Does anyone see a downside to boycotting Starbucks? I don’t drink coffee, but I do the grocery shopping, and I’d buy Starbucks coffee on occasion because my wife likes it. She also likes Peets, so fuck Starbucks.
As Josh Marshall points out, there are few consumer goods with as much possibility for substitution as coffee. There are good coffee shops almost everywhere in urban areas. So, if Schultz wants to start calling Democrats “un American”, what’s more American than boycotting the shitty chain he founded?
Scuffletuffle
Hard to boycott what you don’t drink anyway…
Wag
I really like Starbucks coffee, but could get behind a boycott to make a point.
MattF
I’m not a believer in boycotts. That said, consumers are awash in coffee choices– many, if not most, are as good or better than Starbucks.
RenoRick
Since he is no longer running the country I doubt it would make a difference. Like smashing Keurigs, but without spending $100 to break something. PEET’S forever!!!
MomSense
@Scuffletuffle:
Seriously, I’m too cheap to buy it. I brew at home and carry a travel mug.
[Individual 1] mistermix
@RenoRick: He owns 33 million shares of stock directly, and 1.4 million in trust.
Yarrow
Workers at the stores will get hurt if traffic drops and they don’t need as many employees.
Jeffro
I’m already boycotting. The key is to make sure you let the boycotted business/agency/whatever a) know you’re boycotting them and b) why. Don’t just walk away. Oh and c) maybe tell other folks/put it up on social media as well. Magnifies the impact
The Dangerman
I think it’s technically called “transfer costs”. Which, for coffee, is …. roughly zero.
He won’t run. He just wants his name in the press.
Tom Levenson
Starbuck’s supplies some but not all of MIT’s coffee stands. The venues I will no longer use. (Not that I do often; like many here, I find their coffee to be too burnt. But I’ve occasionally used them as emergency fix.
Not anymore.
Roger Moore
@Yarrow:
But if the customers go to the competition, those competitors will need more employees to keep up with the increased demand.
TomatoQueen
Because of a duodenal ulcer, I’ve found that $tarbux Mocha Iced is the only brew I can manage without hideous consequences an hour later. Dunkin iced is too sweet. So as usual it’s all about my tummy.
Captain C
The only reason I can’t really boycott Starbucks is because I almost never go into them in the first place (and when I do, it’s usually out of desperation of some sort).
Plus, they’re the most humorless of all the places that the Baritone Army has ever hit.
ruemara
I’m willing to accept a lucrative paycheck to tell rich dudes to sit the fuck down and take up woodworking as a hobby instead of the current rage of destroying democracy world-wide. Since it seems they don’t have people that love them enough to be real.
For just a few dollars more, I will also confirm that their tailoring is shite, no the 30 year old you just met isn’t thinking you’re a suave mofo 65 yer old & the new car does not, in fact, extend your penis.
Southern Goth
I’m just happy that my parents-in-law will have someone to vote for.
I know this last presidential election really bummed them out.
Scuffletuffle
@MomSense: I don”t like the taste, yet I love dark roast, strong coffee. Starbucks just tastes burnt.
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
Why is this Starbuck’s fault? Even if he still has shares and a large stake, it’s not as if the company itself is responsible for his vanity run. If boycotting could change an official company policy, then I’d be all for it. But if the idea is that boycotting Starbucks may hurt Schultz’s wealth, that seems shortsighted and misguided.
Besides, considering how often wingnuts threaten to boycott Starbucks over their annual holiday-cup-design butthurt, I’m loathe to immediately call for a boycott because of something as attenuated as this.
Jeffro
I liked Warren’s take on Schultz: “a billionaire, and the first thing on his agenda is not raising taxes on billionaires. let’s see how that goes” BOOM
brettvk
I may have bought from Starbucks, or a Starbucks product, two or three times in my life. I have no problem in never buying anything from the company ever again.
B.B.A.
I’m old enough to remember how, in 2004, some Repubs boycotted Heinz because Kerry’s wife’s first husband’s great-grandfather founded the company. This isn’t even half as dumb as that.
JPL
Schultz is trying to sell books and that’s all. Trump has a fairly high base of 36 percent and that’s the number the democratic candidate needs to beat if Schultz enters the race.
ruemara
Halp, moderation!
Josie
@MomSense:
I’m with you. I hate to pay a premium price for something I can make better at home.
Doug R
They’ve got good free wifi, unlike Tim Horton’s and their lineups usually aren’t as heinous. I’m a fan of the sausage and egg breakfast sandwich. I really miss when they used to sell sandwiches.
Czanne
Some cautious optimism: B in Georgia is right at 24 hours survival. And I have a report that, as soon as they started tapering the sedatives, she started resisting the oral swabs (because she is on vent.) That’s a life sign. I love teenage stubborn right now.
Whatever you’re doing? Please keep doing it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
https://balloon-juice.com/2019/01/29/tuesday-morning-open-thread-actions-have-consequences/#comment-7172813
(And also, coming up for breath enough: there’s so much better coffee than Starbucks. Even when sleep-deprived and desperate.)
Matt McIrvin
I live in the corner of the country where Dunkin’ Donuts is the dominant roadside coffee supplier. I looked it up–my town has 9 Dunkins and 1 1/2 Starbucks (there’s one inside a Target store).
