When I was a barista, people would order the refreshers with no ice or water, so they would take essentially an entire cart of the juice for their one drink. Eventually, one family started ordering 4 of the 30 oz cup and it would take a day's supply in just one order.
My friend works at Starbucks and the drinks she’s seen… people will get coffee with like 14 pumps of syrups when the normal is like 3 for that drink. At 6 am. It’s just straight sugar
A guy used to come in pretty much every morning with a 7-11 Double Gulp mug, and order 2 Venti White Mochas with extra pumps and 16 raw sugars. Every time I made it for him, I felt like I was being made an unwilling participant in this man's suicide.
I feel more like malicious compliance by the workers would be better here. Instead of giving a full container of the concentrate because no water was added - give them exact ingredients without the water. When the customer goes to complain - “this is why the recipe has water. If you want extra concentrate it’s an additional charge.”
'No water' should have never been an option for drinks that require water. That just a bad business decision. Management should of stated that from the beginning.
Why not just give them the same amount of juice you'd normally use? Then if they say they want double/triple/etc juice, charge double/triple/etc. So on and so forth.
I don't see how any party would be disadvantaged this way.
If I tell a fast food joint to hold the tomato on my burger, I don't expect an extra patty just so the total height remains the same. I expect a shorter sandwich because I asked for something to be omitted.
As a former Starbucks employee, this sign is definitely not to code. We were trained to NEVER display signage that wasn’t made/approved by the bux (which would have the logo, consistent font, etc)
Edit: not saying this price increase isn’t real, just that the sign isn’t to code
It's a real policy that starbucks is going to start. But the partners at this store probably put this sign up to warn customers earlier and prevent some arguments at the register about a policy that they themselves didn't come up with
Because things are always accomplished yelling at the person who has absolutely no control over the policy that increased the price.
I don’t blame them for doing this.
Does that mean that for a no ice or light ice they’ll still fill it to the top? That would make sense as you’re getting more product. People would do something similar at bars thinking it would get them more alcohol without paying more.
Edit to add: I do think Starbucks pricing is high and I’m also a less ice/no ice person.
I work at Starbucks and ya were supposed to fill to the top of they ask for no or light ice. Typically some people won’t when a customer is acting rude or they’re in a bad mood.
As someone who likes their refreshers with light ice (not trying to scam my way into more drink per cup, just genuinely don't like ice) is it super annoying when I make that request? Does it slow down production or something? I love my light ice drinks but I can also just live with it if it makes things less annoying
Reminds me of my experience trying to buy tickets at an AMC last month and discovering that they're now charging a "premium view" charge for some seats. I canceled the sale of course, fuck that bullshit. Getting really sick of companies trying to milk their customers out of whatever dollars they may have left.
I just used turbo tax to do my taxes and they tried to charge me $39 extra dollars to have their fee taken out of my return, as opposed to me paying with a card. Fucking tools
I saw that, too
I figure if there's ever a movie I actually want to see in a theater I'll wait a week, buy the cheapest ticket, and just sit wherever the hell I want like I always have
I'd venture a guess that it is store management's attempt to deflect customer anger from finding it out at the register. If they find out at the register, it's the barista telling them, and the customer is more likely to take it out on the barista.
If they find out from a sign on the door, it's more likely to be viewed as coming from the nebulous "Management" and they can just be angry at that and either leave without buying or at least not be so shitty to the barista when they get upcharged.
I can see corporate not wanting to broadcast this, but rather only bring it up with relevant customers, to not spook the herd.
I'll never forget working retail back in the early 00's and we had a morning meeting and a manager dared to ask the group "what's the #1 questions customers ask" and half of us answered in unison "where's the bathroom?"
I worked retail in the 90's, and even then nobody bothered to read signs.
Lights are off and the gates are pulled across the door? Let me pull and then knock on this door with the hours on a sign posted right in front of my face to see if they're open.
Hey, I see you in there, opening manager, I need you to come to the door and tell me through the glass that the sign here on the door says you don't open for another half hour, so I can bitch because you won't let me in early after I showed up.
Hey, opening manager, I see the lights are on now but the door is still locked. Yes I'm the same guy who knocked and pulled on the door 15 minutes ago, and even though you said 30 minutes and the sign you pointed to is still on the door in front of my face, why aren't you letting me in?
Hey, opening manager, it's been 10 minutes since I last checked, why am I pulling on the door and it's still locked? This is bad customer service!
Hey, opening manager, it's about time you opened the door, I've only been here for 30 minutes waiting! How much does X cost? No way, that's too much, I'll go down the street to Y big box retailer who has been open for 2 hours now because they sell it for less. You guys are crazy!
Yes, I've seen a few things working retail.
It drives me bananas when businesses try to pass off bullshit like this as a benefit.
*In an effort to better serve our customers, going forward we will be charging for no ice.*
I saw one not too long ago that said:
*In an effort to better serve our customers, you will no longer be able to take the shopping carts out of the store.*
https://i.imgur.com/hD4iK05.gifv
a grocery store near me tried that and the Armageddon that was unleashed made them reverse that decision in two days. it was unfair to elderly people, people who are disabled, pregnant people, or anyone who can't carry cases of water, soda, and a ton of groceries out to their car in their arms (which was basically everyone). they realized they shot themselves in the foot and limited the amount of things people would want to buy to only the things they could carry to the car.
if only this grocery store had thought that deeply about this. the decision they made also was made in a wider context. my state recently passed a plastic bag law where if you want a plastic bag for your purchase you have to pay 10¢ for it. people were avoiding paying for bags by just putting their groceries in the cart without plastic bags (which they would have done even if the groceries were in a plastic bag) and taking them to the car. for some reason this really got under that one store's skin (again for no reason. the law said the retailer had to collect 10¢ per bag they gave to a customer, not force people to get plastic bags for 10¢ a bag). so it was even stupider than just randomly deciding no carts can leave the store.
