Serendipity at Starbuck's
There is nothing I love more than getting a deal when I didn't have to ask for it.
Stopped in Starbuck's Monday for a cup of coffee. I'm pretty fluent in Star-speak...
you know 'half-caf, 2 pump, blah blah blah" so I'm not really paying close attention to the
whole prep routine. As I'm opening my wallet, the girl at the counter says "Oh no you're good."
I guess my quizzical expression prompted her explanation; I silently wondered if I'd missed a "free cup of coffee day" sign someplace. The net of it was their cash registers were down, so they had no way to ring me up. Drinks on the house. Simple as that.
However, I know we've all been to places where we'd have been forced to fill out a 1099 form practically so the store could still get their money. True, coffee is a high-margin business. Perfectly sane people make a conscious decision pay 1.50 and up for a beverage that is 90% water and cost probably 10 cents to make. (Take a cleansing breath here if you didn't know this before.)
Even though they lost some revenue while their cash registers were down, the decision not to charge me will ensure I am a repeat customer. Starbuck's was smart enough not to penalize their customers for their issue.
2 Responses to Serendipity at Starbuck's
Krista,
Nice post - good perspective. I guess it depends what business your in, in terms of what makes sense to give away. In this case - the people were on the clock anyway, and the goodwill certainly cost more than the materials.
I really like the new look of your site - clever, professional, fresh.
anon: Thanks for the affirmation and comments. I agree about depending on what business your in how to handle such situations. This is why I pointed out the high profit margin of java :-) Cheers.
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