Shakti
I thought progressives were ethering Starbucks for assuming black professionals were loitering because they were black and asked to use the restroom? Wasn’t this in April?
Starbucks regular coffee tastes burnt and they’re now charging the mythical $5 per drink all these smug financial gurus said people were spending daily on lattes instead of achieving financial solvency in the 1990s. The Starbucks coffee in the grocery stores is absurdly expensive.
There’s a Starbucks right around the corner from where I live and that whole episode killed it for me. Yes, baristas, keep asking how to spell my name and then say my drink order instead like I wasn’t in there every week but if I had to worry about dumbasses thinking I’m ‘loitering?’ So not worth the money.
Right now I either get it at the Wawa on my way to work or I brew it at home — with non Starbucks coffee. Plus my doctor told me to cut down or cut off caffeine because… I’m getting high blood pressure and I “need to relax.” Yay, outrage!
P.S. Keurigs make weak shitty coffee and only exist if you want to have coffee without dealing with grinds, like they do in car dealerships or offices.
Martin
We have a President who is steadily dismantling our democracy and the question of the day is whether or not it matters enough to us to change where we buy our coffee. There is no truer measure of American complacency.
eemom
I agree with whoever said earlier that this clown is gonna be history in a few months, if not weeks.
Everybody needs to chill the fuck out, cuz if we go through this obsessive hysteria with every insect that crawls out of the woodwork looking to be president in the next twelve months we’re gonna burn out worse than his shit coffee. Won’t nobody be left to vote for WHOEVER THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE IS.
Martin
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner):
The problem is that we have no way of communicating with billionaires except through the thing that defines them – their wealth.
jacy
I don’t drink coffee, but the kids love Starbucks. (And the fact that there is a Starbucks in our grocery store and in the kid’s student union means they drink way too much Starbucks). I don’t buy them, because I think it’s stupid to pay that much money for any kind of drink, but the kids always seem to have gift cards from other relatives. Although the kids may change their minds because all I did this morning in the car was rant loudly about what a fucking useless douchebag Schulz is. They’ll give up their coffee just to shut me up.
Josie
@Czanne:
This is positive news. I hope it continues.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I am not even sure what to make of Schultz, he’s yet another one of the dozens of inept white boi billionaire tools servicing himself in public. It is nice to see him being called an a-hole for it.
Cermet
I gave up starbucks long ago – discovered the secret to making their exact coffee: adds lots of fat and sugar. Simple; at least relative to for amerikans idea of any food (ok, salt as well for many items) – add sex and that is always the secret to their wallets. Duh
MomSense
@Czanne:
This is good news. I will keep sending good energy and prayers to B. It sounds like she is a real fighter!
kindness
I boycott Starbucks without even trying. Their coffee sucks. I’m a Peets guy.
trnc
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner): Speaking for myself, it isn’t so much about hitting him in the wallet as making a statement. If Starbucks sales drop significantly, it might become pretty clear that he won’t get the vote that he’s decided he’s entitled to.
My biggest beef isn’t his wealth or flipping off of dems. It’s the belief that no political experience is required for the single most political job in the world. Enough with the gadflies. No one, and I mean no one gets my vote as a presidential candidate if they have never been elected to any gov’t office.
Major Major Major Major
Oddly enough, the only hot coffee at work that isn’t burned beyond recognition is a Starbucks medium roast. I guess I can stick to cold brew.
ETA this will be over when his book tour ends anyway.
Mike Furlan
Seems reasonable:
https://www.eschatonblog.com/2019/01/spending-money-at-starbucks-is.html
RobNYNY
@Yarrow:
Presumably employees at other coffee shops would benefit proportionately.
Princess
@[Individual 1] mistermix: I imagine he owns a lot of stock in a lot of companies.
Brickley Paiste
I know that Facebook failed to take any steps even after it became apparent that fake accounts controlled by Russia were attempting to influence the election, then lied about it, then hired a skeevy PR firm discredit people pointing out this truth, but I really need facebook to keep up with people from high school/ my writing group/ lost puppy postings.
I know that Howard Schultz is an asshole who is showing every sign of attempting to re-elect Trump in 2020, but I just cannot live without my pumpkin spice latte!
/signed – The Angry Moderates of Balloon Juice
JPL
@Czanne: So pleased to hear that. I’m sure it will be a long road ahead, but that’s okay.
zhena gogolia
This will be very easy for me. The only time in my life I’ve frequented Starbucks was for three days at a conference in a hotel where I was too busy to leave and it was the only inexpensive food option, located in the lobby.
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
comparatively inexpensive, that is!
zhena gogolia
@Czanne:
I hope she continues to improve rapidly!
Kathleen
@Czanne: I posted this on a much earlier thread. Sending prayers and holding light for your niece, you, and your family.
ETA: So glad to see the good news!
Kent
Far as I can tell, his platform is: (1) keep all the tax cuts for billionaires, (2) cut medicare and social security instead, and (3) you can still have all the other liberal stuff that doesn’t cost money. He should run as a Democrat and see how well he can sell that platform in the primaries.