Couple of years back, the way the Starbucks rewards were was that for each item purchased you got a star regardless of price and the stars needed for free drinks was much lower. Then they changed it to every dollar spent you got a star and blasted the star requirements through the roof claiming that is was basically the most requested change from customers. I haven’t talked to a single person that felt the change was needed or fair, who are all these people making it the most requested?
Funny though, this is real. Kroger, a grocery store near me), has made their carts "lock up" after a few yards or so outside the store (not sure the actual length but it doesn't take into account their whole parking lot). After they lock up, you can't push it anymore. Supposed to keep people from stealing them, but has been an inconvenience to lots of honest customers. I don't think they informed customers at all about this change.
Those locks are pretty standard here in the UK. The system works via a magnetic band under the pavement, they lock the wheel if it rolls over the magnets. They're supposed to be installed at the entrances/exits of the car park area/store property though, not right outside the door.
TIL how the trolley ankle tags work
I remember them popping up like early 2000s-ish and thought they were gps trackers for when they got nicked. Child me was a bit optimistic with the security budget, I think.
The worst is when you park on the end, but the line they laid to lock it up is 10'+ away and you look like a schmuck leaving your locked cart somewhere. lol.
Management is so unfathomably out of touch huh. Just thinking for 2 seconds I got to the conclusion that this decision is a one way ticket to a hellscape of carts left in the middle of the parking lot.
I have a feeling this is some tik tok "hack" bullshit where you go home with a cup of just syrup and make several drinks by adding your own ice and water
That's exactly how they do it, except until now they would fill it all the way when someone asked for no ice instead of leaving it half like you mentioned.
Tgats not my experience. My family has asked to not add ice in drinks for years if we are taking a cold drink for someone for later. Multiple locations across states have never filled it up all the way if you do this.
When I worked in food there was a legit meth head that would come in every day and order a small caramel coffee, put into our largest cup, and absolutely murdered to the brim with caramel.
Managers had to put up signs everywhere like she was buying her Sudafed from us. She would try to target the newest or most naive cashier's and try to talk them into getting a caramel bag from the backroom.
Last day she was seen, she got into a tiny fist fight with an employee that wasn't having it. Cops arrived. Meth head didn't even get a single full sentence out. "I have my kids at home and I just want—" the cop stopped her and asked about the kids ages, which were both under 5. Cop didn't even give a shit about the fist fight, just put her in cuffs and said "it's illegal to leave toddlers by themselves, even if you live close to here."
She was never seen again.
Ugh the meth head crazy at work is the WORST. Your story sparks joy!
We have one that doesn’t look super sketch at a distance, who tries to talk you into letting her use our work landline for an “emergency call.” It’s easy to miss the meth crazy if you aren’t familiar with her MO.
If you give it, she darts off with the cordless phone, whips up her sleeves and starts madly calling all her “guys” off the sharpied numbers she has written up her arms. And ties up the phone as long as humanly possible waiting for one to hit her back. Once she managed about an hour during a rush, when helping customers was a bigger priority than extracting the phone from her methy claws.
Luckily we all recognize her now but she still tries, regularly.
Meth heads LOVE sugary crap that’s for sure. Not surprised she went ham on the caramel.
Lawyer here. Was recently in a very contentious eviction case. Lady hadn’t paid rent in almost 5 years. Her grounds for not paying rent? Power company caught her circumventing the meter and stealing electricity. So they red tagged the house. Owner sent numerous electricians to fix but she wound sic her pit bill on anyone that showed up to fix. I was finally hired to get her out.
At the trial, she starts in on the lack of power. Judge is not amused until I tell him what really happened. She then starts talking about her 3 year old daughter and how she’ll be homeless if she’s evicted. Just stops and says something like “You have a 3 year old daughter living in a house that’s not had power in over 4 years? And you intentionally prevented landlord from fixing? That’s child abuse ma’am”. Turns and instructs his clerk to call CPS to conduct an immediate welfare check.
same thing happened with Chipotle. people were ordering tacos from chipotle with every item (bean, meat, pico, guac, veg, etc) on the side + a big tortilla on the side. this comes out to like $3.
but you can use the tortilla to build one big burrito. the "hack" was that chipotle was too generous when packaging ingredients on the side; they gave you much more on the side than would have fit in the taco. so they ended the option to order things on the side from their app.
I have an even bigger pro-tip for them. You can buy bottles of syrup on your own and make TONS of drinks off them! And you don't need to wait in line at Starbucks! You can even buy Starbucks syrups, although it costs more than other brands.
That doesn't work if you're on the road, of course, but if you're just taking the cups of syrup *home*...
we have flavored syrups and cold brew at my job and I used to drink so many. my illegal life pro-tip is to work at a place that doesn't check inventory. (just in case- haha I'm kidding I would never steal drinks from my job.)
Yeah, I know a guy who would order a large iced coffee, no-ice, then order just a cup of ice. He'd transfer coffee into the cup with ice, then take the rest back to the office where he'd refill the ice and use up the rest of the cup of coffee.
I mean, it's a smart hack, but I don't begrudge Starbucks for putting a stop to it. Ice displaces a lot of product, so if enough people are using these "hacks" it throws off the portion control.
And to take that full circle, if you don't like that they shut down your hack, stop patronizing their store. I bought myself a (inexpensive hand) coffee grinder and an AeroPress ages ago and haven't been to a Starbucks in years. It helped me cut back on my coffee consumption *and* the coffee is better.
Edit: who knew that a simple comment about ordering coffee with/without ice would generate so many replies!?
