Starbucks, Coffee, and Coworking • Hacker News Board

Re: Starbucks, Coffee, and Coworking

#21

Post by menloparkbum » Thu, Jun 18, 2009, 2:36 AM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #14

menloparkbum wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coffee, power outlets, a price that isn't ridiculous like the current co-working spaces in SF. Maybe some sort of programming quiz to keep out the weird "social media consultant" crowd. Also 24 hour access. Most (all?) coffee shops in SF close too early.

a price that isn't ridiculous I used to work in a (government-funded) technology incubator, and have heard some of the discussions behind pricing spacing. It makes no difference to the incubator whether space costs $50 a month, $200 a month, or $1,000 a month. We didn't go with $1,000 because that would make us price-uncompetitive with other feasible options in the region. We didn't go with $50 because we thought our…

The co-working spaces in SF are for the weird startup crowd. It turns out most of them are for the weird social media consultant crowd, because that is who runs them and they tend to be cliquey. They aren't business incubator spaces.

I'm pretty familiar with the spaces and people who run them here. One of them has to charge a lot because the space is really expensive. Another one has to charge a lot because they have trouble keeping it full, which I attribute to poor location. At yet another one, the guy is obviously making a profit because he's in a super cheap building.

I don't think the pricing is ridiculous from the perspective of the people running the space. They have to pass costs on. However, the people renting the space aren't getting a good deal unless they love the community. You're just renting a desk, which is free at the library, or a few coffee refills at any of the myriad coffee shops in the city... and you probably live somewhere, so you could just work at home, etc...

Re: Starbucks, Coffee, and Coworking

#22

Post by ibsulon » Thu, Jun 18, 2009, 2:51 AM UTC

edrtfgdr wrote: post #16

mediaman wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$300 isn't very much when you look at the loaded costs of setting up and running a coop. Offices are expensive. And if not an office, I'm not sure how one would ever create a 24 hour coffee shop. A typical Starbucks lives off of customers who spend $100/mo and take up no room -- $5/latte by 20 working days and five minutes in and out. How would some coffee shop ever survive by charging three times as much for someone…

Someone occupying an otherwise empty chair has zero marginal cost. In fact to a restaurant, people at tables has a negative cost just before the busy period - would you pick an empty restaurant? People in a starbucks at non-peak hours aren't a problem and may even attract other customers.

power from an outlet, higher electricity bills for cooling (more people, more heat) -- Hypothetically, this would be counteracted by people buying more drinks, but how much sugar can one consume, really?

Myself, I'd suggest some low calorie drinks people can drink to keep going.

Re: Starbucks, Coffee, and Coworking

#23

Post by antiismist » Thu, Jun 18, 2009, 3:13 AM UTC

graywh wrote: post #19

antiismist wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get free wifi at starbucks without any AT&T setup at home. The steps: - buy a starbucks gift card ($5 minimum) - register the giftcard online - use the registration info when prompted when you connect to the network at SBUX. - you must make at least one purchase each month on the giftcard, e.g. a tall coffee for $1.50. - you can only use two MAC addresses on that card. Otherwise they'll lock your account, but…

http://www.starbucks.com/retail/wireless.asp On session per day, limited to 2 hours. https://www.starbucks.com/cardrewards/default.asp

That's the stated policy, but it hasn't been my experience. I've done many days at waaay over 2 hours.

Re: Starbucks, Coffee, and Coworking

#24

Post by pradocchia » Thu, Jun 18, 2009, 12:31 PM UTC

cdr wrote: post #20

pradocchia wrote: post #5

Speaking of K-cups and single serve coffee, I recently discovered the Italian moka pot. Wow! Simple, easy to clean, makes good coffee.

I loved my Moka for awhile, but in the end it lost out to the ease of the k-cup machine at work. Most days I just don't want to spend 8-10 minutes making a cup (between prep, brewing, and cleanup).

This is true. But, if you brew one really strong cup in the morning, you can cut it with boiling water several times during the day to make regular strength coffee.