Starbucks, I Love You

This entry comes because, as usual, I’m a little too excited about the holiday cups from Starbucks.

I remember the highlight of my co-op days at the Department of Justice was going down to Starbucks and ordering my drink. Once, one of the employees was on his break, and chatting with me as his co-worker made my drink–efficiently, as usual. Jokingly, he said, “Hey man, way to make her drink so slowly!” His friend gave him a wry smile, and then handed me a free drink coupon. “I’m sorry I was so slow today.”

Free drink coupons are a thing of the past, understandably because of the times we live in. But I don’t go to Starbucks to get free stuff. I go there because I have a consistently good experience.

My love affair with them wasn’t always perfect, though. Once I experienced very poor service at a Starbucks location (it was at an Indigo, so it might have been licensed?). My friend and I both wrote to Starbucks about this experience, and we both received gift cards in the mail, along with an apology.

I’d like to compare this to Pizza Pizza, who ran out of something I once ordered, and decided to make an executive decision by replacing it with a bunch of random crap. When I complained, I think they credited me $1 or something to my account. I haven’t ordered from them since. Peter Bregman, my favorite blogger at the Harvard Business blog, wrote about the Price of a Poor Experience last month. It’s not my favorite article by him, but I think it raises a good point.

In terms of the coffee chain wars, I found out from my marketing friend, FM, that Second Cup wasn’t even considered for analysis in her work.* You know why? Because it doesn’t have a thing (I could probably phrase that better). Tim Horton’s has timbits and hockey–it has a specific audience, a specific angle. McDonald’s just upped its game by redoing their beans and serving them in striking new orange cups. They had Free Coffee for their launch week and succeeded in changing the face of their coffee. Tim Horton’s should be nervous, I know a few devotees who have started purchasing Mickey D’s instead…

As for Starbucks, it has iconic features: classic white cups, “The Way I See It…” etc. Not so recently, they added perks to using their cash card– free syrups, soy upgrades, etc. They even released a cute mini keychain cash card that has been sold out at every location I’ve seen it at.

And also, as I mentioned, their service is great. In fact, if anyone has ever been bland to me at Starbucks, my feelings toward the brand aren’t tainted. Instead, I think, “Are you having a bad day?” This is due to the rarity of subpar service. And even though I avoid the licensed branches of Starbucks, because I feel like they’re bastardized versions of the brand due to their comparative disorganization and lacking service, I still got a timid “How are you?” today from the barista at one of my school’s locations.**

What does Second Cup have? An inconsistent holiday cup design. They have a bland color scheme. I’m sorry, but UPS took brown (I still remember those ads with the UPS guy trying on different colored outfits). There is no benefit in going to Second Cup (Okay, okay. They make better apple cider. There, I said it). But I think their biggest problem is that their service is mediocre at best. Maybe their applicant pool just happens to suck, but the only times I’ve had great service at Second Cup were if my friends were working. The fact is, they’re closing shops, not opening them. Their new logo wasn’t any better than their old one.

But I digress. This isn’t a Second Cup Sucks post. It’d be cool if they could turn themselves around. This is an I Love Starbucks post.

On a less enamored note, it’s fun to try out the Starbucks Oracle. I know it’s old, but I only recently discovered it. I used to be a Hippie (lattes with soy), but now I’m an Asshat (nonfat 1 splenda cappuccino). One of my favorite answers was Ass-clown though (things with triple shots of espresso, venti size etc).

*Second Cup is a Canadian coffee chain, for my confused US friends.

**Tom Mullaney echoes these sentiments in the Chicago Tribune: “The result [of these licensed locations]: a watered-down version of what the company touts as the “Starbucks experience.” If you’re nauseated by my corporate love, you can check out his article for its many valid points about what Starbucks needs to improve.

Small Shopping Trip

I’ve been hearing really bad stories about the H1N1 vaccine. I know why it’s common to get the flu after getting any flu vaccine but I just want to avoid it if I can. So I went over to Bath & Body Works to get some purse sized hand sanitizers, 3/$15. I guess it’s my little preventative measure?

I got Japanese Cherry Blossom, Wild Honeysuckle and Unscented. I think getting the scented ones might have been a mistake though, as their smells aren’t the most sophisticated/subtle ones, which is generally a minor problem unless you’re about to eat…

I’ve also wanted to dabble in film for a while, and finally bought myself a Holga. It was $58 from Urban Outfitters (much to SK’s disapproval, although she was hypocritically wearing an Urban Outfitters dress as she voiced this opinion), plus $20 for the flash attachment.

And here I am at French Connection, waiting for what seemed like 5 years for SK to finish changing. I’m wearing my Dean Winchester jacket– and I’m not gonna pretend like I don’t feel like I can kick some ass when I wear it.