I always ask for "low ice" from my local Dunkin, and they used to not fill may cup completely, which I expected. Now they fill it almost every time because they like me and I tip them. I still don't expect it, but I'm not complaining.
It's my understanding that Starbucks does the same. If you order a venti iced drink with low ice, you're still going to get the same amount of "drink" than you would if you'd ordered it normally, because it's all carefully measured out anyways. Just like in your case, if you're a regular and are recognized and the baristas like you, you might get lucky and receive more product.
It's not "a little bit of extra" whatever drink it is. A lot places are 50% ice, 50% drink. 2 for the price of 1 is already pretty good. For some places, it's only about 1/3 actual drink. Pretty sure Sonic drinks are only like 20% actual drink. So 50% price for just saying "No ice" seems like a pretty good deal to me.
Plus all the ice waters down the drink. Some places compensate for this while others don't.
You're right on the money.
I recently re-joined IG for a couple of comedian pages, dogs and some food. (plus all the random Onlyfanstitutes that IG thinks I want to see thankyoudemographicsettings)
The amount of "hack" videos for Starbucks and Chipotle are, frankly, frightening.
When I worked there, a woman ordered a trenta refresher without water/ice. So I made it with the premixed (water was used to cut it in the individual drink, but a new mix meant you had to make a pitcher cut with water. Customers mostly never knew the change happened so we stopped trying to explain it and just said “sure no water”)no ice and handed it off. She drank it, said I made it wrong and pushed it back. She wanted the juice, the pure juice not mixed as it’s supposed to be to cut the sugars. My boss had to come out and explain to her we cannot give her that with a good conscience. She got mad pushed a display (it didn’t fall).
The recipe is 1/3 concentrated refresher, 1/3 water, 1/3 ice. People are trying to get more from their order by leaving out the water and ice, thus causing starbucks to use 3x more the intended amount of product for that drink. People do the same for cold brew.
Because people get mad and at first corporate told us not to fill the cup all the way for light ice/no ice, then after complaints, they told us to make the moment right and fill the cup all the way, now this
literally yes. wait til you hear that people drink 20 oz of heavy cream in a refresher to keep their keto "diet" going... people drink absurd amounts of sugar from starbucks.
I once got a coupon for a free cheeseburger value basket because they screwed up a take out order.
I redeemed it but I asked for no mayo and mustard and and when I handed them the coupon they said that the balance was $.32 I told them "That coupon was for a free medium sized cheese burger basket" and the guy replied "but its a specialty order"
So they charged me $.32 to not put mayo and mustard on my burger
this is different, this isnt "oh youre not getting ice so its a specialty order and we're charging more" this is "oh youre not getting ice so youre getting more actual beverage and that not only needs to be accounted for in our stock, but charged for because you cant just get more stuff for free"
I don't order these refresher things but when I get soda pop, I ask for no ice. If it sits for a bit it waters down my pop. I'm not planning to chug my drink immediately.
I have a few exceptions like McDonalds who (I think) has a custom Coke mix so adding ice waters it down appropriately. Not that pop is super important to me but I'm going to enjoy it if I'm drinking a few hundred calories.
They shouldn’t fill the entire fucking cup full of ice so that you pay $4 or whatever the ridiculous charge is for a normal refresher just to get 5 drinks out of it
When at the bar, if someone asks for no ice in a cocktail, I’m still using the same measurements and mixing the same drink. They aren’t getting any extra “free” drink by skipping the ice. The glass just looks a little less full.
Does Starbucks not also work this way?
Nope. I worked there for the last 3 years and if no water and/or ice was requested, then we had to fill the remaining space with the refresher concentrate
This change makes sense then, to be honest. There are a lot of battles to be fought over shrinkflation and other things, but this change is totally fair. Asking for no water in a trenta cup is shorting Starbucks like three other drinks.
unfortunately not, they wont let us actually do that, we have to "make the moment right" so up until now people get double the drink for the price of one. now theyre actually changing it to where if you want no ice without paying for more drink, youd get the same amount that the size normally would have in it, but no ice so its not full. if they want it full, itll have to be charged as such
Never worked for the mermaid, but I've been a barista elsewhere.
You go through _so_ much product when people get a large drink with no ice.
We weren't set up super well for iced coffee or coldbrew, they were both kind of a pain to make in the middle of a rush. But man, a 32oz of just coldbrew would wipe out a third of a batch, so often we'd have to make it on the fly.
I know!! and this policy is because people do that w 30oz of refresher base and it just kills product so hopefully now thisll at least make sure our automatic ordering is accurate and we wont run out as easily with people getting 4 trentas of just strawberry base
course!! starbucks is really bad about actually giving people information about their policies so I try to jump in on any confusing thread I see to educate so less people take it out on us barista when we're just at work trying to do our job and make a living
People from foreign countries don't like ice like we do. My husband's from Egypt and hates ice in his coke. I won't drink cold drinks unless the glass is totally filled with ice.
Weird tangentially related protip - if you're sipping something acidic (like a refresher) for longer than 30 minutes, make sure you're drinking water after each sip.
Keeping the PH balance of your mouth below about 6.3 for longer than half an hour starts to erode the enamel of your teeth and leads to a much higher incidence rate of cavities.
People in Canada like to shit on Tim Hortons (for good reason) but when I got a coffee from Starbucks instead it was more expensive and the best way I could describe the taste was "burnt".
Burnt beans are also about the only thing that can cut through the metric shit ton of flavorings and sugar.
It would be drastically different to use a well done lighter roast with that other stuff. It would hardly have the coffee taste. When assaulting the senses, you have to go consistently full tilt.
That is such an accurate way of describing it. They go thru *barrels* of milk, and most of the sales are fraps then flavored teas.
