Starbucks Union

IWW Starbucks Workers Union

Starbucks employs unfair tactics against local coffee shops.

Submitted by Organize on Wed, 08/17/2005 - 11:37am.

Starbucks eliminates competition through buy-outs, "cluster bombing" tactics, and market cannibalization. The Ocean Beach Grassroots Organization, in support of the local merchants of Ocean Beach, declares as part of a boycott that, "Starbucks employs unfair tactics against local coffee shops. If Starbucks finds a successful coffee establishment they build one or more locations to take their business. They lease buildings to keep out competition, send agents around to take notes and pictures (as we have witnessed in Ocean Beach)" (obgo.org). Ocean Beach is a community located in San Diego, California. It has recently been the site of numerous protests against the Starbucks Corporation's attempt to open franchises there. The Ocean Beach planning board is working on a ban called Proposition A that bans "Formula Retail" restaurants and stores from encroaching on Ocean Beach. In Japan, Kinzo Niwa, managing director of Pokka Corp., which runs the Cafe de Crie chain, a rival of Starbucks, explains, "Our sales don't drop even if Starbucks opens a shop near ours, but if we simultaneously apply to a landlord to rent space in the same building, the landlord chooses our opponent" (The Japan Times). Starbucks's market-entry strategy involves first finding a market's leading independent coffee shop, and then going to the landlord of that coffee shop and buying the lease out from under them, replacing the shop with a Starbucks. As is common in Ocean Beach and Japan, the existing coffee shop is forced to move or go out of business. If Starbucks cannot buy the lease, Starbucks will open several franchises around the shop (nearly one on each corner) and heavily promote to draw the crowd. This begins a "cluster bombing" campaign where Starbucks opens so many franchises in one area that they become unsustainable. After driving out independently owned coffee shops, the Starbucks franchises then have to start competing with themselves, cannibalizing each other's sales. Starbucks, the parent company, is basically promoting Darwinism as their business model, a business model that is becoming unbeatable. In Starbucks's 2002 10-K Report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it is reported, "As a result of its expansion strategy of clustering stores in existing markets, Starbucks has experienced a certain level of cannibalization of sales of existing stores by new stores as store concentration has increased." Despite this cannibalization, Starbucks's net revenue growth increased 24% that year.

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againstignorance Says:
Wed, 08/17/2005 - 2:51pm

Important to note...

1. Starbucks does not franchise.
2. If a land owner chooses the bigger, more viable business to rent to, is that not logical. They are protecting their own interest. This is what businesses and people do.
3. "Darwinism" as a business model? Isn't this logical as well...the strongest businesses survive? Unfortunately in the adult world of economy, finances and business there is no room for pre-school theories that everyone gets an equal piece of the pie just because they exist.

Organize Says:
Wed, 08/17/2005 - 3:51pm

againstignorance wrote:
Important to note...

1. Starbucks does not franchise.
2. If a land owner chooses the bigger, more viable business to rent to, is that not logical. They are protecting their own interest. This is what businesses and people do.
3. "Darwinism" as a business model? Isn't this logical as well...the strongest businesses survive? Unfortunately in the adult world of economy, finances and business there is no room for pre-school theories that everyone gets an equal piece of the pie just because they exist.

Of course this all begs the question does business exist for it’s own ends or to serve people the public humanity, human interests?

If it exists to serve it’s own ends even at the expense of humanity, then your logic is sound.

But if you believe that Business exists to serve human interests, then your logic is troubling to say the least.

After all businesses have one great advantage over humans, they are not alive. So they are not limited my moral conscience, pain or death.

What is it to a business is ten million people die? As King Leopold’s corporation did in the Congo. Or it the corporation murders union organizers as Coke did in Columbia. Or if Sex million Jews are killed as IBM did in Germany.

Your logic makes these historical events simply the Darwinian out come of strong entities surviving as week ones don’t.

If this is not an argument for Unionization I don’t know what is.

DontFormAUnion Says:
Mon, 08/29/2005 - 4:51pm

What the fuck does six (please learn to spell three letter words properly) million Jews dying in Germany have to do with Starbucks??? Please tell me you haven't gone further into insanity than already.

Organize Says:
Tue, 08/30/2005 - 3:41pm

DontFormAUnion wrote:
What the fuck does six (please learn to spell three letter words properly) million Jews dying in Germany have to do with Starbucks??? Please tell me you haven't gone further into insanity than already.

It has to do with the fact that genocide is the direct result and fundamental expression of imbalanced market competition.

To justify market asymmetry is to justify the conditions that lead to genocide.

I thought you were an advocate of free market enterprise?

DontFormAUnion wrote:
3. "Darwinism" as a business model? Isn't this logical as well...the strongest businesses survive? Unfortunately in the adult world of economy, finances and business there is no room for pre-school theories that everyone gets an equal piece of the pie just because they exist.

I want to address this a little more. Businesses don’t survive, because they can’t die. Businesses aren’t mortal. But Businesses can kill, and do. The only way a business can die is if all of humanity dies.

Unfortunately business competition often comes at the very expense of human life. At the very least it often exists with out reference to human life, because business is not limited by death.

The result is that what is good for business is often not good for sustaining human life. Therefore paradoxically Business as an evolutionary entity represents a virulent virus which rather than living in symbioses with it’s host, kills it there by removing it’s own means for continued survival.

