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Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

fortune.com

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Re: Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

#61

Post by shinycode »

somedude895 wrote: post #28
arkh wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

South Korea is cyber café country. If you open a café there, people expect some specific services. I guess the fact people come with PCs and printer is a way to demonstrate how they don't want this part of US culture and would like to keep theirs. So either adapt and start offering PC bang in South Korea or go home.

Or you know, you could just not go there if you don't like the place rather than be a prick to people who work there and customers who like going there.

I agree, following the logic means any customer from any shop can start doing anything regardless of policies and shops just need to adapt just because of my expectations ?

Re: Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

#62

Post by tasuki »

thrown-0825 wrote: post #33
somedude895 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you know, you could just not go there if you don't like the place rather than be a prick to people who work there and customers who like going there.

Hard to do when starbucks is a real estate holding company that sells coffee. They have sucked all the air out of the cafe space and driven out their competitors.

> They have sucked all the air out of the cafe space and driven out their competitors.

How?

Re: Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

#63

Post by stby »

rich_sasha wrote: post #60

Cafes provide two distinct products, usually bundled into one: seat rental and food/drink. How about charge separately for each? I get that it would be awkward to try, but why not.

Newer Coworking places generally seem to have some Starbucks-vibes, but AFAIK they are not doing to well.

Maybe the price of a coffee is exactly what people are willing to pay for a seat, a small table, and wifi for some hours.

Re: Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

#64

Post by xenospn »

ahartmetz wrote: post #57
dominicrose wrote: post #38

Why would anyone except a gamer buy a desktop computer anyway. I guess some people still have their old computer and a lot of south korenas are gamers, but laptops are just better overall because of the portability. If people bring printerS pural then starbuck could "just" have a free-ish printer

Show me that quiet, 16 core, 5 GHz, 128 GB RAM laptop that's actually pretty cheap, too. I do need the CPU performance, that computer is used to compile C++ code. The RAM is for local LLMs - not fast enough to be practical most of the time tbh, but I like to experiment anyway.

Keep that beast humming at home and get a cheap MacBook Air to use ssh at the coffee shop.

Re: Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

#65

Post by wodenokoto »

rich_sasha wrote: post #60

Cafes provide two distinct products, usually bundled into one: seat rental and food/drink. How about charge separately for each? I get that it would be awkward to try, but why not.

Japanese Manga Cafes / Internet Cafes give you all you can drink coffee and tea for hourly pricing, and usually comes with a PC and a private booth. I'm not sure how much of a thing they still are though, but they were big in the 2000s and early 10s

Re: Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

#66

Post by EE84M3i »

pstuart wrote: post #2

Seems like an opportunity for a coworking-lite space -- rent a seat/desk spot for 1 hour blocks.

Co-working spaces of all types are ubiquitous in Tokyo FWIW. Near my midsize station I had about 10 different providers in a 10 minute walking radius, some with multiple locations even!

Most have a selection of plans to choose from: hourly, daily, monthly, etc

I chose a bit more upscale one without a fixed seat. I pay ¥1100 (7.5 USD) I think for each day I use it, with a monthly minimum spend of ¥2200. It comes with free mediocre coffee/tea. It is consistently clean and library quiet as people follow the posted rules including minding the volume of their typing and headphones.

I would be surprised if the situation in Seoul was significantly different.

Re: Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

#67

Post by mvdwoord »

wodenokoto wrote: post #65
rich_sasha wrote: post #60

Cafes provide two distinct products, usually bundled into one: seat rental and food/drink. How about charge separately for each? I get that it would be awkward to try, but why not.

Japanese Manga Cafes / Internet Cafes give you all you can drink coffee and tea for hourly pricing, and usually comes with a PC and a private booth. I'm not sure how much of a thing they still are though, but they were big in the 2000s and early 10s

This is what we had all over the world (...) when Internet Cafes were a thing. Perhaps they should come back?

Re: Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

#68

Post by johnisgood »

mvdwoord wrote: post #67
wodenokoto wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese Manga Cafes / Internet Cafes give you all you can drink coffee and tea for hourly pricing, and usually comes with a PC and a private booth. I'm not sure how much of a thing they still are though, but they were big in the 2000s and early 10s

This is what we had all over the world (...) when Internet Cafes were a thing. Perhaps they should come back?

Most developers could not really do their own thing on a PC/laptop that is not theirs.

Are they supposed to set up their development environment each time?

Re: Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

#69

Post by mvdwoord »

johnisgood wrote: post #68
mvdwoord wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what we had all over the world (...) when Internet Cafes were a thing. Perhaps they should come back?

Most developers could not really do their own thing on a PC/laptop that is not theirs. Are they supposed to set up their development environment each time?

You could still bring your laptop? Swap out the HDMI if you want to use the monitor...

Re: Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

#70

Post by senko »

boonzeet wrote: post #51
senko wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would anyone except a gamer buy a desktop computer anyway? Because you get a beast of a machine for the price of MacBook Air, and because you prefer looking at a big ultrawide monitor instead of alt-tabbing like crazy on a 13" screen, and you prefer a full keyboard and a proper mouse to the cramped layout they stuff in laptops because there's no room. Oh, and maybe a proper sound system. And it can also double…

> it can also double as a NAS ... and home server Devil's advocate, but it can't if it's in Starbucks ;) There's far cheaper workstations out there than Macbooks, especially if you're running Linux on them.

I ain't lugging that setup around :)

I have a VPN so all its resources are available in a Starbucks via ssh and/or RDP.

This one was a custom build with maxed ram, heaps of storage, a modest Nvidia card with as much VRAM as possible without breaking the bank, etc.. stuff I personally needed. A cheap workstation (or a much more expensive Mac) won't have that exact combo.

So aside from ergonomics, it's also customizability to my idiosyncratic wants and needs.

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