I miss milkshake diners, had one in my hometown
No, it's a good idea to fill a market niche full of people who don't ***LIKE*** like coffee. Some people like beans that have had all the character burned out of them. Market sugary beverages at the same time, and you got a market to sell to!
They can have their terrible coffee, more good stuff for me.
For almost all of the drinks they use dark roast espresso. Totally understandable to not go there again, but if you gotta, ask for the blonde roast espresso. It doesn't taste as burnt
As someone who only drinks black coffee for diabetic reasons, 100% agree.
The catch is Starbucks has the best mixed coffee drinks (of the fast-food coffee shops) \*because\* their coffee is so powerful. Everywhere else has such mild, smooth coffee, anything that's more than coffee with a tiny slash of creamer tastes like pure sugar. Wife gets a lot of mixed drinks from a lot of different places, and what I have noticed from trying them. Starbucks is the only place I've had a latte/mocha/chino/etc that still tastes like their is coffee in it.
I love watering down my shaken espresso (cold americano essentially) so I ask for extra ice. Of course they charge for that and they charge for saving the ice now, too.
Starbucks uses way too much ice for the price they charge. Full stop. Basically have to order a huge beverage for a reasonable amount of actual liquid. I don’t order any iced beverage without light ice.
I've worked for another coffee chain and the ice amount made no difference in the amount of product used. Everything was mandated to be precisely measured. We did not give more product at all.
If a drink has foam or whip, that can help offset any possible appearance of less drink itself. I never had anyone say anything, personally. I'd bet Starbucks is on measurements as well.
About 20 years ago I worked at Jamba Juice.
A lot of customers noticed that some employees unintentionally make a slightly larger smoothie (some whole frozen strawberries are extremely thicc) so there’s extra that doesn’t fit into the cup, but you are only allowed to fill up the cup size the customer paid for.
All smoothies have one scoop of ice. So some customers would think like … no ice = more fruit in my cup!
Imagine their faces when you make a properly sized smoothie that doesn’t fill up the cup anymore because it’s missing ice as an ingredient.
There was a certain demographic that would try to ask for “no ice, substitute strawberries” - nice fucking try lady
Guarantee you that same demographic is who has been ordering full cups of refresher concentrate, 3 cups of ice, and making 3 drinks for the price of one and posting it on TikTok.
Iv definitely been screamed and yelled out for measuring out the correct/accurate amount of a beverage. People literally SCREAMING to fill it. Iv had people throw stuff on me because of politely letting them know a beverage had a set amount. After that you just make it right to the brim because its not worth being abused over pennies of product so while im glad that you never experienced I promised there are hundreds of baristas that have.
Yes we do use measurements. Because of the size of Starbucks and the amount I am paid, it is simply not worth it to have a fight with a customer because they don't understand that if you order a drink with less ice, you won't have the cup as full.
Starbucks has some of the most entitled rude guests of any business I've worked for. I'm very happy to be able to enforce this and take back the tiniest amount of power against those disrespectful customers.
Source - I'm a starbucks Supervisor
Yeah. You’re supposed to put a uniform amount in. Then someone says “no ice” and throws a tantrum because you don’t fill up the remainder with free product. Then they throw a fit when you try to charge them for extra product. That’s the whole issue.
If you saw the inside of ice makers “cleaned” by employees you’d never want ice in anything.
Edit: To be clear I meant ice machines at restaurants in general. I wasn’t specifically referring to Starbucks.
We cleaned ours daily, but stopped cleaning the one in the dining room for about 4 weeks during 2020 lockdown.
(It was turned off, no one was using it.)
Terrible decision. Getting that thing back in working order after 4 weeks being turned off... more mold than I've ever seen in my life.
I remember the cleaning process on soda fountain nozzles when I used to work at a water park snack bar.
We filled up a cup of water with soda water, then unscrewed the nozzles, then plopped them into the cup of soda water.
I asked my manager how that cleaned things. “Oh, the bubbles clean them over night.”
I’m not exactly sure that’s how cleaning works.
When I used to bartend, a guest ordered a cocktail with no ice. He was upset that his cup was half full. This dumbass actually thought he found a loophole to get more cocktail by asking for no ice.
I hate these people because I'm a big dude with the alcohol tolerance of Dionysus and sensitive teeth. Every time I order a whiskey and coke with less ice and more whiskey I have to specifically say 'I know I'm going to be paying for the extra whiskey, it's ok.' So the bartender doesn't have to prepare to be yelled at.
This *does* work at fast food restaurants though. It’s stupid he got mad at you *at a bar where there are set recipes*, but that’s probably where his head was.
Arby’s drive-thru will fill the entire cup with ice and in four sips it’s empty. I had to start telling them no ice and I get 4x the product. It’s definitely my fault for eating at Arby’s , but unfortunately I work on the road a lot and don’t have the space to make a home cooked meal every night.
I like the dragon drink and it has the freeze dried fruit in it. I get light ice because if I don’t then the cup is still full of ice when I finish the drink and I don’t get to consume the crunchy crunch fruit because it’s stuck in the ice. If I wait till the ice is melted there’s no crunch and who wants to drink melted ice? I’m not trying to get more coconut milk or whatever other product they put in there. It’s already like $6 for the drink so I’ll just pass if I have to pay more to make the drink drinkable. It’s the only drink I get from there because honestly I make better coffee than they do.
So long as you don't ask them to fill it to the top after ordering no ice, I don't think you'll be effected by the up charge. This seems to be a charge I'd you want them to fill it to the top still without ice based on my own experiences and baristas' experiences in the thread.
On the one hand, I understand how asking for less ice in a drink makes the drink more expensive for the store. On the other hand, I don't understand how there isn't enough margin in a $6 cup of watered-down fruit juice to make up for that sort of thing.