Fuck him. I don’t know if boycotting Starbucks is the answer but these sorts of billionaire dilettantes need to be excised from the body politic. Whatever the billionaire version of doxxing is. Make their public lives uncomfortable. Haunt them online and destroy their “good names”
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Brickley Paiste:
“Moderate” is relative depending on the observer. I don’t believe anybody on this thread has made that argument about Starbucks coffee.
gwangung
Actually, I have no problem with folks dunking on Howie. It’s a healthy channel of venting hostility and it just cements his reputation as a fool and a clown, which hurts him as a civic figure and a businessman.
JaySinWA
@eemom: Better to squash these vanity candidates before they become spoilers. Be chill but don’t be complacent.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@MomSense: I sent you another email so you might not have to look so far down the inbox page when things settle down.
Mayim
@Matt McIrvin:
I’m in Maine. The Dunkin/Starbucks ratio is even more lopsided here…. I now live where there is a Starbucks somewhat nearby. But it’s the same Starbucks that was closest to me when I lived an hour east of here ~ and when I lived an hour west of here ;-) In the two hour drive between my previous two residences, I pass something like 17 Dunkins to that one lonely Starbucks.
Plus, I’m a tea drinker, so I prefer to make my own for much less money.
janesays
The proper thing for Schultz to do if he really wants to run is to do so either as a Republican (preferable) or a Democrat, and then when he inevitably fails to secure the nomination, walk away. To be clear, Schultz would be near the very bottom of the list of my preferred candidates with Gabbard and Sanders, and I could never vote for him in a primary, but if he wants to waste his money on a futile vanity campaign against a dozen plus significantly better qualified Democrats in the primaries, I say go right ahead and do so. I can’t stand Mike Bloomberg, but I’m glad he’s calling out his fellow billionaire for not running as a Democrat.
B.B.A.
Remember the WTO protests and those “Black Bloc” guys who smashed up Starbucks windows? That was pretty cool. We should see if they’re still around.
Yarrow
@Roger Moore: @RobNYNY: Maybe. Or maybe people would just skip it and get it at work or make it at home.
I think going to a coffee shop is a matter of convenience a lot of the time. Often Starbucks is close by, or on the way to or from work, so that’s the easy coffee shop to go to. I don’t prefer Starbucks but sometimes I’ll get coffee from one because it’s where I am and going to another one would take too much time.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Czanne: I’m holding you all in the light. Happy to see a positive update.
NotMax
Schultz seems to have deluded himself that where there’s a swill there’s a sway.
Yarrow
I’m encouraged by the very strong pushback against Schultz’s testing the waters for a presidential run. People are angry that’s he’s considering it and he’s certainly not being handled with kid gloves. It’s refreshing.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Yarrow:
If only that could have happened when Trump came down that golden escalator that fateful July day.
jl
Don’t even need to make a big stink about a boycott. Just don’t go. Every time Schultz gets puffed on corporate media, explain to people that he has no, as in ZERO NADA NOTHING, specific policies at all, other than “make things better but don’t touch rich people’s stuff”, and he is a mortal danger to the cause of getting rid of Trump in 2020. Then suggest they get coffee that is just as good or better a few yards away from the nearest Starbucks.
Hope the guy wises up and drops his silly idea. Get back to doing stuff he is good at and where he can be useful.
You can call it a boycott if you want. But spending time dithering over a formal boycott seems like a waste of time and energy.
If some boycott organizing experts can get up one, with hats and a logo, quickly and on the cheap, I’ll buy some gear.
Anyway, no more Starbucks for me.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Czanne:
Here’s hoping everything turns out alright.
debbie
I don’t see a boycott doing much of anything other than giving additional publicity for Schultz.
tobie
@Jeffro: I don’t even like Warren and I applauded her response. Schultz is a preening ass, there was no reason to single her out and to dump on Democrats more generally. He’s working hard to reelect Trump, and he’s got some nerve to think that his business experience prepares him for governing, which is supposed to be devoted to the public good not personal profit.
SiubhanDuinne
@Czanne:
I came far too late to the threads where you first shared this news, but I’ve been thinking about your niece (and her mother, and you) since I saw it in the overnight and morning threads. Have been holding her in the light and sending the most healing energy at my command. That teen-aged stubbornness sounds like cause for hope. Please continue to keep us updated.
Aleta
I’m looking for a substitute for my partner, who travels with canned Sb if he’s going to spend the night at someone’s house. To drink before he has to talk to anyone in the morning. Seems he can’t even risk the possibility of an interaction while coffee is being made.
Has to be already made, not a concentrate like I think Grady’s is. Needs to be fairly strong, not flavored. Any suggestions…thanks.
Fair Economist
@Czanne: So hoping B continues to improve. People can and do survive horrible injuries like that with relatively few long term effects, so don’t give up hope. The wife of my best childhood friend was in a head-on collision, sustained substantial brain damage, and was in critical ICU with survival in question. She eventually ended up pretty much as she was, although she had behavioral issues for some time.
Leto
I prefer Wawa coffee, and Avalune got me a Driftaway coffee subscription for a few months as a Christmas gift. So yeah, don’t have a problem not drinking Shitbucks.
MattF
@Brickley Paiste: Now, Facebook is actually a criminal conspiracy. So, staying away from Facebook isn’t a boycott– it’s refraining from aiding and abetting.
