Starbucks Pulling the Plug on Lounge Lizards

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,399
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.

There is nothing better than escaping from the college library to enjoy a coffee made at ones behest, to sit and work in comfort away from the stresses of campus.
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If I want "to sit and work in comfort away from the stresses of campus" I go home, what's so hard with that?
 
What is with the obsession of working at a small desk with an uncomfortable chair at a coffee shop?
 
There is a guy at my local starbucks that literally brings in a desktop. He brings the computer in a big book bag (it's big) and plops down a dell monitor, keyboard and mouse. Some how he believes no one would noticed.

I can think of others that I wish got the boot. The group of girls where 3 of them order a frap while 8 of their loud friends order nothing. They sit on the big log table ( about 16 chairs ) and are so loud and obnoxious to the point that you can't be around them on the community sitting area.

Unfortunately, not sure I like the sound of the article as I thought they were referring to those situations I mentioned. This sounds like everyone is included. Then again, this is New York. It was difficult to sit down in both the Starbucks I went to in Manhattan. The community table (smaller then the ones in miami, only 8 chairs) have people with their notebooks with no end in sight to their visit. (3 out of 8 made an actual purchase there.)
 
If you're at Starbucks so damn long that your laptop runs out of power you've been there way too long as it is.
 
+1 to this idea. My girlfriend and I go on Sunday afternoons, we sit and chat, we buy a bunch of drinks, then we leave. We don't do work. Can't for the life of me figure out how anyone thinks it's economical to do this rather than just paying for internet at their home.
 
phobos512 said:
+1 to this idea. My girlfriend and I go on Sunday afternoons, we sit and chat, we buy a bunch of drinks, then we leave. We don't do work. Can't for the life of me figure out how anyone thinks it's economical to do this rather than just paying for internet at their home.
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That's just it, its not economical. Similar to Apple devices, its a status thing.
 
Meh, just print a wifi password on the receipt that is only good for 30 minutes. Its not a resturant, you're not meant to stay for an hour+.

Go sit in Barnes and Noble or find a bench at the Mall, they have WiFi too...
 
The author of the article is an idiot.

"While wireless internet should not necessarily be free, nor should users simply sit down and sponge off it without making a purchase from the shop itself, blocking off the power points seems to be a step in the wrong direction."

No, blocking off the power is the perfect idea. If you remove the free internet I can guarantee you will drive off way more college students, because no one is going to pay for internet at a Starbucks. All this does is force you to leave after an hour or two. Starbucks is not an office, go work at your house.
 
bobisgod said:
What is with the obsession of working at a small desk with an uncomfortable chair at a coffee shop?
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no kidding. I don't think I've ever used a wifi hotspot in a restaurant, fast food place or coffee shop. I'd rather go home and browse in comfort (and with privacy/security to boot)
 
Off the top of my head, on all purchases, generate a code and print it on the receipt.

Codes allow limited access in time and/or bandwidth only when a network variable is set, lets call it "MaximumCapacity", a boolean variable. When it's false, let users have as much access as they want, but when it's true, all of a sudden that guy who bought a coffee, cannot continue his hour long browsing session.

PROBLEM SOLVED, CAN I HAVE A JOB STARBUCKS!?
 
Rizen said:
The author of the article is an idiot.

"While wireless internet should not necessarily be free, nor should users simply sit down and sponge off it without making a purchase from the shop itself, blocking off the power points seems to be a step in the wrong direction."

No, blocking off the power is the perfect idea. If you remove the free internet I can guarantee you will drive off way more college students, because no one is going to pay for internet at a Starbucks. All this does is force you to leave after an hour or two. Starbucks is not an office, go work at your house.
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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)
 
Hmmm. All of y'all folks are seriously weird...

Personally, I'm a pretty big fan of hauling the DTR laptop out into town and working outside the house (and, obviously, office).

Office is so stuff, it's built of fail.

And as to the house...eh. I live there. Nice place and all, but I'm there ALL the time. It's great to be able to get out and do work in new environments.

So...yeah, I definitely do set up at Starbucks (of course, I'm drinking a pretty steady stream of coffees) now and then. Or - more often - sitting in some corner of a bar at local brewpub.

It's just nice to be out in public, really - seeing people coming and going, etc. Having a nice cup of espresso, pint of bitter, etc. Good times!
 
I remember when I worked in a game shop. There was a cafe across the street that offered free internet to customers. So every morning someone would go buy a coffee...