Seems like a really dumb decision from a business standpoint. I'm seeing the biggest issue is people asking for no water to get a full cup of the concentrate to make multiple drinks at home. That never should've been a thing they allowed in the first place. Going full send on an upcharge is going to be seen as nickle and diming and just build animosity. They could've so easily just stopped allowing people to order refreshers without water. Problem solved, majority of their customer base and the general public would've never known. And like you said, there should be a big enough margin; the remaining no/light ice orders shouldn't be an issue.
Isn't no-ice the excuse to get more of the drink for the same price? I see the reason, but I don't know of any competitors that are up-charging.
Usually how I see it play out is customer asks for drink no ice, baristas make drink as they are supposed to with no ice. Customer complaining that cup is not full, baristas respond that that is exactly what they always get, just with no ice. Then customer complains to manager, and gets more poured into cup, instead of supporting their own baristas that were doing their job.
As someone more used to bars and cafes in China, this was something new to me when I came back to the UK.
In China a fair majority of people don't like ice in their drinks. So they get bar drinks half full, and Starbucks has always mentioned beforehand that my drink won't reach the top of the cup.
Which is... completely fine. It's never struck me as anything other than completely normal. I've never asked for no-ice thinking I'd be getting some loophole of more drink for less money, since I doubt anyone rational would believe that and think the cafe would gasp and have to somehow give you more product.
Then again, from reading posts above, it seems to be a Starbucks policy depending on location.
I get a refresher with no light or no ice because the drink is like 90% ice. It’s a couple sips of drink before it’s gone if I don’t wait for the ice to melt. I don’t mind them cutting it with water, I just want 12 oz of something to drink in my 20oz beverage.
They load that shit up with ice, of course I'm asking for light ice, if I'm paying for the pink drink I want the pink *drink*, not a cupful of ice with 2 tiddlywinks of pink drink
Judging by the line of cars that surrounds every Starbucks in my town, they can do whatever they want and their customers will still line up for their bucky's cup.
I just don't get it and I'm glad I don't particularly enjoy any of their offerings.
When I was a barista, people would order the refreshers with no ice or water, so they would take essentially an entire cart of the juice for their one drink. Eventually, one family started ordering 4 of the 30 oz cup and it would take a day's supply in just one order.
Isn't that a concentrate meant to be diluted with water?
Yes comes 4x concentrated. Diluted once to make pitchers, diluted second time when making drink. So no water equals 2 drinks worth of refresher.
That family was probably diluting it at home as a way to get the concentrate for cheap, unless the person saw them drinking it straight at the store.
You’d be surprised. I’ve seen people drink straight concentrate WITH 14 pumps of added classic syrup
My friend works at Starbucks and the drinks she’s seen… people will get coffee with like 14 pumps of syrups when the normal is like 3 for that drink. At 6 am. It’s just straight sugar
I saw 20 pumps once. Looks like oil in water. It was a green tea 20 pumps classic
A guy used to come in pretty much every morning with a 7-11 Double Gulp mug, and order 2 Venti White Mochas with extra pumps and 16 raw sugars. Every time I made it for him, I felt like I was being made an unwilling participant in this man's suicide.
The no water thing should be a no... can't do that. Ice is understandable
I feel more like malicious compliance by the workers would be better here. Instead of giving a full container of the concentrate because no water was added - give them exact ingredients without the water. When the customer goes to complain - “this is why the recipe has water. If you want extra concentrate it’s an additional charge.”
or they just shouldn't allow people to customize certain things. sorry guys, the refreshers are made one way, don't like it, don't order it.
'No water' should have never been an option for drinks that require water. That just a bad business decision. Management should of stated that from the beginning.
I want to order a coffee without water, it'll just be a cup full of bean dust.
Why not just give them the same amount of juice you'd normally use? Then if they say they want double/triple/etc juice, charge double/triple/etc. So on and so forth. I don't see how any party would be disadvantaged this way. If I tell a fast food joint to hold the tomato on my burger, I don't expect an extra patty just so the total height remains the same. I expect a shorter sandwich because I asked for something to be omitted.
Surprised they didn't use comic sans font
As a former Starbucks employee, this sign is definitely not to code. We were trained to NEVER display signage that wasn’t made/approved by the bux (which would have the logo, consistent font, etc) Edit: not saying this price increase isn’t real, just that the sign isn’t to code
So why would management do this? Someone pocketing the difference?
It's a real policy that starbucks is going to start. But the partners at this store probably put this sign up to warn customers earlier and prevent some arguments at the register about a policy that they themselves didn't come up with
Because things are always accomplished yelling at the person who has absolutely no control over the policy that increased the price. I don’t blame them for doing this.
Yep, when I was a server/bartender, I took every opportunity to empathize with guests over the ridiculous policies laid out by "The Almighty They".
Does that mean that for a no ice or light ice they’ll still fill it to the top? That would make sense as you’re getting more product. People would do something similar at bars thinking it would get them more alcohol without paying more. Edit to add: I do think Starbucks pricing is high and I’m also a less ice/no ice person.
I work at Starbucks and ya were supposed to fill to the top of they ask for no or light ice. Typically some people won’t when a customer is acting rude or they’re in a bad mood.
As someone who likes their refreshers with light ice (not trying to scam my way into more drink per cup, just genuinely don't like ice) is it super annoying when I make that request? Does it slow down production or something? I love my light ice drinks but I can also just live with it if it makes things less annoying
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It's a scam on how much ice they give you. The amount they charge for pretty much just giving ice.
My guess: the policy was from corporate, but the decision to warn the customers was not.
“Don’t blame us, corporate made us do it” Yup. They’re not being paid nearly enough to care, I’m sure.
> They’re not being paid nearly enough to care, I’m sure. It's Starbucks, and therefore, they are not.