JaySinWA
@jacy: If they have gift cards, I’d say smoke em if you got em. No point in letting that money sit there. I’m not sure how you stop relatives from feeding the beast though.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
Via the Root: Clemson’s Black Players Refused to Accept Donald Trump’s Invitation to the McCookout
jl
And it just occurred to me that Schults’ inability to lead, to come up with good compelling ideas, to be an opinion leader and start socially productive societal conversations, goes beyond his silly and nearly contentless independent presidential run. Look at his attempts at social marketing at Starbucks. Leaving Starbucks’ formal charity drives aside, his ideas have been miserable flops. Just bombs (in a bad way) and duds.
Remember when he wanted to raise social awareness and constructive conversation on racial issues by telling his staff to inject some racial comment into the small talk every time a costumer tried to order a stinking coffee? I do.
Some people have talent at taking the lead and doing something productive in politics and social issues. Others do not. Schultz should stick to raising money for good causes, and encouraging Starbucks to treat its employees well.
If we are lucky, the corporate forces that are puffing his campaign will lose interest, the campaign operative grifters will realize they won’t get rich off this nonsense, and it will peter out far more quietly than it has begun. Let’s hope.
chopper
for me the disadvantage is that the closest coffee place to my house is a small s’bucks in the safeway. that being said, i tend to make coffee at home anyways.
Barbara
@Czanne: Fingers crossed at every positive sign. Please keep us posted.
Yarrow
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: It should have. People should have taken him seriously as a candidate. Instead, most people thought his run was a joke. Huffington Post made a big deal about saying how they’d only cover Trump in the Entertainment section. Media didn’t treat him like a real candidate and a lot of people didn’t take him seriously at all. And here we are.
debbie
@Czanne:
I’m so glad to read this!
MattF
@Yarrow: But Schultz has never been the star of a reality show. Yeah, shameless, but not as shameless as you-know-who.
jonas
OT, but Dems have apparently booked Stacy Abrams to give the response to the SOTU speech. Awesomeness.
VeniceRiley
I get (nonbucks) coffee free at work. But there is a Coffee Bean & tea leaf next door for my premium brew needs.
I’m all in on this boycott until it hurts him worse than OAC’s proposal. And buying coffee elsewhere will make jobs for any Bucks employees.
janesays
@JaySinWA: If anything, NOT using existing gift cards only increases Starbucks’ profits, because that money has already been spent by the consumer.
Kenneth Kohl
Starbucks is not to my taste; too strong and too “burnt. We have plenty of local coffee shops In Buffalo I’d rather support
chopper
@Czanne:
she sounds like a tough motherfucker. here’s hoping.
debbie
There must be tons of shit in this book to rate this tweet:
It looks like it’s the only tweet of the day!
Ruckus
@ruemara:
How do you really, really feel?
You are on the right track though, and hit all the right notes.
Leto
@Czanne: This sounds so much like my accident. I’m so glad she’s doing better. It’s going to be a long haul, but it sounds like she’s in a good hospital plus she has youth on her side. Just want you to know that you’re all in my thoughts. I don’t know what I can do but I’ll do whatever I can. Also you’re totally correct about better coffee than Starbucks
(Mini side rant: Jesus wtf is it with american drivers and not being able to see anything beyond their nose. I have about a million thoughts on this but it’s for a separate thread.)
Ohio Mom
I say: Someone with a twitter account, start a phone call campaign — encourage people to call the Starbucks 800 number and tell the poor operator what you think of Howard’s folly. They won’t know if you are a customer or not.
Yes, I know he isn’t the boss anymore but he is still on the board. If enough people call, it may very well make the papers and that will be an embarrassment to him.
Remember, I live in Cincinnati, home of Proctor and Gamble. They actually had to change their logo because they were inundated with phone calls from people yelling at them because they were aligned with Satan — something about the number 666 hidden in the Man-in-Moon drawing.
(I don’t know if anyone ever figured out who was behind the phone campaign, there was a rumor it was P&G competitor Amway.)
Or to put it another way — paraphrasing here — If hundreds of people a day call in, say Don’t Run Howard, and hang up, they may think it’s a movement.
jonas
I really don’t give a crap about Starbucks coffee one way or the other — their drip brew is fine; their espresso is horrible — but I can’t for the life of me figure out why these corporate idiots keep thinking that because they’ve run a company, they’re somehow entitled to run a country. We’ve had three “corporate” presidents in the past century: Hoover, W, and now Trump. How’s that worked out? FFS.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Yarrow:
@MattF:
Matt F makes a good point. I’m not sure Trump could have been destroyed in the manner Schultz currently is. A certain sizable segment of the public liked what he was selling, in some cases hadn’t been politically active before, and his reality tv reputation made that effort even more difficult.
Yarrow
@Czanne: Thinking of your niece and your family.
Brachiator
I don’t see the point of trying to connect this to the political dreams of the former CEO of the company. I oppose this guy on the merits, i.e., his lack of any merits.
Ruckus
@eemom:
Probably his entire rational for running, turn off as many Dems as possible to the entire process.
Barbara
@Leto: I rented a car when mine was in the shop and it had a visual display of things within about five feet beside me, and it included pedestrians and bicycles. Still, in icy conditions, even when you see something you can’t necessarily stop.
Brickley Paiste
@MattF:
Quite true.
