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

fortune.com

81–90 of 280 posts

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

#82
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

By addicting consumers to coffee flavored sugar I suppose?

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

#83
post #63

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.

I haven't seen a coworking place that isn't insanely overpriced compared to a coffee shop so it's no surprise they're not doing well.

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

#84

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?

For work oriented cafe, owners can partner with Teamviewer, license seats from it and then advertise this as a fast remote service. Iirc teamviewer requires payment only for host machine, clients can be free. Though I imagine the market for such setup would be extremely small and unprofitable.

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

#85
post #23
post #15

Or maybe Starbucks should install a common printer with a fee? The large items policy still makes sense, though

Is that a business they even want, someone occupying a seat for 8 hours only to consume two coffees?

Customers attract customers. Even if some customers are not spending a lot of money, they bring in other customers who more than make up for them. This is the reason why so many coffee shops go out of their way to provide power outlets near every table.

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

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to bother you but I have so many questions! Like, did you actually do it or was it just a middle joke I didn't detect? If the former, wasn't you afraid the printer won't be usable after that experiment? Didn't that worry you? Do you often experiment in this way? (Just stopping there to give otherwise the list gets too long.)

I have literally hundreds of HP print heads from a project, many partly blocked or burned out (they burn if you send them the wrong signals, and like 10% of the time I hit 'break' on my debugger it burns a few jets out if they're firing at the time), and had a coffee sitting right next to my desk so thought "why not".

This is incredible - you should write a blog about it. I want to see what that printout looks like!

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

#87

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

How interesting - so the other extreme. 0 cost on drinks, 100% time in seat cost.

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

#88

I saw a guy (in america) charge his e-bike battery once at Starbucks. GPT estimates a full recharge to be around 30 cents.

Hah, probably comparable to running a desktop for an equivalent amount of time - most ebike chargers are 100 - 200 W, and the bikes usually have a battery between 0.5 - 1 kWh (which in my area would be 5 - 10 cents). Less disruptive though, assuming they detached the battery and left the bike outside.

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

#90
post #23
post #15

Or maybe Starbucks should install a common printer with a fee? The large items policy still makes sense, though

Is that a business they even want, someone occupying a seat for 8 hours only to consume two coffees?

They want people, but I think a printer crosses the line. It's a Starbucks not a Kinko's.
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