Which bring us to Darwin. Darwin did not find that the species which was the most competitive was the most likely to survive, what he found was that those species which cooperated best with each other and among themselves were the most likely to survive.

It is humans increased ability to cooperate, as a result of our use of language, which has giving us a competitive edge. Even so humans my go extinct as a result of their inability to cooperate with their environment. I.e. global worming, pollution, and losses of livable habitat.

The emergence of businesses as global players has not helped our situation as businesses have competing interests with humans themselves and profit form human annotation.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx Says:
Wed, 08/31/2005 - 1:59am

Organize wrote:

Of course this all begs the question does business exist for it’s own ends or to serve people the public humanity, human interests?

If it exists to serve it’s own ends even at the expense of humanity, then your logic is sound.

But if you believe that Business exists to serve human interests, then your logic is troubling to say the least.

After all businesses have one great advantage over humans, they are not alive. So they are not limited my moral conscience, pain or death.

I think that it is completely clear that business exists for its own ends. Business doesn't serve human needs, that sounds more like charity or government. Business is a machine. Starbucks employs and other businesses employ guiding principles and mission statements to humanize business.

There is no doubt that Starbucks employs some cutthroat business tactics, but frankly any successful business must at somepoint. Surely no one wants to work for a failing business; these are the businesses that treat employees the worst. Starbucks is merely filling the forced role of capitalist business practices that is required to exist in the United States.

I didn't drink coffee before I worked at Starbucks and I don't intend to continue this habit when I stop working. I still have yet to taste a cup of coffee or espresso from any but a Starbucks machine. I think this is the attitude that Starbucks wishes to cultivate in employees. I enjoy my 30% discount and learning about all the Starbucks roasts, but in the end it all is clear that if Starbucks was around, if business was around to fulfill human need, things would be much different.

I am not sure who I am agreeing with here but I'm sure it's a little both. Businesses should follow sound business practices but this really needs to be up to the consumer when it comes down to it. My biggest problem with Starbucks is the waste, the paper waste. After a local Fourth of July celebration, the park was covered in a vast blanket of white paper cups with their little brown sleeves on which is so ironically printed that the sleeves waste some large percentage less compared to another cup.

Starbucks is a good place to work if you take advantage of all your benefits: weekly markout, tuition reimbursement, options, etc. I enjoy Starbucks because of the environment created, and whether it's artificial or not, the true spirit on any business comes from the human side, the baristas, the customers, and not the capitalist machine.

DH Says:
Wed, 07/05/2006 - 1:26pm

xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Organize wrote:

Of course this all begs the question does business exist for it’s own ends or to serve people the public humanity, human interests?

If it exists to serve it’s own ends even at the expense of humanity, then your logic is sound.

But if you believe that Business exists to serve human interests, then your logic is troubling to say the least.

After all businesses have one great advantage over humans, they are not alive. So they are not limited my moral conscience, pain or death.

I think that it is completely clear that business exists for its own ends. Business doesn't serve human needs, that sounds more like charity or government. Business is a machine. Starbucks employs and other businesses employ guiding principles and mission statements to humanize business.

There is no doubt that Starbucks employs some cutthroat business tactics, but frankly any successful business must at somepoint. Surely no one wants to work for a failing business; these are the businesses that treat employees the worst. Starbucks is merely filling the forced role of capitalist business practices that is required to exist in the United States.

I didn't drink coffee before I worked at Starbucks and I don't intend to continue this habit when I stop working. I still have yet to taste a cup of coffee or espresso from any but a Starbucks machine. I think this is the attitude that Starbucks wishes to cultivate in employees. I enjoy my 30% discount and learning about all the Starbucks roasts, but in the end it all is clear that if Starbucks was around, if business was around to fulfill human need, things would be much different.

I am not sure who I am agreeing with here but I'm sure it's a little both. Businesses should follow sound business practices but this really needs to be up to the consumer when it comes down to it. My biggest problem with Starbucks is the waste, the paper waste. After a local Fourth of July celebration, the park was covered in a vast blanket of white paper cups with their little brown sleeves on which is so ironically printed that the sleeves waste some large percentage less compared to another cup.

Starbucks is a good place to work if you take advantage of all your benefits: weekly markout, tuition reimbursement, options, etc. I enjoy Starbucks because of the environment created, and whether it's artificial or not, the true spirit on any business comes from the human side, the baristas, the customers, and not the capitalist machine.

So, are you in favor of some of the fun tactics Starbucks uses in the San Diego area? Like handing out free Starbucks samples INSIDE the small mom and pop coffee shops in the area. At least until they're caught and chased out.

Asschemical Says:
Wed, 01/24/2007 - 4:07pm

Starbucks is free to do whatever it wishes, until the court decides it's become a monopoly. Stay tuned...

linktotrademark Says:
Fri, 05/22/2009 - 9:04am

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hankjmatts Says:
Thu, 06/11/2009 - 9:09am

I think that it is completely clear that business exists for its own ends. Business doesn't serve human needs, that sounds more like charity or government. Business is a machine. Starbucks employs and other businesses employ guiding principles and mission statements to humanize business.
club penguin

manichayan Says:
Sun, 06/28/2009 - 2:13am

Starbucks Union has been doing an excellent work. Keep it up. Thanks.
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