It is astounding, to me, that people who make hundreds of posts complaining about Russian interference in our elections come up with way to justify their continued use of Facebook. It does help me understand how the holocaust happened.
Planetjanet
I enjoy Starbucks perfectly fine. I get a simple brewed coffee twice a day for $2.25. The baristas by my office are nice and remember me and chat and joke. It is usually an enjoyable place to relax when I am traveling. Their former CEO does not change my experience. Fuss at him on Twitter or email his campaign if you feel like it.
jacy
@Czanne:
That is good news. Sending you all good thoughts. Nothing is impossible.
Doug R
@zhena gogolia:
Once you’re through the security line at the airport, Starbucks prices seem reasonable compared to everyone else.
debbie
@Leto:
I think most drivers’ assumption is that everyone else will stop for them. I have an almost eight-mile drive to work and then back home again, and every goddamn time, some jerk will cut me off or blatantly run a red light.
WaterGirl
@debbie: So even “gofers” are made to sign confidentiality agreements? That’s how much Trump hardly knew him.
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: @ruemara: Ruckus, I’m so glad you replied to Rue because I had somehow missed her comment when read through the thread.
If only that could fit on a bumper sticker or was short enough for a rotating tag.
CZanne
@Fair Economist: We’re all behavioral issues (there is a reason I’m a behaviorist…) so we might not notice. (Dark humor = coping) My godmother, too – massive teenage car accident, in mid 70s, and she’s still here & being a bad influence.
Our parents have been divorced for longer than they were together, but my sister asked for my parents to come. My parents can be *problems* but when they cooperate, they’re a force of nature. And for their granddaughter? Lord have mercy on what gets in their way.
@tybee: Thank you, I saw. THANK YOU. @SiubhanDuinne: @debbie: Taking what we can get. @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I’m trying not to spam threads too much. Thank you.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I hardly ever buy Starbucks coffee. They roast coffee like Donald Trump likes his steak – burned to a crisp. I generally brew coffee at home. What I buy depends on what store I’m buying at – at my local Harris Teeter (right next to work) I get their HT trader brand. At Whole Foods (also near work) I buy the 365 brand in a big bag in whole bean. If at the Giant near home the Eight O’clock brand Peaks Columbian is surprisingly very good – actually even their original blend is pretty good – and is one of the few whole bean coffees on the shelf that isn’t Charbucks. I’m not a fanatic about freshly ground coffee – I usually grind 4-7 days or so at a time so I don’t have that extra step every morning. 99% of my coffee drinking happens at home before I leave the house in the morning.
Boycotting is a good idea though – he will think twice about running if it affects sales at his chain. I’m guessing the one thing that hurts worse than higher taxes if you’re rich is your business tanking. Honestly everyone seems to think he’ll bleed Dem support but all his positions so far sound like the moderate Republican so I could see him pulling away Trump supporters who want an actual successful biznessman to run the country. Lots of folks held their nose to vote for Trump and those folks seem like the kind that would go for a guy like Schultz – a calmer, gentler, more competent oligarch without the racist baggage. I don’t think the democrats want another oligarch of any stripe.
Gravenstone
I can count the number of times I’ve frequented Starbucks on the fingers of one hand, so I’m not much of a boycott threat. But fuck Schultz and his anti-Democratic (and anti-democratic) bullshit vanity project. Let his progeny (Starbucks) feel the pain of the collective wrath.
WaterGirl
@jonas: Hubris.
Yarrow
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: No, not in the same manner. But there was tons of dirt on him. The media treated him like a joke, which allowed his candidacy to go forward.
When the extent of the treason comes out, the number of people in the media who will be caught up in will be shocking to many people.
Steve in the ATL
@Yarrow: can we have an off-board chat on the subject of the vagus nerve?
laura
@Czanne: great news! Keep on keepin’ on B!
Fight when you must, rest when you can.
Leto
@debbie: @Barbara: I’ll say that some people do try to watch out. Plus technology is helping (or at least trying). And for those people, I thank them. But it’s such a small percentage out of the overall driving population.
Like so many things in the US, we’re dysfunctional when it comes to driving. Part of it is that we’re totally dependent on driving. Public transportation is really small, and where we do have it it’s not always that great. It’s also the fact that you basically can get a license with almost zero training. Very minimal. There should be a year long mandatory learning time. We’re not going to have that because it makes sense plus STATES RIGHTS!!!!
All I’m going to say is that I felt about 1000x safer back in Europe versus here. And most of my friends who were with me over there, and are now back here, say the same thing. Another quality of life factor.
CarolDuhart2
@JaySinWA: I agree with you very much. If we had given these vanity candidates a hard time at the beginning, we could have had a President Gore, no 9/11 (he was for locked cockpit doors), no disrupted Middle East and all the rest. We could have had Hillary. These folks bask in the adoration of deluded followers who think they are above partisan politics (and the Democrats they disdain). So have at it.
