone and serve coffee, while pissing as few people off as possible.
The anti-gunners may have started it by petitioning Starbucks, but the open carry rallies are not anything Starbucks would ever want to be part of. That was made quite clear when the Newtown Starbucks closed before the planned open carry rally.
Unfortunately we didn’t read between the lines and didn’t respect their wishes. This is the result. I’d have preferred for this to be worded in such a way as to more specifically apply to open carry only, but it is what it is. Unfortunately this will dissuade other businesses from becoming pro-gun, because Starbucks’ neutral stance attracted lots of ‘gun crazy’. We ****ed this up, and we should learn from it.
So for all of you who will never go to Starbucks again- put down the pitchforks. They aren’t declaring themselves anti-2A or anti-gun. They are declaring that they don’t want to be a soldier in this fight. They just want to sell coffee.
So if you like Starbucks, keep going and keep your firearm concealed. Or don’t bring it. Or don’t go to Starbucks if you don’t like their coffee.
But next time a business declares themselves 2A-neutral, let’s not turn them into a pawn in a fight they have no desire to participate in.

Like I said. They just want to sell burnt tasting coffee and be left out of the politics.

 

[granfire]

you should know by know that I am grinning from ear to ear when I say such things.

But seriously, we have reached a ridiculous level of busy body interference in everyday life.
In all but a very few cases MYOB is a motto to live by.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

My statement:
Guns are "unwelcome" in my office, but like Starbucks I respect the law. I think they're at the point where they just want to sell coffee, and not be dragged in to the debate any more. I'll revisit this opinion if I start seeing ban signs on their doors. But you won't see a 'ban' sign on mine....responsible gun owners are always welcome with me.

 

[Grenadier]

Nothing has really changed, that law-abiding folks can still carry concealed or unconcealed.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/1...but-not-banned-from-stores/?intcmp=latestnews

From the CEO Schultz:

In an interview, CEO Howard Schultz said the decision to ask customers to stop bringing guns into stores came as a result of the growing frequency of "Starbucks Appreciation Days," in which gun rights advocates turned up at Starbucks cafes with firearms.


Schultz said the events mischaracterized the company's stance on the issue and the demonstrations "have made our customers uncomfortable."


Schultz hopes people will honor the request not to bring in guns but says the company will nevertheless serve those who do.


"We will not ask you to leave," he said.