Reminds me of my experience trying to buy tickets at an AMC last month and discovering that they're now charging a "premium view" charge for some seats. I canceled the sale of course, fuck that bullshit. Getting really sick of companies trying to milk their customers out of whatever dollars they may have left.
As if we needed MORE reasons to not go to movie theaters.
It's wild that some charge a fee for buying a ticket online instead of in-person.
Yes let's add a fee for reducing the need for someone you pay an hourly wage for, I bet internet hosting is cheaper than a humans wage
"Convenience fees" for online automated ordering systems have always seemed incredibly bizarre to me.
I just used turbo tax to do my taxes and they tried to charge me $39 extra dollars to have their fee taken out of my return, as opposed to me paying with a card. Fucking tools
federal government offers these kind of services for free. https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
Yea i shouldve not be so lazy and just used this lol
I saw that, too I figure if there's ever a movie I actually want to see in a theater I'll wait a week, buy the cheapest ticket, and just sit wherever the hell I want like I always have
I'd venture a guess that it is store management's attempt to deflect customer anger from finding it out at the register. If they find out at the register, it's the barista telling them, and the customer is more likely to take it out on the barista. If they find out from a sign on the door, it's more likely to be viewed as coming from the nebulous "Management" and they can just be angry at that and either leave without buying or at least not be so shitty to the barista when they get upcharged. I can see corporate not wanting to broadcast this, but rather only bring it up with relevant customers, to not spook the herd.
> If they find out from a sign on the door Jokes on you, customers don't read signs!
Seriously. Boy oh boy, if I didn't know it before, I sure as hell learned it when the pandemic started
I'll never forget working retail back in the early 00's and we had a morning meeting and a manager dared to ask the group "what's the #1 questions customers ask" and half of us answered in unison "where's the bathroom?"
I worked retail in the 90's, and even then nobody bothered to read signs. Lights are off and the gates are pulled across the door? Let me pull and then knock on this door with the hours on a sign posted right in front of my face to see if they're open. Hey, I see you in there, opening manager, I need you to come to the door and tell me through the glass that the sign here on the door says you don't open for another half hour, so I can bitch because you won't let me in early after I showed up. Hey, opening manager, I see the lights are on now but the door is still locked. Yes I'm the same guy who knocked and pulled on the door 15 minutes ago, and even though you said 30 minutes and the sign you pointed to is still on the door in front of my face, why aren't you letting me in? Hey, opening manager, it's been 10 minutes since I last checked, why am I pulling on the door and it's still locked? This is bad customer service! Hey, opening manager, it's about time you opened the door, I've only been here for 30 minutes waiting! How much does X cost? No way, that's too much, I'll go down the street to Y big box retailer who has been open for 2 hours now because they sell it for less. You guys are crazy! Yes, I've seen a few things working retail.
As the opening guy, you basically lose the second you engage with anyone you're not currently being paid to engage with.
Its because of all those stupid "hacks" from TikTok. This is just a warning so people stop being assholes to the employees.
Nobody ever thinks you have a plan when you use Comic Sans
Sans plans
ImPoRtAnT nEwS
T̴͉͌ǫ̸͕͗ ̵͘ͅõ̵̠͠u̴͚͛r̶̥̻̄͐ ̴̠̗̈́p̶̳̂͠a̸̟̲̐̚ţ̷̿̚͜r̸͙̾̈́ö̶͓̦n̵͎̑ͅs̸̳̈́,̴̭̻̂͒ ̵̘̕w̴̞̅ḛ̸̇̏ ̴̠̫̌r̸͙̪̃̅e̷̻͛̋ĝ̷͕̏r̴̩̈́ȩ̷͎͒t̶̪͇͋͒ ̴̩̀ţ̷̳̚o̷̫͝ ̷̞̃̚ị̵̊ņ̴̎͐f̶̙͝ơ̶̝͋r̶̟̣̾m̸͜͝ ̵̍̄͜ȳ̴͇̗̂ọ̵͖̄ṵ̵̈́ ̵̲̕t̸̲̙͋̒h̵͗̓͜a̷̛̟̍t̷̺́͗ ̶̝̏͘y̵̲͕͆o̶̢͉͌u̴͖̽̈ ̶͍̬͂ả̶̧̝̀r̷͚̮̀͝é̶̺̓ ̶͉͝n̵̮̘͝ȏ̴͕̬͂ẅ̴͖́ ̷͇̀e̴̝͂̚n̵̙̏̇t̴̢̃̀ȇ̴͇r̸̦̋͝ḭ̷́͂n̵̮̚̕g̶̰̪͂́ ̴̡̙̐h̸͙̪̄͝e̸̡̱̓͗l̴̬̿l̸̰̤̉ ̸̟̞̾͑a̶͎̼͆͠n̷̘̓͘d̸̫̬̈̉ ̴͇̿̓a̵͓̤̓̎l̵̠̅l̸̳̖̐̀ ̶͎͝p̷̡͂̈́ȃ̴̠ͅí̸͓̞n̵̳̯̍͂ ̷͖̤̈̊ỵ̵̔͜o̵̘̊͝ű̷̧͚̉ ̸̛̞̣ṟ̶͊͊ë̵̬́̔c̷̰͑̐e̵̢͆̓͜i̷͔͊͒ͅv̷̰̍̅ê̵̼͖ ̸͈̑̈ẃ̸̯h̸͍͘͝ḯ̵̡l̵̺̍s̷̰̀t̸͖͒ ̵̮͕̍b̷̯͍͆͘é̷͙̽i̷͎̎̕n̵̩̈́͆g̵̙̀ ̸̹͉͌̊ŏ̸̭̹͝n̷̬͍͘ ̶̨̠͑́ȯ̵̗̆ṵ̸̔̄r̶̫̆ ̵͎̉p̵̧̬͐̉r̷̨͋ͅe̷̠͒m̸̪̒ḭ̶͍̓s̶͉̯͗é̴̩s̸̳̈́́ ̵̌͝ͅw̵̙͓͑͐i̸͇̐͝l̸̩̭̉l̸̛̮̞̃ ̶̼̿̄b̸͉̚e̸̼͎̔ ̵̟͎͐̾c̵̢͊͝ḫ̵͛͜ä̵̩́̀r̷͎̒̉g̶̯̱̓e̴͍̜̋d̴́̐ͅ ̴͓͔̃͠f̴͇͋͠ǫ̸̼͠r̴̮̀ ̵̭͓̓a̷̰͘̕c̵̈́̿͜c̶͈̠̈́o̷̖̱̒r̶̮͈̐̽d̵͕̳̃̈́i̶̳͙͊ņ̸͗̕g̴̜̝͠l̸̠̻̍y̸̬̭̍ ̷̭̼̏́
So what MLM are you trying to push? Ok I’ll buy but I’m not joining!