I have a coffee shop right around the corner for hot coffee-but I admit I love Starbucks’s cold stuff. I find that other places have the cold brew-and I bought a bottle last night. Once Schultz gives up the vanity run, I’ll go back to Starbucks mocha and their fruit and cheese boxes/
in one sense, I think this is a scam perpetrated on Schultz. No independent has ever won the Presidency, and the last third party to get electoral votes was in the crazy year of 1968 and George Wallace. But certain consultants who should know better are willing to drain his pockets for a race that goes nowhere.
gene108
Maybe we should take a page from the conservative playbook, when they “boycotted” Nike, after Nike made Collin Kaepernik (sp?) the face of Nike, and buy Starbucks’ products and film ourselves setting them on fire; though I have my doubts about the flamibility of coffee, lattes, etc, but if the Cayuga river can burn, so can Starbucks coffee.
Mortal Coyle
I already boycott Starbucks on principal* but urge everyone else to do the same. If you have the chance, Peets is wonderful. Alfred Peet trained Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, Gordon Bowker in coffee roasting. They bought their first green beans from Peet to set up shop in Seattle on condition they not directly compete. Of course, since then they’ve become the Home Depot of coffee, ruthlessly crushing all the little guys in their path. Avoid whenever possible!
* Full disclosure: if they are the only relatively good coffee around, I’ll put on my dark glasses and hope no one recognizes me…
Richard Grant
According to my very quick online search, Starbucks has 238,000 employees and 28,218 locations, Howard Schultz went from Starbucks CEO to executive chairman in April 2017 and retired as executive chairman in June 2018. Accepting another commenter’s statement that Schultz has 33 million shares of Starbucks stock and 1.4 million shares in trust, the total number of Starbucks shares outstanding is 1.24 billion.
So, I can’t help but think that a boycott of Starbucks would hurt its employees, suppliers, local economies, and shareholders a hell of a lot more than the asshole who severed his employment connection with the business about a half year ago, creating the type of collateral damage to others that you might see in, say, a partial federal government shutdown.
trollhattan
@Doug R:
Sometimes they’re just the choice of the moment and if it’s the airport terminal or exit 407 off I-5 then ‘bucks it is. In town we have so many “third-wave” hipster coffee joints there’s just no point seeking out ‘bucks unless you’ve been blessed with a gift card. Teens will take those off your hands in a heartbeat.
True fact: one of the original partners taught history at my junior high. That was many years before Schutz wandered into town.
Brachiator
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
It’s not his chain. It’s not his business anymore. He is the former CEO. So, even if a boycott could be effective, you would only be hurting current employees.
I thought that jackals were supposed to be more cunning than this.
ETA: I’ll even throw in that I kinda like Starbucks. Ooooh, the coffee is crappy. I don’t brew coffee at home. There is a Starbucks near the beginning of my morning commute. The staff is incredibly friendly and remember my regular order. They let a disabled guy sit around for a long time in the morning. The security guy is respectful of the homeless people who congregate around the store. I’m not buying a crappy cup of coffee. I’m buying a nice bit of customer service to get my day started. And this has nothing to do with the asswipe with presidential delusions.
Waldo
Starbucks profits made this candidate. Starbucks losses can unmake him. Seems fair to me.
trollhattan
@Mortal Coyle:
IIRC Starbucks once acquired Peet’s but Peet’s bought themselves back, or something like that.
Gravenstone
@Ohio Mom:
Considering that Amway = the God buggering DeVos clan, that’s certainly plausible.
trollhattan
@Czanne:
Yikes! and best hopes for everybody especially the feisty teen. I can’t imagine. Or I can’t allow myself to.
Elizabelle
I think a lot of people are going to be staying away from Starbucks. Don’t know how long it will take for MSM and Howard to notice.
We can always call the local Starbucks and tell them why we are not coming in, too. Calls like that will get passed up the food chain.
Hit Howard in his wallet. Tell him to stand down.
Omnes Omnibus
@Brickley Paiste: I know people told you to fuck off earlier; you should really heed their advice.
Omnes Omnibus
@B.B.A.: So you are back to just being a troll again? How droll.
Gelfling 545
I love Starbucks’ seasonal chestnut praline latte. For coffee in general, my favorite is fresh home brewed. (My daughter brought me some phenomenal Puerto Rican coffee yesterday!) I occasionally buy Starbucks’ mocha or a flat white if I’m out and busy. Yesterday was one of my Tai Chi mornings and I was going from the center to do some before the snow errands, including a massive package of puppy pads. Since I don’t like to eat before Tai Chi I will usually pick up a latte to keep me going on the errand run and I drove in the direction of Starbucks but somehow just didn’t want to buy their product. Not a boycott, just seriously disinclined to go there. He’s given me negative associations with their store. Pretty sure this was not his intended result.
JLowe
Would a boycott sufficiently stringent that it could discomfort him personally also produce suffering to others? Corporations have hostages – their employees and suppliers.
SiubhanDuinne
I have eight — EIGHT!! — Starbucks within a few miles of me. At every one of them, they know my name and my regular order (“grande iced cold brew, NO WATER”). There used to be nine, but one of them arbitrarily decided they weren’t allowed to do a “no water,” so I arbitrarily decided I didn’t need to patronise that store any more.
There is only one Dunkin’ within that radius, and parking there is a bitch, and it’s rarely on my regular route anyhow, and I don’t see a lot of upside to driving 5 miles out of my way (and then another 5 miles retracing my route) for coffee I find bland and forgettable.
Honestly, I can’t think that my failure to purchase a grande cold brew (no water) is going to persuade Howard Schultz and his presidential aspirations one way or the other.
