Yesterday was "free pastry day" at our beloved Starbucks(*). Word went out on the company's web site, via email, and on social media sites like Facebook.
So why did they require customers to bring a printed coupon to get their pastry?
This event was promoted electronically, which is great, and social media probably spread the word pretty well. But isn't it dumb for an environmentally conscious company to require people to download and print out coupons? (I haven't replaced the printer I bought in 1998 because I hardly print anything anymore.) And if the customer doesn't--a likely scenario if they heard about the promotion online--they stand in the store fuming, pay full price for a picked-over selection, or go away hungry.
I am kind of expecting SBUX to get spanked in the social media backlash over this one.
(*)Disclaimer: we own stock because Alice was once an employee.
I just drove past a Starbucks and in the drive through lane was a mammoth white Rolls Royce. I guess when you can drop a quarter mil. on your ride, how much you pay for coffee is irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteI'm always amused to see $80000 cars being used to buy $5 meals. That should have gone into the "ironies" post a while back.
ReplyDeleteI think as a nation we've gotten so used to cognitive dissonance that it no longer registers.
I'm mean. One of my employees asked me if we were going to run out at 10 to take advantage of the free pastry deal. I was like ..."uh, no.....don't we have a job to do?"
ReplyDeleteThe day I'm driving around in a Rolls Royce, that's when I'll feel confident enough to blow off work to get a free bear claw.
Another reason I am boycotting SBUX. They claim to be environmental, but were busted for wasting water and overusing paper products and eliminating all reusable materials (cups,spoons). They do not have a mandate to recycle, so everywhere that it is difficult (ie greater Cleveland) they simply do not do it. Ever wonder haw many milk jugs go into land fill from one store alone? Then comes the marketing. Their online marketing staff has worked hard to promote online, but their twitter contests were so overwhelmingly complicated, that it would be easier to hack their corporate website. The idea was to keep their followers engaged and keep them "hooked" for a period of time. Sorry, but I am not wasting my time with an hours worth of work and waiting for just the right second to tweet, all for a $10 gift card. The final straw was the "red" promotion for AIDS. They spent so much marketing money on this promotion-ads, new cups, aprons, banners, training, etc. Then they only gave away 5 cents per drink to AIDS causes. With the million dollars spent on promoting the campaign, they could have done more good. So in my opinion, they are posers and greenwashers. Sorry, Jeff, here is your soapbox back...
ReplyDeleteRobert, I can totally see your point of view. My relationship with the company is pretty simple - I buy their coffee beans and occasionally an espresso-based drink. I never really took it seriously when they started promoting themselves as "green". My guess is that they went in that direction to ease the ill will they got from outcompeting all those neighborhood coffeeshops.
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