Reclusland

Well.  I was going to write a short little piece saying some nice things about Starbucks, but I did a little research, and it seems these things turn into a shouting match of “Stabucks sucks” vs “Who cares what you think?”

So rather than give too much fodder to the troll brigade (not that I seem to have picked up much in the way of trolls at this point) I’ll just list a few points about why Starbucks might not be so bad.

- The “expensive” coffee goes to pay for training, maintenance, and employee benefits.  They give their workers decent health care (or so I’ve heard, and my girlfriend used to work at one so I’m not talking out my ass here), and are consistently rated as one of the top companies to work for.  Part time work that offers health insurance? Hard to find.  A corporation that provided temporary housing for it’s employees (and possibly their families) after Hurricane Katrina? Even harder.

- Ever get something you didn’t order?  Ever get offered an extra shot?  Ever go back and ask them to remake a drink?  They do all this and with no questions asked or any hesitation, so it’s my guess that this is probably corporate policy.  Otherwise, you know management would frown on it.  When top level management is saying “make the customer happy” and they find a way to do that, it’s alright with me if it costs me a few extra dollars on my latte.

- Fairtrade coffee? The fact that they care about this shows something.  When you buy as much coffee as they do, you aren’t always able to buy as much of the “good” kind as you like.  I know Chipotle buys a certain percentage of organic beans, and they clearly advertise that they’d buy 100% organic if the organic bean market could support that kind of demand.  It can’t, yet, but the more people buy these things, the more the market will swing in that direction (assuming the market as a whole doesn’t collapse).  Plus, the logic behind running a large corporation is much more complex than every day commonsense.  For both suppliers and purchasers, it is better to diversify to a certain extent.  Keep all your eggs in one basket and if one side runs into trouble, it could take the other down with it.   It’s a problem inherent to the corporate structure, but not necessarily a bad thing if the effects are watched out for.

- They used recycled paper.  For a lot of stuff.  And again, by being such a large corporation, their purchasing of recycled materials makes a larger demand for those materials. More demand = more supply, that simple.  (granted, I don’t think they recycle in the stores, so that’s kind of shitty, but still)

- The key ideas behind their growth are community and bringing people together.  And they do a pretty good job at that too, judging by the fact that I see the same people there day in and day out.  That counts for something as far as I’m concerned.

- They put local coffeshops out of business.  Yeah, it sucks.  I like local coffee shops too.  But the fact that they are able to do so is more a flaw in human nature than anything else.  You don’t hear stories about Starbuck’s goons kicking in windows and setting fire to local coffee shops; nobody’s forcing people to abandon the small local places.   If the market swings in Starbuk’s favor, blame the market.  They’re a (legal) drug dealer.  Of course they’re on every street corner.  Jay Z would tell you nothing different.  ; )

- And that brings us to the fact that they’re everywhere.  Only now not so much now.  Again, this is the sign of a larger social ill.  We as a globe-spanning tribe of human beings are trying to figure out how to have a global culture that still has some variety too it.  Yeah sure, you and I, the armchair philosophers, can come up with a bunch of ways to “fix” that problem.  But we’re not operating on the ground, where decisions are being made.  Nothing is ever as easy as it seems from outside.  The secrets of a thing are only available to those who are on the inside of it…

And, what the hell, my thoughts are running a little more smoothly;  I’ll go on a little mini rant here as well.

Yeah, Starbucks and other franchise brands are expanding worldwide.  It’s sad, but why does it happen?  Because people like feeling kinship with other people.  The corporations aren’t necessarily “exploiting” that, they’re just using it.  And yeah, some of them are bastards, but there are bastards everywhere.  The interaction and understanding between people of various cultures that is facilitaed by global mass media creates a monoculture.  It’s not a bad thing, it’s just a young thing.  Until we have a better understanding of how this global monoculture works, of course we’re going to get some shit wrong, and of course there are “bad” people out there who will take advantage of it.  But if we give global culture over to those bastards before we’ve even figured out how it can be used properly, then they’ve won before we’ve even challenged them.  And we’ve all lost, because really, there’s not a lot of people who are actual bastards out there, not really.  There’s a lot of ignorant people, a lot of smart people who rationalize away bad decisions, and a lot weak people who just can’t take up the challenge of figuring out how to make it all work.  But those people are us.  And we can figure this out, if we just keep at it.  We only have to get it right once. Then we can move on to something even greater…