Thousands of Posts Flood Starbucks Site

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080408/D8VTSMQ80.html

By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE

SEATTLE (AP) - Hundreds of coffee-obsessed consumers chimed in moments after Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) (SBUX) launched a Web site asking customers to pitch changes the company should make to revive its struggling U.S. business.

And they've kept those thoughts coming, by the thousands: Create a punch-card system with a free drink after so many purchases. Give people a free cup of birthday joe or discounts for using their own mugs. Let customers forgo long lines by ordering their usual with the swipe of a card when they walk in the door.

Skeptics have panned MyStarbucksIdea.com, unveiled at the company's heavily attended annual meeting in mid-March, as an online suggestion box that's already grown stale. But the heavy traffic it's drawn and the message Starbucks is sending - that it's listening, and listening carefully - have impressed corporate marketing experts.


Starbucks Corp. Chief Technology Officer Chris Bruzzo holds hand-written comment cards as he stands in front of a live screen of the new Web site "mystarbucksidea.com" Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at Starbucks' annual shareholders meeting in Seattle. Coffee-obsessed consumers started chiming in as soon as the Web site inviting customers to pitch ideas for reviving its struggling U.S. business went live. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)


"Most brands do not put out a welcome mat for feedback," said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of strategic services for the market research firm Nielsen Online. "Generally feedback is viewed as a cost of doing business rather than an opportunity. Starbucks is saying this is an opportunity."

Before it went live, Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks' chief information officer, said he was hoping a few hundred ideas would trickle in the first few days.

About 300 suggestions were posted in the first hour after the shareholders meeting, which drew a crowd of 6,000 and was closely watched by Wall Street analysts hungry for details on the company's turnaround plans.

FULL story at link.

I haven't been in a Starbucks since they fired several IWW members a couple years ago. My suggestion would be to honor the state laws on sharing tips with management in NY & Ca.

[Richard D]

1. Stop serving burnt coffee

.

[Kittycat]

11. More like paint thinner mixed with cigarette ashes for color.

[devilgrrl]

29. uh...

:rofl:

[gorfle]

2. No survey can help them.

The fact of the matter is, they sell an expensive luxury item.

With gasoline prices rising, people are starting to reconsider multi-dollar cups of coffee.

My truck now costs $70 to fill up. We are planting a garden this spring to offset some of the increased gas prices by reducing our food bill.

People who used to buy their daily $2 cup of coffee are going to start reconsidering that expense.

[NightWatcher]

3. 2$ you cant buy water there for 2$ my friend loves her $4.95 white chocolate mocha somethingy

[elleng]

5. i get free water

and ice all the time.

[Wednesdays]

12. Well, the point is that Starbucks' coffee is way more than $2

I think the cheapest of their specialty coffees is something like $3.99

[mondo joe]

14. Well that's silly. I buy a tall coffee a couple times a week for less than $2.

Mixed drinks cost more.

[Wednesdays]

15. But that's the exception rather than the rule

People don't normally go to Starbuck's to buy a plain cup of Columbian. Starbuck's made their name off of the expensive Frappuccinos and Caramel Macchiatos and Tazo lattes, etc.

[mondo joe]

16. It depends what you order. A coffee isn't more than $2. A mocha isn't a coffee

and neither is a latte or a Frappucino.

A coffee is a coffee. Of course other drinks, with more expensive ingredients and greater labor, cost more. They cost more than a plain coffee no matter where you go.

You can't go a block in Seattle without hitting one or more cafes, including small independent businesses and roasteries. They all charge a few bucks for a mocha or other special drink.

[elleng]

27. 3,50 ish

plain coffee around 2.

Its a pleasant social event for me.

[gorfle]

7. I figured as much

I don't drink coffee so I've never been in a Starbucks. I was being conservative with the $2.

At $5 a pop, it's no wonder they are sinking.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. Our Starbucks offers free air...... they say it doesn't cost them

anything to do this and I don't question them.

[Norrin Radd]

4. My suggestion: stop building near locally owned cafes, especially

in small towns.

[natrat]

6. they should change the name of every outlet, seriously

people dont dig big chains for coffee if given an alternative

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. Double their prices. It works for some people.... strange enough n/t

[benddem]

10. is it not possible

that they are over built? When you have 3 on every corner it is hard to think that the business wouldn't be watered down a bit.

[RB TexLa]

13. Swipe your card at the door is a good idea, it would be nice to do that for other fast food

have a kiosk, order swipe and pick up.

[mondo joe]

17. There was a rumor of being able to pre-order and pre-pay on an iPhone.

I'm still hoping.

[ruiner4u]

18. Close down a crap load of locations...

Do you really need a couple Starbucks within a 2 mile radius in a downtown district?

[RB TexLa]

20. The could put some up on rural interstates. Once we leave Dallas going to Louisiana I think there

are two near the interstate.

[ruiner4u]

21. In downtown cincinnati

There is one two blocks away from another one.. its sick...

[RB TexLa]

23. Same here, it's convenient

[mondo joe]

24. Agreed. Especially in the heart of a dense downtown area. If you have 10 minutes for

a break, who wants to go more 5 blocks away to stand in a longer line?

[ruiner4u]

25. I wouldn't mind so much if they at least had a decent product

[SidDithers]

19. "Most brands do not put out a welcome mat for feedback,"...

and we don't until we're losing money, and need to generate some publicity for ourselves.

Sid

[Aristus]

22. They already offer a discount for bringing your own refillable cup.

I bring my own every day. Save on cups and packaging, and I can get my cup of coffee for $1.80.

[SoCalDem]

26. NASTY coffee..never go there..

If you want a frou-frou-soy/lowfat-half/caff/latte with a zingo-flingo chocolate dusting.. you really just want Swiss Miss cocoa..it's much cheaper too :)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

28. Cheaper than swiss miss... I make a batch of mocha syrup about once a month...

costs maybe $3.00.. enough for one big mug a day. :)

[mondo joe]

30. The thing I think on every DU Starbucks thread: **It's just coffee, people.**

I'm as amazed by the absolute hatred of Starbucks as I'd be at absolute devotion.

Either way it's slavish and absolute.

It's just coffee - not a cup of heaven on earth, and not some juice spewed by Karl Rove. It's just coffee, better than some, worse than others.

[calico1]

31. There is a Starbucks set to open a few miles from where

I live and right near a Dunkin Donuts.

I agree about the burnt taste. Like the beans were over roasted. Don't care for it. On the rare occasions I do treat myself it is either Dunkin Donuts or the Tim Horton's around the corner from me.