Miss Bianca
@Czanne: All right, B! That sounds a lot better than this morning! We are pulling for you!
rk
I would boycott them if I ever went there. But I do buy the occasional gift card for friends who like Starbucks. Won’t be doing that anymore.
WereBear
@Czanne: Great news! Won’t let up the good thoughts though.
Mortal Coyle
@trollhattan: Checking Wikipedia I was startled to see the original SB founders bought Peets. Didn’t want to give up my righteous anger though! I hate the rampant standardization of modern life. Cookie-cutter products sold in cookie-cutter stores in cookie-cutter malls…
Gvg
He’ll be gone after a primary of two. Democrats are not in the mood for amateurs. However a good boycott, even though he isn’t actually CEO anymore, may be a good idea. It could deter some future vanity candidates. Make it really really obvious we are so over that idea.
trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne:
One of my alltime favorite Onion articles is “Starbucks opens in Starbucks bathroom.”
They had a slogan in 1999: “2k by 2k.” Things do change.
rk
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner):
It’s not their fault. But I’ve started associating the name Starbucks with a jackass who thinks I’m un American. I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way. Sometimes it’s just an emotional reaction. Plus, it might dent his inflated ego to see the company he built going down.
jl
@Gvg: Some commenters above suggested calling and complaining. I’ll do that first. I’ll tell them that if Schultz wises up and ends this farce of his before he does too much damage, I go buy their so-so coffee again, when it’s convenient.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
A troll?
How droll.
TELL COLE.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: To the best of my recollection, I have never emailed the man.
eemom
What’s gonna happen when the Peets CEO decides to run for president?? ?
trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne:
You’re on a role.
Chris T.
Personally, I’d just ask him if he would hire someone with zero business experience as the CEO of Starbucks.
He will, of course, say no.
Then I would ask him: “So, why do you think we should hire someone with zero experience in government for the top job?”
piratedan
I don’t have a problem with Schultz running, he meets the minimum qualification to run, he’s old enough…. what I do dislike is the fact that because he’s a billionaire, its somehow newsworthy that he’s running or the fact that he’s not really saying anything new. He’s an anti-candidate, a cleek’s law candidate, he’s against ideas, doesn’t have any of his own (or if he does, the media is certainly not trumpeting them) and as such, why should anyone give a shit about this… we already have the old model currently sitting in the WH, what essential difference is there? This one has less sexual molestation baggage? Just as clueless about foreign policy? Someone who thinks that having money means that his opinions somehow carry more weight when it comes to clean air? medical access policy? race relations?
I’m hoping that he too will pass from view as the latest shiny option as soon as the current administration unveils their latest act of heinousness or some additional indictments come down against more administration officials.
Miss Bianca
Anybody else see the title of this post and mentally add, “you’re drunk” at the end? No? All righty then…
Elizabelle
@Czanne: Come on B! Continue to be ornery and recover, recover, recover.
Please keep us posted. All the best to her family, friends, and schoolmates. This is terrifying for all.
B.B.A.
All right, that post crossed a line, and I’m sorry for it.
rikyrah
@Kent:
You nailed it??
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I used to drink a lot of Starbucks americanos, but I switched to local cafes and redeyes years ago. In every place I travel to. Better product and stronger coffee, plus supporting local business.
Side benefit: last summer I learned three different regional terms for “red eye” that I didn’t know about.
VeniceRiley
@piratedan: Yeah I saw him respond to a question on cnbc whether he would raise taxes … He said he wouldn’t answer hypotheticals! I laughed and laughed.
JR
It’s a vanity run. Schultz might be okay getting shit on but it’s going to get a lot worse when no one gives fuck all about him. He won’t be in by this time next year.
Ella in New Mexico
Jesus this “Democrats are panicked” story of the week is just plain stupid. It’s way too early to panic and start boycotting a company who’s employees don’t have a frigging thing to do with Schultz’s decision, unless you all have come to the decision that holding innocent people’s paychecks is now a GREAT way to get what you want in a situation.
He’s the former CEO, and actually a pretty corporately responsible one at that. A ton of good people get health insurance, a living wage and education benefits working there–and that stuff started a long time ago, BTW because of Schultz. He is even saying he’s not going to do it if it means being a third party spoiler that keeps Trump and the Republicans in control.
You don’t like their coffee, don’t go there. You don’t like his politics support candidates you DO like. But boycotting Starbucks stores because you’re afraid their former CEO might run for President is only going to hurt workers, period.
And, ironically, appropriately so.
Leto
@SiubhanDuinne: My little town just got their first Starbucks and I guess it does ok business. It opened after I was in hospital. Past that one, we don’t have too many here. It’s all Dunkin’ and Wawa coffee (eastern PA, near Philly). I don’t drink Dunkin’ for personal reasons so that just leaves me Wawa for take out coffee. Honestly their coffee is pretty darn good, plus right now they’re having their annual any size coffee for $1. It’s pretty tasty for when I have to go to my medical appointments. :)
Sister Golden Bear
Schultzie said he can’t run as a Democrat because AOC was mean to him by proposing to tax billionaires.
Narrator voice: 59 percent of registered voters support raising the top marginal tax rate to 70 percent.
