Starbucks to cut 6,700 jobs, close 300 stores

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: MSNBC

SEATTLE - Starbucks Corp. said Wednesday that it would cut as many as 6,700 jobs as it closes hundreds more stores and eliminates more positions at its corporate headquarters.

Faced with slowing demand for lattes and cappuccinos because of the recession, Starbucks plans to close 300 stores, including 200 in the United States, and eliminate about 6,000 store jobs. The company also plans to eliminate about 700 corporate jobs, including about 350 at its corporate headquarters in Seattle.

Starbucks is also reporting that its profit dropped 69 percent in its fiscal first quarter.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

The Seattle-based retailer said Wednesday that its net income fell to $64.3 million, or 9 cents per share, from $208.1 million, or 28 cents per share a year earlier.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28898855/

[SoCalNative]

1. Here's article link

from WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123317714771825681.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. Thanks...n/t

[Endangered Specie]

3. Starbucks gets served , again..

[johnhannahthree]

16. and maybe my kids, pretty funny huh?

I hope all you bourgeois hipsters who like to talk shit about Starbucks realize that if the store where I work goes under I will be fucked. Starbucks pays health insurance for its part time employees - unlike most of the smaller smaller "mom and pop" coffee houses that it is so fashionable to be worried about. I have two children, I work full-time AND go to school full time (so I won't have to work in any coffee shop.)

[naaman fletcher]

4. Damn..

You mean now I might have to walk across the street to get my double-mocha latte?

/just kidding

[CakeGrrl]

5. More of the domino effect...

I just got my layoff notice, and this is one of the expenses I'm cutting immediately. You can buy a whole container of instant coffee, some creamer and sweetener to last for weeks for the price of a few big espresso drinks.

That's what happens when you put consumers out of work: they stop consuming the extras when push comes to shove. Businesses like this should be out there imploring Congress to do its part in helping put people back on the job.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

8. I've gone from buying $10 bags of House Blend at Starbucks...

...to picking up enough bulk coffee beans at Safeway to get me through several days or so (I make a half-pot in the morning and another half-pot later in the day, 7 days a week).

In some cases it might actually work out to more per pound, but on the days when I need to buy things I can't eat (paper towels, Kleenex, toilet paper, trash bags, cat litter, dishwasher or laundry supplies, etc), coffee is way at the bottom of my list and I go for the fastest and cheapest.

[LSparkle]

6. They've really over-saturated the market ... seriously, they're on every corner

in some cities. I feel for the workers but the company
ought to give some other coffee houses room to compete!

[OhioChick]

7. No one has the money for a $5+ cup of java, anymore.

I feel for the employees, though.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. The last couple of times I've gone in...

...to buy coffee beans, because I gave up the $5 single cups a long time ago...the employees were going out of their way, without going overboard, to provide friendly and excellent customer service. The place was also surprisingly full, but I did notice at least three people in line paying with gift cards, which they might have just received as Christmas presents. With the number of companies going belly-up, we've become conditioned to "use or lose" gift cards.

I wonder how Amazon's sales of THIS book are in 2009:

Thank You, President Bush: Reflections on the War on Terror, Defense of the Family, and Revival of the Economy by Rod D. Martin (Author), Jeb Bush (Author), James Dobson (Author), Phyllis Schlafly (Author), Mike Huckabee (Author), Aman Verjee (Editor)

[Juneboarder]

10. All of the sudden

I got sick to my stomach. Who in their right mind would thank the 43rd pResident for their services except those that helped rape, pillage and loot our country to the point it is in today.

:eyes:

[Mari333]

13. lol some of the reviews on that site are tongueincheek hilarious nt

[kiranon]

11. Better use those gift cards now. n/t

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

12. the problem is that the executive team that made the decisions to

put a SBUX on every corner and in every grocery store are still making the decisions at SBUX, the cuts have happened to long term employees that were from the beginning who loved the brand and help grow the company by making supreme sacrifices. I KNOW this, personally.

Howard Schultz has surrounded himself with "yes" man MBA's who care nothing about coffee, the coffee experience or the history of SBUX. Howard is shielded from reality, upper management having these ridiculous "green light, red light" meetings to bounce around ideas to see what gets through. Chai! Paninis! Oatmeal! Tea! Pike Place Roast! Breakfast sandwiches, each month there is a different idea and different direction.

Long term employees are scared to death, having seen that working for starbucks for years, giving it your all, winning employee awards, getting glowing performance reviews means absolutely nothing when it comes to job eliminations, opps I mean layoffs. The "layoffs" seem to target long term employees, that seems so unfair to me, and not only bad mojo, but shortsighted as well. The remaining employees are working outrageous hours, that certainly does not increase productivity, but rather destroys morale.