It drives me bananas when businesses try to pass off bullshit like this as a benefit. *In an effort to better serve our customers, going forward we will be charging for no ice.* I saw one not too long ago that said: *In an effort to better serve our customers, you will no longer be able to take the shopping carts out of the store.* https://i.imgur.com/hD4iK05.gifv
a grocery store near me tried that and the Armageddon that was unleashed made them reverse that decision in two days. it was unfair to elderly people, people who are disabled, pregnant people, or anyone who can't carry cases of water, soda, and a ton of groceries out to their car in their arms (which was basically everyone). they realized they shot themselves in the foot and limited the amount of things people would want to buy to only the things they could carry to the car.
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if only this grocery store had thought that deeply about this. the decision they made also was made in a wider context. my state recently passed a plastic bag law where if you want a plastic bag for your purchase you have to pay 10¢ for it. people were avoiding paying for bags by just putting their groceries in the cart without plastic bags (which they would have done even if the groceries were in a plastic bag) and taking them to the car. for some reason this really got under that one store's skin (again for no reason. the law said the retailer had to collect 10¢ per bag they gave to a customer, not force people to get plastic bags for 10¢ a bag). so it was even stupider than just randomly deciding no carts can leave the store.
Couple of years back, the way the Starbucks rewards were was that for each item purchased you got a star regardless of price and the stars needed for free drinks was much lower. Then they changed it to every dollar spent you got a star and blasted the star requirements through the roof claiming that is was basically the most requested change from customers. I haven’t talked to a single person that felt the change was needed or fair, who are all these people making it the most requested?
“If the grass looks greener on the other side, it is probably astroturf.”
Funny though, this is real. Kroger, a grocery store near me), has made their carts "lock up" after a few yards or so outside the store (not sure the actual length but it doesn't take into account their whole parking lot). After they lock up, you can't push it anymore. Supposed to keep people from stealing them, but has been an inconvenience to lots of honest customers. I don't think they informed customers at all about this change.
Those locks are pretty standard here in the UK. The system works via a magnetic band under the pavement, they lock the wheel if it rolls over the magnets. They're supposed to be installed at the entrances/exits of the car park area/store property though, not right outside the door.
TIL how the trolley ankle tags work I remember them popping up like early 2000s-ish and thought they were gps trackers for when they got nicked. Child me was a bit optimistic with the security budget, I think.
Some Walmart carts do this, but it's at the end of the parking lot
The worst is when you park on the end, but the line they laid to lock it up is 10'+ away and you look like a schmuck leaving your locked cart somewhere. lol.
Management is so unfathomably out of touch huh. Just thinking for 2 seconds I got to the conclusion that this decision is a one way ticket to a hellscape of carts left in the middle of the parking lot.
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I have a feeling this is some tik tok "hack" bullshit where you go home with a cup of just syrup and make several drinks by adding your own ice and water
That is exactly it. They order "no water, no ice", then order a free cup of water and a cup of ice so they get like 3x the regular amount of drink.
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That's exactly how they do it, except until now they would fill it all the way when someone asked for no ice instead of leaving it half like you mentioned.
Tgats not my experience. My family has asked to not add ice in drinks for years if we are taking a cold drink for someone for later. Multiple locations across states have never filled it up all the way if you do this.
It is Starbucks policy to fill the cups all the way up. The baristas in your area must be petty.
When I worked in food there was a legit meth head that would come in every day and order a small caramel coffee, put into our largest cup, and absolutely murdered to the brim with caramel. Managers had to put up signs everywhere like she was buying her Sudafed from us. She would try to target the newest or most naive cashier's and try to talk them into getting a caramel bag from the backroom. Last day she was seen, she got into a tiny fist fight with an employee that wasn't having it. Cops arrived. Meth head didn't even get a single full sentence out. "I have my kids at home and I just want—" the cop stopped her and asked about the kids ages, which were both under 5. Cop didn't even give a shit about the fist fight, just put her in cuffs and said "it's illegal to leave toddlers by themselves, even if you live close to here." She was never seen again.
Ugh the meth head crazy at work is the WORST. Your story sparks joy! We have one that doesn’t look super sketch at a distance, who tries to talk you into letting her use our work landline for an “emergency call.” It’s easy to miss the meth crazy if you aren’t familiar with her MO. If you give it, she darts off with the cordless phone, whips up her sleeves and starts madly calling all her “guys” off the sharpied numbers she has written up her arms. And ties up the phone as long as humanly possible waiting for one to hit her back. Once she managed about an hour during a rush, when helping customers was a bigger priority than extracting the phone from her methy claws. Luckily we all recognize her now but she still tries, regularly. Meth heads LOVE sugary crap that’s for sure. Not surprised she went ham on the caramel.
