Starbucks plans EV charger pilot

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Re: Starbucks plans EV charger pilot

Post by veteran+ »

It has been well reported that "Rest Stops" have been disappearing in America for quite a while.

I have noted such in California and Florida.
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Re: Starbucks plans EV charger pilot

Post by buckguy »

There's tremendous variation in the investment in public rest stops. Ohio, PA, Delaware, and Maryland have upgraded most of their toll road plazas over the past decade, while Illinois has been eliminating the ones in the Chicago area. On non-toll roads, I've seen fairly recent upgrades in New England, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Virginia still has fairly old ones in suburban areas---these serve state tourism missions.

I've noticed that truck stops have had some turnover and closure in the last 10-15 years---part of it seems to be consolidation among operators and attempts to broaden their clientele.
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Re: Starbucks plans EV charger pilot

Post by Brian Lutz »

In a somewhat more restaurant related sidenote to this thread, I recalled that back in 2009 a blogger mapped out all of the McDonald's locations in the continental US, and used that data to figure out what point within that area is the farthest you can get from a McDonald's (dubbed the McFarthest Point). At the time the location was somewhere in South Dakota with a distance of 107 miles from each of the closest two restaurants, but when a McDonald's in rural California closed in 2010 that moved the point to a spot near where the borders of Nevada, Oregon and California meet for a distance of 115 miles, with the closest McDonald's locations in Winnemucca Nevada and Klamath Falls Oregon. A summary of this, along with links to a Blog post where the person who found this made an excursion to the McFarthest Point, can be found here:

https://www.rd.com/article/farthest-awa ... mcdonalds/

And then the point moved again in 2018 when a McDonald's in Tonopah Nevada closed, putting the new point in Southern Nevada (near Area 51) for a distance of 120 miles away from a McDonald's.

It would be interesting to see where on the Interstate Highway system is the farthest point you can be from a gas station. Northern Nevada seems like a likely candidate for this one as well.
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Re: Starbucks plans EV charger pilot

Post by storewanderer »

Brian Lutz wrote: March 22nd, 2022, 8:48 pm In a somewhat more restaurant related sidenote to this thread, I recalled that back in 2009 a blogger mapped out all of the McDonald's locations in the continental US, and used that data to figure out what point within that area is the farthest you can get from a McDonald's (dubbed the McFarthest Point). At the time the location was somewhere in South Dakota with a distance of 107 miles from each of the closest two restaurants, but when a McDonald's in rural California closed in 2010 that moved the point to a spot near where the borders of Nevada, Oregon and California meet for a distance of 115 miles, with the closest McDonald's locations in Winnemucca Nevada and Klamath Falls Oregon. A summary of this, along with links to a Blog post where the person who found this made an excursion to the McFarthest Point, can be found here:

https://www.rd.com/article/farthest-awa ... mcdonalds/

And then the point moved again in 2018 when a McDonald's in Tonopah Nevada closed, putting the new point in Southern Nevada for a distance of 120 miles away from a McDonald's.

It would be interesting to see where on the Interstate Highway system is the farthest point you can be from a gas station. Northern Nevada seems like a likely candidate for this one as well.
I-80 through Nevada is actually interesting. If you drive the I-80 you will encounter a gas station and generally a town basically every 50 miles (or better). For instance between Fernley and Lovelock where the limit goes to 80 MPH (about 60 miles) there is nothing. Between Lovelock and Winnemucca (70 miles) there are two truck stops (both old Burns Bros; Mill City is a large but very low amenity TA where they closed the motel, restaurant/buffet, and Subway, and Rye Patch is basically a c-store with truck parking). Winnemucca to Battle Mountain (50 miles) has a station right in the middle at Valmy offramp which isn't a town but has a big power plant. Battle Mountain to Carlin (50 miles) has nothing. Elko to Wells (50 miles) has nothing. Wells to Wendover (60 miles) has nothing.

Cross into Utah at Wendover- about 114 miles to Salt Lake City outskirts and there is/was one single lonely gas station somewhere along that route.

As far as Starbucks goes there is no Starbucks between Fernley and Elko (255 miles).
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Re: Starbucks plans EV charger pilot

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: March 22nd, 2022, 9:16 pm
Brian Lutz wrote: March 22nd, 2022, 8:48 pm In a somewhat more restaurant related sidenote to this thread, I recalled that back in 2009 a blogger mapped out all of the McDonald's locations in the continental US, and used that data to figure out what point within that area is the farthest you can get from a McDonald's (dubbed the McFarthest Point). At the time the location was somewhere in South Dakota with a distance of 107 miles from each of the closest two restaurants, but when a McDonald's in rural California closed in 2010 that moved the point to a spot near where the borders of Nevada, Oregon and California meet for a distance of 115 miles, with the closest McDonald's locations in Winnemucca Nevada and Klamath Falls Oregon. A summary of this, along with links to a Blog post where the person who found this made an excursion to the McFarthest Point, can be found here:

https://www.rd.com/article/farthest-awa ... mcdonalds/

And then the point moved again in 2018 when a McDonald's in Tonopah Nevada closed, putting the new point in Southern Nevada for a distance of 120 miles away from a McDonald's.

It would be interesting to see where on the Interstate Highway system is the farthest point you can be from a gas station. Northern Nevada seems like a likely candidate for this one as well.
I-80 through Nevada is actually interesting. If you drive the I-80 you will encounter a gas station and generally a town basically every 50 miles (or better). For instance between Fernley and Lovelock where the limit goes to 80 MPH (about 60 miles) there is nothing. Between Lovelock and Winnemucca (70 miles) there are two truck stops (both old Burns Bros; Mill City is a large but very low amenity TA where they closed the motel, restaurant/buffet, and Subway, and Rye Patch is basically a c-store with truck parking). Winnemucca to Battle Mountain (50 miles) has a station right in the middle at Valmy offramp which isn't a town but has a big power plant. Battle Mountain to Carlin (50 miles) has nothing. Elko to Wells (50 miles) has nothing. Wells to Wendover (60 miles) has nothing.

