Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sounds like a good place to go study abroad...
You'll have to refrain these thoughts. It's a catholic campus ;)
The good thing with catholicism is that there is always forgiveness for those who repent.
Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
81–90 of 217 posts
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
I came here to post this very thing. When I was working downtown I decided to go to the library during my lunch break. To my surprise there was almost nobody in the library actually reading. However, there were people on every single computer workstation. Glancing over the screens I could see a variety of pornographic images, facebook and myspace pages, and youtube. The library is a great resource, but I was complete…
"but I was completely pissed off that my tax dollars go to support that." People who can't afford a few hundred dollars for their own computer and the monthly bill for internet access? If you're looking at porn in the library, it's because you can't do it anywhere else, not because you're abusing tax dollars. Would I like the poor, the disadvantaged, the isolated to be using the library resources my taxes pay for to…
> ...using it to do the things I can do on my phone, on my way to the well-paying job
You really shouldn't watch porn on your phone while you drive. ;-)
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#83Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Coffee shops are pretty much the opposite of sure-fire money losers. This article is a few years old, but: The failure rate for new coffeehouses is a mere 10 percent, according to the market research firm Mintel, which means the vast majority of cafes stay afloat no matter where Starbucks drops its stores. Compare that to the restaurant business, where failure is the norm. - http://www.slate.com/id/2180301/pagenum/al…
I see your Slate article quoting a market research report with another Slate article from someone who actually built a coffee shop, and raise you with a question and an observation. First, the article: http://www.slate.com/id/2132576/ Second, the question: does that "10% failure rate" stat include Starbucks, Seattle's Best, Caribou, Peets, or Tully's ? The rest of Mintel's stats do. Finally, the observation: the marg…
I remember reading the Slate article you're citing when it first came out. It's a fairly amusing one, which can be summarized as: "Wealthy person without a lick of business sense opens the 'café' of his dreams, declines to do any work himself, and goes out of business." It's entirely irrelevant to the economics of the average coffee shop.
First off, it's not clear to me whether the establishment the author opened was a coffee shop or a restaurant. The subtitle says "coffee shop", but the article then talks about finding someone to "whip up pretty crepes". I recognize that the dividing line between restaurant and coffee shop can be a bit fuzzy on occasion, but it's there and relevant. Most restaurants fail.
The really notable part of the article comes at the end, however: "There was, of course, one way to make the cafe viable: It was written into the Golden Rule itself. My wife Lily and I could work there, full-time, save on the payroll, and gerrymander the rest of the budget to allow for lower sales."
Yes, Mr. Michael Idov, you could have done that. You should have done that, from the start. That's what small business owners do: They work. That's what your competitors were doing. The goal may be to eventually make enough money to hire people to do all the work, but that's not where you start. You start by busting your ass.
That's the story of a dilettante who opened a restaurant as a fashion statement and went the way of all such fools.
Anyway, back to coffee shops. I don't know if Mintel's stats include the chains. They probably do. You might note, however, that the article I referenced is entirely dedicated to the proposition that Starbucks's presence in the market has been good for small, independently-owned coffee shops. Furthermore, even if we assume that no chain stores fail at all, a 10% industry failure rate would still have independent coffee shops doing pretty well. (Back of the envelope calculation: 14,000 independent coffee houses in the US in 2005, 11,000 Starbucks in the US in 2010, so let's say indies are only 25% of the total. If 10% of the total fail and all failures are indies, then 40% of indies fail. 60% success rate isn't bad for small businesses.)
And, finally, you're right that the margin on coffee beans doesn't determine the margin of a coffee house. That's what happens when your cost of goods is effectively zero, and I assure you that any restaurant or retail outlet would love for their margin to be solely determined by wages and rent.
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#85I work out the Columbia University libraries, although I'm not a student. For $500/year you can become a Friend of the Libraries and have access to all the libraries. It's a bargain if you consider how much you would spend at a coffee shop. Also, like the article says, fewer distractions and much more space.
I'm surprised they offer such a service. The Columbia U. library is notorious for being stingy with access. As a prospective grad student visiting the campus, they told me that I could have a once-time free pass and that if I ever wanted to get in again at some point during the rest of my life, I would have to become a student. They even refused admittance to a friend of mine who was philosophy PhD student at U Penn.…
>The Columbia U. library is notorious for being stingy with access.
$500/year is generous? It would probably be cheaper to formally enroll and take no classes.
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sounds like a good place to go study abroad...
You'll have to refrain these thoughts. It's a catholic campus ;)
It's a George Carlin pun: "Johnson sends Humphrey a broad (abroad). Details, along with some wild films, after these messages."
"Broad" is an old-fashion slang reference for woman in the US- much like "chick" became later. People who used the term "broad" non-perjoratively are well into their seventies now.
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#87Before I got a proper office, I'd have loved to have worked at my local library when I needed a break from working in the house. Only problem: the library (like most UK ones, I imagine) won't let members of the public plug in laptops for power. :o(
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#88My wife actually works at and for the library. Trust me when I say, you definitely don't want to work there. The amount of riff raff that hangs around that joint is just not worth it. People get trespassed, throw fits, steal DVDs, look at all manner of inappropriate material, and even straight up make scenes. The bathrooms are often vandalized with bodily excrement and the couches, as comfy as they may be, are also covered in the same if the cleaners haven't come that day. There are plenty of other coworking spaces you could join or support. Do yourself a favor, check them out.
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
"but I was completely pissed off that my tax dollars go to support that." People who can't afford a few hundred dollars for their own computer and the monthly bill for internet access? If you're looking at porn in the library, it's because you can't do it anywhere else, not because you're abusing tax dollars. Would I like the poor, the disadvantaged, the isolated to be using the library resources my taxes pay for to…
> ...using it to do the things I can do on my phone, on my way to the well-paying job You really shouldn't watch porn on your phone while you drive. ;-)
Well, we're not allowed to text any more so what do they expect?
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm surprised they offer such a service. The Columbia U. library is notorious for being stingy with access. As a prospective grad student visiting the campus, they told me that I could have a once-time free pass and that if I ever wanted to get in again at some point during the rest of my life, I would have to become a student. They even refused admittance to a friend of mine who was philosophy PhD student at U Penn.…
>The Columbia U. library is notorious for being stingy with access. $500/year is generous? It would probably be cheaper to formally enroll and take no classes.
I suspect you need at least one class to be formally enrolled, and that would apparently be a minimum cost of $950: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/sfs/docs/University_Tuition_And_F...