Starbucks Pulling the Plug on Lounge Lizards

entropy13 said:
Well if my home is 500 miles away from where I study, that would mean I'm a foreign student. LOL
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No no no, I'm saying that I (used to) live in a dormitory, so technically home is too far away :).

I think there's social benefit to sitting in a starbucks as opposed to sitting in your room, but to each his own, whatever.
 
Emission said:
I think there's social benefit to sitting in a starbucks as opposed to sitting in your room, but to each his own, whatever.
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That's another reason why sometimes I go to Starbucks after class. It's nice to be around people. Even if I don't end up talking to anyone and just work on my laptop for an hour or two, its nice to have some ambient noise and some conversations in the background.
 
Roliath said:
too bad mbp's get great battery life.
but yeah its a step in the right direction and probably one of the easiest steps (remove pwr outlet)
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I see your MBP and raise you an iPad. Depending on what I'm doing, I can squeeze upwards of 10 hours out of it! (hate on me all you want, but when you guys are having to hunt a power outlet I'm still going strong on battery! :p)

But seriously, I did this a few times when traveling before I got my Cellular Mobile Broadband (on occasion I still do this when I'm outside of coverage). It's nice to check email, read news, etc, but I dont see spending more than an hour TOPS there. (And today most hotels offer WiFi so there's no need to go hunting a hotspot when traveling now)

I agree with the guys saying "print the 1-time-30-min-use WiFi password on the reciept" best solution.
 
While the wifi abuse I can somewhat understand - it's partially of the vendors own creation (by advertising FREE WIFI) - I do not honestly know where people got the idea that it was OK to mooch electricity / plug in at a random store.

If one guy asked a manager and he said OK then everyone saw it and assumed likewise, that was that one store manager's own problem (which has since propagated). But looking at shops everywhere and seeing it happen, I would guess that that scenario didn't play out at every single location and alot of people are just assuming it's ok to plug in without asking permission.

So back to the OP - I guess blank wall socket faceplates would be the least confrontational way to handle the situation /shrug

<-guy who at most uses the internet on his phone to check xyz while drinking a beverage then getting the hell out of there before any hipster contamination./ infection can occur.
 
dvsman said:
So back to the OP - I guess blank wall socket faceplates would be the least confrontational way to handle the situation /shrug

<-guy who at most uses the internet on his phone to check xyz while drinking a beverage then getting the hell out of there before any hipster contamination./ infection can occur.
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/agree
Best way to let everyone know stop camping on their couches is to simply cover up the plates that let the moochers jack in for power. That'll get rid of some, until they get smart and bring extra batteries :p.
 
cixx79 said:
/agree
Best way to let everyone know stop camping on their couches is to simply cover up the plates that let the moochers jack in for power. That'll get rid of some, until they get smart and bring extra batteries :p.
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Or invest in a longer-life mobile device :p
 
Ashton said:
I see your MBP and raise you an iPad. Depending on what I'm doing, I can squeeze upwards of 10 hours out of it! (hate on me all you want, but when you guys are having to hunt a power outlet I'm still going strong on battery! :p)
.
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I just put a fresh battery in my 13" MBP, and reinstalled the HSF with some better TIM...

With wifi on, half brightness, and an underclock to 1540mhz/0.9v, fans on 1000rpm... I get a grand total of 11.25 hours, listening to music XD.
 
Emission said:
No no no, I'm saying that I (used to) live in a dormitory, so technically home is too far away :).

I think there's social benefit to sitting in a starbucks as opposed to sitting in your room, but to each his own, whatever.
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What I meant is that my country is too small to have such distances. ;)
 
MajorDomo said:
Starbucks is about to change its policy on how it does business with ‘customers’ who overstay their welcome by taking up needed space for paying customers. What started out as a good PR ploy has turned into a practical lesson in reality. If you provide free internet, they will surely come….and stay, and stay and stay.
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How's that going to work with the Barnes & Noble stores?
 
Easy solution, temp login wireless with purchase, 30 mins per $10 spent.
 
Changing this might be unhealthy for Starbucks, but they have such a strong base right now. Hopefully they find the right method to deal with everybody.
 
I go to the library every now and then and every single person with a laptop has it plugged in. People come in and hunt around for a plug all the time while I'm sitting on a couch running on a battery that will last for 5 hours. Not that I'm there for that long.

If blocking power plugs keeps some people from camping out all day then I don't have a problem with that. Free wifi is a convenience and if some people are abusing it to the point that it is harming Starbucks profit then Starbucks will do what it needs to stay profitable. I think that the author says it's rude that Starbucks didn't do a press release is f'ing stupid.
 
YEEZY said:
Changing this might be unhealthy for Starbucks, but they have such a strong base right now. Hopefully they find the right method to deal with everybody.
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The problem though is that more alternatives to Starbucks are popping up around everyday. You have lots of chain donut shops that are also now offering very good coffees at discounts, and the fast food joints have also stepped up their game on the quality of their coffees too. Starbucks has pretty much evolved into a status symbol, and it will be their undoing if they don't handle this carefully. You can now go to many different places for a good cup of coffee while paying less for it. Even many gas stations and chains have stepped up their coffee game as well for those who just want coffee and don't need to mooch free wifi..
 
I was once talking and drinking beers with a man who owns a couple Dunkin Donuts franchises and he said this to me with a smile:

"Starbucks sets the prices, and they set them high..."

I travel for work a lot, like a lot a lot. While I almost never set foot inside a Starbucks, I'm a big fan of WiFi and getting the hell out of my hotel room. So I spend a lot of time out and about, buying food/drinks from the places I go and working from a cramped uncomfortable table.
 
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