Starbucks pulling plug on laptop users?
Starbucks is well-known for coffee, but laptop users love their juice — electrical juice.
After 4 days and only 3 Cafe Americanos, the Starbucks manager had a bad feeling about this guy.
Now, a rumor is floating amongst the Interwebs that New York City Starbucks locations are replacing electrical sockets with blank faceplates, effectively pulling the plug on laptop (ab)users plagued with poor battery performance.
The Seattle-based caffeine pusher did not immediately return a request for comment.
I can see the need to DC AC hogs, but I know a lot of folks, including some of my favorite reporters I never see anymore, use Starbucks as a transient office.
Starbucks Gossip provides the following jolt:
If you are one of those people who uses Starbucks as their office, sits in a store for 8+ hours a day, putting all your files on a table, using a separate chair for your laptop case/ suitcase enjoying unlimited free refills with your Starbucks card, asking for cups of water and refuse to to move until you are good and ready all for the $1.85 you pay as “rent,” then perhaps your actions will answer your questions [about covering the outlets].
An AJC reporter who shall remain nameless tells me she recently lost her connection after 30 minutes at another local coffee shop, so it looks likes Starbucks is not alone in trying to prevent prolonged PC parking.
Starbucks seems to go out of their way to be friendly, so this is a perilous PR path, if true. After all, we can get coffee and electricity at work, if it comes to that.
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211 comments Add your comment
Rob
August 5th, 2011
8:14 am
Software is very, very powerful and most people fail to realize that computers can do so much more. And people like choices. Why not allow patrons 15 to 30 minutes free wifi followed by a cost per minute after that? You could even have peak times when the rates for wifi are higher. And make the rates high enough to discourage people that really have no business being there for longer than 30 minutes. If people want to stay and pay take their money. In some of the larger retail spaces you could offer more power options while having no power options in other areas. Personally I think a very good business model could be developed around people that like meeting for coffe and doing a little business or work. But these people should pay for what they get.
DOLL
August 5th, 2011
8:18 am
The Conyers Starbuck is by far the worst. First off there is one guy who is a staple there. He has a massive flat screen the size of a TV, and all this equipment hooked up to it, and parks is junky camper out front! Also, once I went in and seriously these people thought they were having a board meeting in a corporate conference room! They scooted tables together, hauled in boxes of files, and even hooked up a printer.
Here is a link from the Rockdale paper who thought they should praise this guy for “working” in our Starbucks everyday! (Or you can google “Conyers starbucks guy”)
http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/news/headlines/Writer_at__home_at_Starbucks_112439544.html
Power to the People
August 5th, 2011
8:21 am
Roger,
The 2$ cup of coffee I buy disagrees with you idiot!
DebS
August 5th, 2011
8:23 am
It’s a shame that people can’t find a balance/happy medium in their behavior so a business such as Starbucks doesn’t have to resort to such actions (if true).
There are times that I have ensonced myself for several hours at Starbucks to get some work done. BUT I’ve made sure to buy at least one thing for each hour I’m there. Starting with a coffee… then a bottled water. Perhaps a snack or sandwich. Then an Iced T or Hot Chocolate, depending on time of year. Also some mints or gum…
Also, I have tried to take up minimal space, and during crowded times made sure to quickly offer up the extra chair at my table, or even to share my table itself.
And I don’t do this every day. Once every few months, maybe.
If people were not so self-centered and self-involved, they’d see that with a bit of effort they could suit themselves while also making sure they weren’t taking advantage.
p
August 5th, 2011
8:27 am
if you’re complaining here, your life must suck.
Jase
August 5th, 2011
8:28 am
I have free wi-fi for the freeloaders. Center lane of I-285. I also have free coffee after you have been flattened by a 18 wheeler. Have a fantastic day!
FedUp
August 5th, 2011
8:33 am
I totally agree with this approach by Starbucks. It’s becoming a Homeless shelter for those that have no where to go.
Elvis
August 5th, 2011
8:35 am
Hey,her’s a novel idea.Why don’t you stick you lap tops up your rectum untill it reaches your stomach.Quit drinking over priced coffee ,throw away your cell phones and go climb a tree , catch crawdads in a creek,build a fort.Become a partisipant in life instead of a voyer
Ghostrider
August 5th, 2011
8:41 am
What a bunch of scumbags…I hope they pull the plug on you. Starbucks is not your personal office. If it were me I would without a doubt pull the plug.
Traci
August 5th, 2011
8:43 am
Perhaps the answer is in the words — MISSED BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY. Somewhere in this maze of plug in – v non plug in — and people doing business at a coffeee shop, is indeed a Entreprenural Business – or even on Starbucks can call – “Starbucks Biz Centre” . Their is a need to be filled –someone sieze t