Retail Watchers

The customers at Starbucks keep getting younger and younger. The sales are going up due to the iced drinks that these young people are customizing. They are making all sorts of unicorn drinks and then posting them on social media such as Tiktok. Millennials and Gen Z are the main buyers of these iced customized drinks. Starbucks has gone away from the basics such as coffee and switched over to visually extravagant outrageous drinks that are posted to the internet. Where other Millennials and Gen Z people compete with each other for likes.

Meanwhile older adults are absolutely annoyed by this as the young people swarm Starbucks and take photos and selfies of their drinks.

https://www.nrn.com/finance/starbucks-c ... -skyrocket

Starbucks hooked me at the tender age of 23 when they opened their first store outside of Seattle in the 1980's. It was in Chicago on the way to my office from the train station.

I see no difference between the current customization trend and the GenX-ers and Boomers ordering extra-hot no water upside down spin the cup counter-clockwise three times but not too fast lattes back in the early 2000's. These older customers need to think back to their youth and get over their bad selves.

All that being said, these unicorn drinks look disgusting. My first thought is to call the ER and tell 'em to prepare a bed for someone who OD'd on sugar.

Back in my day, we had to walk ten miles uphill (both ways) to Starbucks. In the snow. While wearing tuxedos and ball gowns.

Groceteria wrote: ↑November 5th, 2022, 6:58 am Back in my day, we had to walk ten miles uphill (both ways) to Starbucks. In the snow. While wearing tuxedos and ball gowns.

LOVE IT!!!!

Yet many in the Starbucks who are complaining about "work conditions" and the whole unionization thing are complaining about the high degree of "customization" and mobile orders and how hard it is to prepare those items....

So which is it? Is the high degree of customization a good thing or a bad thing?

You are conflating issues regarding unionization.

Whining about customization has nothing to do with work conditions and the need for unions.

Groceteria wrote: ↑November 5th, 2022, 6:58 am Back in my day, we had to walk ten miles uphill (both ways) to Starbucks. In the snow. While wearing tuxedos and ball gowns.

And opera slippers.

storewanderer wrote: ↑November 5th, 2022, 11:31 am Yet many in the Starbucks who are complaining about "work conditions" and the whole unionization thing are complaining about the high degree of "customization" and mobile orders and how hard it is to prepare those items....

They also complain that the customers either don't pick the orders up or they are very late, displeased with now-imperfect drink, and demand a replacement. Essentially, the customer abuses Starbucks policy and the employee gets to deal with it. However, limiting or eliminating customization would alienate other customers who order drinks they intend to consume.

storewanderer wrote: ↑November 5th, 2022, 11:31 am So which is it? Is the high degree of customization a good thing or a bad thing?

There's a difference between a high degree of customization and ridiculous customization that never gets consumed. Sugar-free, milk alternative (esp for those of us who can't tolerate dairy and soy), and non-coffee choices are a high degree of customization and make sense. Some of these drinks are nonsense. I

veteran+ wrote: ↑November 5th, 2022, 2:23 pm You are conflating issues regarding unionization.

Whining about customization has nothing to do with work conditions and the need for unions.

Really? That is not what this article from Reuters from over a year ago says.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodi ... 021-12-09/

So are the union organizers lying to this store in Buffalo, NY when they claim they will help them with their "Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) baristas waging a union campaign in Buffalo, New York, say they are organizing in part to have more of a say in the workload created by the company's mobile app?"

If so this does not bode well for the union organizing drive at Starbucks at all.

storewanderer wrote: ↑November 5th, 2022, 8:45 pm

veteran+ wrote: ↑November 5th, 2022, 2:23 pm You are conflating issues regarding unionization.

Whining about customization has nothing to do with work conditions and the need for unions.

Really? That is not what this article from Reuters from over a year ago says.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodi ... 021-12-09/

So are the union organizers lying to this store in Buffalo, NY when they claim they will help them with their "Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) baristas waging a union campaign in Buffalo, New York, say they are organizing in part to have more of a say in the workload created by the company's mobile app?"

If so this does not bode well for the union organizing drive at Starbucks at all.

This is what struck me. IF they are complaining about the possibility of being "punished" or not rewarded or acknowledged by Starbucks because they cannot deliver the results with these customizations, then that is a workplace issue that can be addressed with the help of a Union. IF they are complaining because they just don't like the task, then that is just silly and not worthy of an organised effort for change.

Throwing away product and customers walking away because of long wait times due to a system that is unworkable and then being blamed for it is not tenable.



"Starbucks baristas also chafe at a performance management program that rates their customer service – especially because they are under pressure by other technology that tracks how fast they process drive-thru orders.

"It's as though you are making drinks under the pressure of trying to defuse a ticking time bomb," Skretta said."