Fuckem.
different-church-lady
Maybe I’m wrong, but I just don’t see how a “Millionaires are already taxed enough” platform is gonna draw a lot of votes away from the Democrat.
--bd
@Aleta:
I’ll substitute for your partner! F him and F Starbucks!!
Wait, you meant a substitute for the coffee, didn’t you? Yeah, that makes more sense. Never mind. Stupid! Stupid!
different-church-lady
Also: boycotting Starbucks is its own reward.
chopper
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner):
yeah, it doesn’t make a ton of sense. lots of the talk about a boycott seems to come from people who bitch about starbucks already.
different-church-lady
@chopper:
WHY IS EVERYONE LOOKING AT ME?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@JR: What’s annoying is that there’s an entire year till the primaries and any thinning of the crowd. So we get to hear coverage of every wackadoodle who announces between now and then.
chopper
@Sister Golden Bear:
so, schultz, which of the democratic party’s policies do not comport with the views of a majority of americans? show your work. i’ll wait.
Planetjanet
@Ella in New Mexico: You said that well. I wholly concur.
tybee
@Czanne: good to hear.
PST
Listening to MSNBC, Sherrod Brown just slammed Schultz for calling something Kamala Harris said unamerican. He was asked what he would think of a Harris-Brown or Brown-Harris ticket. He declined to answer directly, of course, but had a series of nice things to say about Harris and the similarities of their views. I think each would make a superb running mate for the other.
aretino
Folks who go back a while in Seattle know that there’s a lot of frankly Trumpian sleaze in Schulz’s record. To wit:
– Surreptitiously annexing a chunk of a public park next to his property
– Running the Sonics basketball franchise into the ground, trying to hold the city hostage for a new arena to boost their value (the existing one had been renovated only a decade earlier), and then selling in a sordid deal to a group with known plans to relocate the team out of state
Were there also reports of him stiffing contractors for events at his house back in the day? I remember something like that, but I haven’t been able to track down any old articles mentioning it yet.
different-church-lady
@Kent:
Shunning them in the Hamptons?
artem1s
I’m betting this lasts as long as it takes him to find out that campaigning is actual work. Also, the first time he gets roundly booed at a rally. And of course, as soon as his campaign manager can’t book him big speaking fees. Someone is gonna make some bucks on the ad buys, but I’m betting he’s a lot like Newt in that he’ll stiff his staff and that will be the end of that.
Percysowner
I never liked Starbucks, so I haven’t gone in years. I’m also lucky because my city has several local coffee roasters and we have a gourmet grocery nearby that stocks a really good selection of fresh roasted coffee. A lot of the time I can hit the roaster near me and get beans that were roasted the day before I come in.
zhena gogolia
Here’s a really good video from Davos that Cole posted on his Twitter (only a few minutes but really packs a punch):
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1090045108064579584
catbirdman
I’m in.
Brickley Paiste
@Omnes Omnibus:
It’s always 5 o’clock somewhere, right?
catclub
@Yarrow:
in terms of serious looks at his background, they did not treat hm a sa real candidate. In terms of coverage of his podium, and his rallies,
he was treated as a super candidate.
different-church-lady
@Brickley Paiste: Why not go find out where?
catclub
@different-church-lady: Also shunning them at Davos.
catclub
@Sister Golden Bear:
I bet if you made the limit above HIS income he would be okay with it.
Miss Bianca
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Is a “red eye” what we know in these parts as a “shot in the dark”?
Miss Bianca
@PST: If Sherrod Brown actually cares as much as he says he does about this country, he’ll keep his ass in the Senate, where he’s actually useful.
DonnaK
I’ve never lived anywhere but New England and Upstate New York, and I will always be a Dunk’s girl. Starbucks is barely drinkable, burnt swill.
Skepticat
@The Dangerman:
From your mouth to the FSM’s ears.
Aleta
@–bd: lol
Fair Economist
@Miss Bianca: I would say “where he is desperately needed”. Brown would be great and useful as President; it’s just that losing his seat could be catastrophic.
Stuart Frasier
@Miss Bianca:
I’d be open to supporting Brown if there was any chance he’d be replaced in the Senate by a Democrat. But there isn’t, so I don’t. It’s not worth it.
germy
germy
Ruckus
I already boycott Starbucks. But that’s because I don’t drink coffee at all no matter who roasts/brews/serves it. Tried a couple of times decades ago and really, really didn’t like it. I’ll drink hot tea if I have a cold but that’s about it for normal adult beverages.
Omnes Omnibus
@Brickley Paiste: You really are a class act, aren’t you?
Uncle Cosmo
@Omnes Omnibus: Only if you drop the first two letters of “class”.
Why this fuckhead hasn’t been banhammered into the ring system of Uranus (it’s already got its head up Itsownanus) escapes me.
PJ
@different-church-lady: If we can believe Alan Dershowitz, not being invited to dinner parties on Martha’s Vineyard is the ultimate snubbing.
James E Powell
@Miss Bianca:
True fact. DeWine would replace him with a troglodyte winger.
Salty Sam
@Leto:
I’m not sure what you’re talking about- they can see that text screen just fine, and it’s farther out than their nose…
brantl
Had Starbucks twice. Has to be all doctored up to taste good, their stuff is overcooked and bitter, not rich. Don’t buy that crap, get Seattle’s Best at Subway.