Cross into Utah at Wendover- about 114 miles to Salt Lake City outskirts and there is/was one single lonely gas station somewhere along that route.

As far as Starbucks goes there is no Starbucks between Fernley and Elko (255 miles).
I will say that the U.S. 93 corridor in Eastern Idaho could be a contender for the furthest away from a McDonald's. There is one in Hamilton, MT, then in Idaho there isn't another on 93 until you get near Twin Falls. I am a little surprised that there is not a McDonald's in Salmon or Challis, which could support a McDonald's with traffic from the highway.

Electric vehicles are going to be a hard sell in the more remote areas like this unless changes in the charging infrastructure take place.
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Re: Starbucks plans EV charger pilot

Post by Brian Lutz »

Along US-95 in Western Idaho there's a stretch between Lewiston and McCall where there's 224 miles from one McDonald's to the next. Also along US-95, there's a 300 mile stretch between Hawthorne Nevada and Las Vegas(probably close to the actual McFarthest point) without a McDonald's after the one in Tonopah closed. I'm guessing that one would be hard to beat.

According to Google Maps, it looks like the distance between Hamilton Montana and Idaho Falls is around 254 miles, but suggests ID-26 to I-15 as the route to take. It doesn't look like that route would have any McDonald's either.
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Re: Starbucks plans EV charger pilot

Post by storewanderer »

Brian Lutz wrote: March 23rd, 2022, 10:26 am

According to Google Maps, it looks like the distance between Hamilton Montana and Idaho Falls is around 254 miles, but suggests ID-26 to I-15 as the route to take. It doesn't look like that route would have any McDonald's either.
Tonopah McDonalds was reopened by HB Boys and houses a 76 gas station and Beans & Brews I think it is called- some Utah concept- Coffee (they barely remodeled inside, it still seems like McDonalds in there).

There is a Chevron/Burger King/Subway combo at the other end of Tonopah also owned by HB Boys.

I wonder if we will ever see Starbucks fill in some of these extremely remote locations. They have sort of come and gone in some cases from remote locations. For instance they closed the corporate unit in Mammoth Lakes back in the 2010 purge, but the ski resort and Vons both had licensee units there. Since then they got a corporate unit back in Mammoth Lakes (and kept a corporate unit open in Bishop the whole time).
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Re: Starbucks plans EV charger pilot

Post by Alpha8472 »

Starbucks is replacing some older stores with newer ones with Drive-thru lanes. The only new stores that Starbucks would want to open would have to be Drive-thru stores in high traffic areas with easy access to freeways or major roads.

The new Drive-thru format seems to emphasize Drive-thru and have very little room for indoor seating. That could be bad for people who want to get out of their cars and sit down.
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Re: Starbucks plans EV charger pilot

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: March 24th, 2022, 6:46 pm Starbucks is replacing some older stores with newer ones with Drive-thru lanes. The only new stores that Starbucks would want to open would have to be Drive-thru stores in high traffic areas with easy access to freeways or major roads.

The new Drive-thru format seems to emphasize Drive-thru and have very little room for indoor seating. That could be bad for people who want to get out of their cars and sit down.
This does vary to a degree by location but the most recent Starbucks boxes opened in my area are quite unimpressive inside (when they even have inside open) and nothing like the older locations were.

I also think Starbucks is doing a pretty serious saturation, continues to push the limit on price, on speed of service, and as consumers tighten their spending will end up realizing this is a great expense to cut. But I've said that before and I've been wrong.

The labor issues Starbucks is having are most troubling to me, their standards have slipped and the attitude of their employees is not what it used to be. I used to feel good about going to Starbucks as I could count on professional service and a clean environment. That is no longer the case. If I want inconsistency I'll go spend $1 at McDonalds or a gas station.
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Re: Starbucks plans EV charger pilot

Post by Alpha8472 »

Starbucks is doing what it can to draw attention away from their failing business operations. This EV charger pilot is just a distraction. Starbucks cut staffing several years ago. This caused a major change in employee attitude. Starbucks used to schedule plenty of labor and staff. The employees were cheerful and happy to go to work at Starbucks. They could devote their time to making high quality hand crafted beverages and deliver great customer service. Then they cut hours and staffing. The remaining staff was overworked and underpaid. Employees quit like crazy. Starbucks used to be a long term career that people enjoyed. That joy was lost when Starbucks decided to focus on the bottom line and overwork their employees by understaffing.

Many long time employees are no longer working at my local Starbucks. The once friendly employees that I had known for years quit. The joy was no longer there. Now Starbucks is racing towards the fast food style of passing out low quality food as quickly as possible to make a buck. The teamwork and camaraderie is gone. Starbucks used to have meetings where the entire staff would get together and learn about coffee and customer service. Those meetings are few and far between. The best employees quit rather than work under the low staffing conditions.

Starbucks used to want to be the third place. A place apart from home or work where you felt comfortable. The closure of the indoor dining and the switch to drive thru just to get more profit was a bad decision. Starbucks was all about a pleasant place where you wanted to go to get great coffee, great customer service, and feel better. It is now all about a fast food style transaction that lacks all of the good qualities it used to have. Starbucks stopped treating their employees well and ended up with the lowest quality workers who are bringing the company down.

Starbucks needs to get back to basics and ditch all of this talk about EV chargers and environmental awareness. Great coffee, friendly motivated employees, and a pleasant welcoming environment are what Starbucks needs to restore.
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