Never really found internet use on a PSP that great however... But was better than nothing.
 
bobisgod said:
What is with the obsession of working at a small desk with an uncomfortable chair at a coffee shop?
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It's actually going to sound kind of cliche, but it's a popular place to meet people (girls) if you're the hipster type. I wish I was joking, but all over NJ where I live that's the only types of people I see in there. Barnes & Noble has it the same way, too. LOADS of people sitting around with their laptops out.
 
pretty sure I already pay for wifi at starbucks, its included in my Home DSL package...
 
if anyone ever catches me sitting at a Starbucks using an Apple product of any sort, I give you the right to shoot me in the face.
 
dderidex said:
Hmmm. All of y'all folks are seriously weird...

Personally, I'm a pretty big fan of hauling the DTR laptop out into town and working outside the house (and, obviously, office).

Office is so stuff, it's built of fail.

And as to the house...eh. I live there. Nice place and all, but I'm there ALL the time. It's great to be able to get out and do work in new environments.

So...yeah, I definitely do set up at Starbucks (of course, I'm drinking a pretty steady stream of coffees) now and then. Or - more often - sitting in some corner of a bar at local brewpub.

It's just nice to be out in public, really - seeing people coming and going, etc. Having a nice cup of espresso, pint of bitter, etc. Good times!
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Agreed. Seems like most people in this forum are too concerned with being anticonformist rather than seeing value in certain aspects of peoples lives.
 
People need to STFU about this. Seriously, if you want to go and hang out in a coffee shop that is perfectly fine and indeed what they are for but these people that want to go and abuse it as a place to set up all day need to leave. They need to make money, and the guy that buys one cup of coffee and then "works" all day does not make them cash.
 
most Panera's dont have a lot of power sockets in the dining room. usually only 1 or 2. Also they put a 1 hour time limit for internet use between 11am and 2pm.
 
entropy13 said:
If I want "to sit and work in comfort away from the stresses of campus" I go home, what's so hard with that?
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Trust me, I would go home if I could. I go to Starbucks after class because there's rush hour traffic when I get out and it would take me over an hour to get home, whereas if I chill at Starbucks for an hour I could get some work done, watch people walking by on the streets (this is actually very interesting), and then get home in about ~15 minutes after the rush has died down, which is probably much more fuel-efficient than sitting in stop-and-go traffic for an hour. Plus I can get a drink.

Anyway, I don't see the big deal. Most laptop batteries will last several hours easily (my netbook can squeeze out 6 hours at full charge), so for me its not really a big deal. It does seem like a good way to get rid of those guys who bring in their entire PCs.
 
caniba said:
I thought they did this years ago? :confused: I guess not.
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They started to charge for Internet service but offered it for free if you have a Starbucks Card, thus all the freeloaders just got cards and they made it free a few years later. What's worse is that now the people with cards get a free refill, so they are losing even more.
 
i never understood why students study at the coffee shop.
it's noisy, dim, cramped.

however, if i were to mooch off starbuck's free internet, i'd get myself a high powered wifi dongle and sit across the street.
 
I was at a local mom n'pop coffee shop near my house before heading out to work and I heard 2 girls sitting at a table. 1st girl gets up to go to bathroom, 2nd girl asks staffer / waitress "Can I get your wifi password. My friend is going to buy something."

Note: She didn't say SHE was going to buy something, her friend is going to buy something. Somewhere in her little brain, that made it OK for her to also mooch off of the wifi.

Now I give this shop credit for requiring a purchase to get the password at the minimum, but seriously - it is more of an entitlement mentality issue than anything else.
 
86 5.0L said:
pretty sure I already pay for wifi at starbucks, its included in my Home DSL package...
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*cough* *cough* If I feel like walking into starbucks and using something I paid for without buying anything extra you better believe it ;)

unled1db.jpg
 
dderidex said:
Hmmm. All of y'all folks are seriously weird...

Personally, I'm a pretty big fan of hauling the DTR laptop out into town and working outside the house (and, obviously, office).

Office is so stuff, it's built of fail.

And as to the house...eh. I live there. Nice place and all, but I'm there ALL the time. It's great to be able to get out and do work in new environments.

So...yeah, I definitely do set up at Starbucks (of course, I'm drinking a pretty steady stream of coffees) now and then. Or - more often - sitting in some corner of a bar at local brewpub.

It's just nice to be out in public, really - seeing people coming and going, etc. Having a nice cup of espresso, pint of bitter, etc. Good times!
Click to expand...

I guess its all down to personal preference

Me I could never work in public places with people everywhere. Even as a student in college, I prefer studying and doing my assignments in the comfort of my own room alone. I just finds it easier to focus in that environment.
 
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