Local media printed a letter Howard wrote a letter to the employees today saying all the right things, unfortunately it rings very hollow to me as again I saw my husbands former position listed on craiglists as a non benefited contract position. TODAY!

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/ofc/1010404592.html

My husband, of course, was and is devastated, have loved the SBUX brand like no other, being so proud to work there, when he worked there, before the, ahem, layoff.

I can only imagine what the remaining workers at SBUX must think knowing that at any moment their position could be outsourced, while they toil right next to a contract worker who is making 2/3 of what they make with no benefits, while being forced to listen to a CEO telling them how much they "care" about them.

SBUX was a big part of my life for close to 20 years, and now I couldn't care less what ultimately happens to now although I worry plenty about the workers about to lose their jobs. Good luck to them, it is scary rough out there, that I know.

[DFW]

14. I was just at one yesterday in the Köln train station

They have an international bunch of employees there, and there is one young woman from Mexico
I sometimes chat with when I change trains there. She remembers me because I'm the only one who
speaks Spanish with her (her German is impeccable). The place is usually full, as Köln is a huge
train station that get traffic from everywhere, as locals. But she told me that she was scared for
her job, too. Not that their coffee at €3 is so great, although on the train, it's far worse and at
least as expensive. But it's a nicer place to hang that some smoked up beer/sausage joint if you are
changing trains there, and the music they play is WAY better! I'd miss it if it closed.

On the other hand, the one in the Düsseldorf train station is run by a bunch of idiots who are
slow, and don't care about the clients unless they are their own buddies. I don't even know if
the coffee is any good. I once ordered one, paid for it, but as my train was leaving in 15 minutes,
and my order wasn't ready by then (there was no one else ordering, just their pals they were chatting
with), I told them to drink it themselves, and never went back. If that one closes, it won't be missed.

[Kittycat]

15. Is there a list of stores yet? If not, might I recommend one of the 3 up the street?

One as a stand alone, one in a meijers and one in a Dominicks. All 3 either share the same street corner, or are across the street from each other. Don't get me wrong - it's nice to have options, but at $4.30 for a cup of flavored coffee - I pass most of the time unless I'm looking to treat myself.

[budkin]

17. I treat myself to a couple lattes a week

But there are way too many Starbucks... it's insane.

[johnhannahthree]

18. you realize

that by saying there are too many Starbucks you are also saying there are too many people working at Starbucks. This news has stricken terror into my family. Again, they pay health insurance for ALL employees - part-time and full-time. If I lose my job I seriously don't know what I will do. For me it isn't an abstract issue.

[customerserviceguy]

19. I wish you the best

I used to live in the Pacific Northwest, and a visit to Starbucks on my first evening break (when you work a 12 hour night shift, coffee is an essential!) was at least a weekly treat. To do so was to ignore the free coffee my company gave us (and it wasn't Folgers shit, either!) and the espresso stand that was in the cafeteria. I moved to NY a couple of years ago, and people here just don't respect the affordable pleasure of a really rich cup of joe.

I'm afraid that is the case over much of the country, however. In any case, may you weather this storm, coffee has gotten me through many a rainy Northwest day.

[johnhannahthree]

21. thank you

you are very kind. The SBs were I work is in a small town - and yes it is the only one here. We stay pretty busy, so hopefully we are safe.

[ohio2007]

20. the world still boycotting Starbucks?

http://www.aqsa.org.uk/Portals/0/Leaflets/LF_24_Boycott.pdf



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3695610&mesg_id=3695610

doesn't matter if it's true or not, the damage was done in the heat of the moment.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7e7_1232980797

[johnhannahthree]

22. wow

(sarcasm on) Those guys look like they are really solving some of society's problems. (sarcasm off) How much you want to bet they come from upper middle class families where mommy and daddy take care of the food and the bills and the health insurance? Must be nice. Those of us in the real proletariat don't have the free time. I generally don't like big corporations, but SBs has treated me just fine. Even before I worked there I never understood the anti-SBs mentality. The only legitimate complaint i ever heard was that they put other locally-owned coffee bars out of business, but I lived in Austin for a long time and that never happened. In fact there are more of them than ever - they just don't provide their employees the benefits SBs does.

[brooklynite]

23. In other words, make that latte to go...

Personally, I haven't bought anything from them in years. I make a better cup of coffee on my own at the office, and my yearly trips to Rome remind me of what a cappuccino should taste like.

[Skittles]

24. nasty-ass coffee

:puke:

[NickB79]

25. McDonald's is killing them

I hate to say it, but I prefer their McMocha over a Starbucks mocha latte :-(

I will miss the free used coffee grounds for my garden, though. That stuff was like crack for earthworms and other beneficial critters.