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
8:59 am
The idea of buying wifi time with a barcode on the side of a cup is clever but not practical for most (my netbook does not read barcodes). I do think some sort of code on a receipt might do the trick and give Starbucks control over wifi time sales. If you buy a cup of coffee and 30 minutes of time your code will be on your receipt together with what you paid for it. The best idea is to allow people to set up accounts online that can be used at any Starbucks. Each Starbucks could have their own rates, etc. Then log in and pay for use. And the online account could keep up with the charges.
Power to the People
August 5th, 2011
9:00 am
Hey Ron H,
You are probably one of those drive by customers that pop in order something look around in disgust at the locals and leave. We don’t want you there, Starbucks has created a community atmosphere and it should be our RIGHT to enjoy our coffee and work as long as we want. I think someone needs to send an email to Congress. In fact when I get in to Starbucks later this morning I will send the email from there! Imagine the irony.
I Love Life Cereal
August 5th, 2011
9:03 am
And another thing, what about the clowns who take up limited airport terminal restaurant seating by sitting there on their large arses and reading a book?
Nothing infuriates me more than a rough travel session, and yet I can’t sit down for a moment for a decent meal in one of the few decent restaurant airports because some douche thinks they can make it there “cozy little library.” ENOUGH!!!
Mid Town Joe
August 5th, 2011
9:03 am
Give the slugs free coffee and charge them $20 to sit and slurp.
cassandra pegsmen lawyer
August 5th, 2011
9:05 am
charbucks
Power to the People
August 5th, 2011
9:06 am
This is a perfect example of what is happening in America that I am writing my book about. It is time for the rich to give back. Like shelter and food, internet has now become a necessary item not a privilage. If businesses start forcing people out who need to use the internet then we should build facilities that allow for those of us not fortunate enough to work in some ivory tower to find a cool quiet place to work.
o-O
August 5th, 2011
9:11 am
i agree with this during peak hours, however at night when most people are home they should reopen the wifi
Jessica
August 5th, 2011
9:12 am
I don’t use Starbucks as a replacement office, but there are some times when I can’t get started on a paper or research project at home, and I need the disconnect from my living environment that Starbucks offers. I spent a week solid at Starbucks writing a final paper for one of my classes last year, and I managed to pump that paper out in half the time it would have taken me surrounded by the distractions of my home. Without the Starbucks, I would have been languishing away in our very cold, very inhospitable library, where there’s no coffee and no good atmosphere (and no sunlight…).
I don’t think disconnecting laptop users is the answer. Most batteries will only last for 3-5 hours these days, depending on the use, and while some users may be spending a lot of time at Starbucks and not really doing anything, it won’t help if Starbucks appears to become unfriendly to laptop users. Heck, the same could be said for people who bring books and hog the tables NEXT TO the power outlets, so that laptop users who would like to get some work done but have little battery power cannot. There’s no easy solution here, and cutting off the power completely to laptop or other electronic users would just send them to another coffee shop (I’m thinking Caribou in Toco Hills or Einsteins in the morning).
Additionally, there was a time when Starbucks DID charge for WiFi, and eventually they went to a free system where everyone could use it. It’s a good system, and unless you’re streaming video or playing computer games, you really don’t need to limit anyone’s use of the WiFi. If you’re going to do something bandwidth-intensive, there are cyber-cafe’s that are popping up around the city that offer an environment specifically for people who want to use their computers for high-bandwidth media and drink coffee at the same time.
Like another user said, if they start blocking access to laptop power ports OR if they start kicking users off the WiFi after a set amount of time, the solution for the user is to stop buying Starbucks coffee. That’ll get the message across pretty quickly.
DebDoes
August 5th, 2011
9:14 am
I too used Panera as a virtual office from time to time….I moved around though (inside/out), etc. and didn’t take up table space needed for b’fast/lunch people. I agree, they need to pull the plug if people are camping out there all day and hogging the tables/space. Go home and work from there!
truth hurts
August 5th, 2011
9:14 am
freeloader, moocher, user, socialist, scammer, etc…hope Starbucks does toss these vagrants out. It’s is the biggest problem in America today..the entitlement syndrome. Good riddance to them all….wherever they squat.