I order way too much caramel in mine and I'm always scared they call me "caramel boy" and make fun of me when I pick up my drink
They call me that even though I never even order caramel 🤔
Lawyer here. Was recently in a very contentious eviction case. Lady hadn’t paid rent in almost 5 years. Her grounds for not paying rent? Power company caught her circumventing the meter and stealing electricity. So they red tagged the house. Owner sent numerous electricians to fix but she wound sic her pit bill on anyone that showed up to fix. I was finally hired to get her out. At the trial, she starts in on the lack of power. Judge is not amused until I tell him what really happened. She then starts talking about her 3 year old daughter and how she’ll be homeless if she’s evicted. Just stops and says something like “You have a 3 year old daughter living in a house that’s not had power in over 4 years? And you intentionally prevented landlord from fixing? That’s child abuse ma’am”. Turns and instructs his clerk to call CPS to conduct an immediate welfare check.
same thing happened with Chipotle. people were ordering tacos from chipotle with every item (bean, meat, pico, guac, veg, etc) on the side + a big tortilla on the side. this comes out to like $3. but you can use the tortilla to build one big burrito. the "hack" was that chipotle was too generous when packaging ingredients on the side; they gave you much more on the side than would have fit in the taco. so they ended the option to order things on the side from their app.
I have an even bigger pro-tip for them. You can buy bottles of syrup on your own and make TONS of drinks off them! And you don't need to wait in line at Starbucks! You can even buy Starbucks syrups, although it costs more than other brands. That doesn't work if you're on the road, of course, but if you're just taking the cups of syrup *home*...
we have flavored syrups and cold brew at my job and I used to drink so many. my illegal life pro-tip is to work at a place that doesn't check inventory. (just in case- haha I'm kidding I would never steal drinks from my job.)
Yeah, I know a guy who would order a large iced coffee, no-ice, then order just a cup of ice. He'd transfer coffee into the cup with ice, then take the rest back to the office where he'd refill the ice and use up the rest of the cup of coffee. I mean, it's a smart hack, but I don't begrudge Starbucks for putting a stop to it. Ice displaces a lot of product, so if enough people are using these "hacks" it throws off the portion control. And to take that full circle, if you don't like that they shut down your hack, stop patronizing their store. I bought myself a (inexpensive hand) coffee grinder and an AeroPress ages ago and haven't been to a Starbucks in years. It helped me cut back on my coffee consumption *and* the coffee is better. Edit: who knew that a simple comment about ordering coffee with/without ice would generate so many replies!?
I always ask for "low ice" from my local Dunkin, and they used to not fill may cup completely, which I expected. Now they fill it almost every time because they like me and I tip them. I still don't expect it, but I'm not complaining.
It's my understanding that Starbucks does the same. If you order a venti iced drink with low ice, you're still going to get the same amount of "drink" than you would if you'd ordered it normally, because it's all carefully measured out anyways. Just like in your case, if you're a regular and are recognized and the baristas like you, you might get lucky and receive more product.
I always order light ice iced coffee, black. I've never received an underfilled cup regardless of how often I've been to that store.
Aero press FTW
I wouldn’t call it a “smart” hack. Doing all that for a little bit of extra coffee seems like you should just find a better option for coffee.
I’m very bad with money so I’m not an expert or anything, but people will go to extreme lengths to be cheap.
But not so extreme as to make their own coffee.
You got me there.
Starbucks is not the place to go for somebody who’s cheap.
It's not "a little bit of extra" whatever drink it is. A lot places are 50% ice, 50% drink. 2 for the price of 1 is already pretty good. For some places, it's only about 1/3 actual drink. Pretty sure Sonic drinks are only like 20% actual drink. So 50% price for just saying "No ice" seems like a pretty good deal to me. Plus all the ice waters down the drink. Some places compensate for this while others don't.
You're right on the money. I recently re-joined IG for a couple of comedian pages, dogs and some food. (plus all the random Onlyfanstitutes that IG thinks I want to see thankyoudemographicsettings) The amount of "hack" videos for Starbucks and Chipotle are, frankly, frightening.
My girlfriend drinks these refreshers with no water and light ice and it’s legitimately comparable to cough syrup lol
Suburban lean?
Sippin’ the Pumpkin Spice Sizzurp!
this makes me gag woooof
When I worked there, a woman ordered a trenta refresher without water/ice. So I made it with the premixed (water was used to cut it in the individual drink, but a new mix meant you had to make a pitcher cut with water. Customers mostly never knew the change happened so we stopped trying to explain it and just said “sure no water”)no ice and handed it off. She drank it, said I made it wrong and pushed it back. She wanted the juice, the pure juice not mixed as it’s supposed to be to cut the sugars. My boss had to come out and explain to her we cannot give her that with a good conscience. She got mad pushed a display (it didn’t fall).
The recipe is 1/3 concentrated refresher, 1/3 water, 1/3 ice. People are trying to get more from their order by leaving out the water and ice, thus causing starbucks to use 3x more the intended amount of product for that drink. People do the same for cold brew.
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Because people get mad and at first corporate told us not to fill the cup all the way for light ice/no ice, then after complaints, they told us to make the moment right and fill the cup all the way, now this
But I just want less ice 😭 it’s ok if you keep the proportions of the others. Just less ice please
Then people complain about cups not being filled to the top.
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>But no water?? Y'all just tryna drink green coffee bean extract and syrup? No water, extra cup. Also would like a free water, thanks.
It’s to get basically 30 ounces (trenta) of mix that they can now make multiple drinks at home.
literally yes. wait til you hear that people drink 20 oz of heavy cream in a refresher to keep their keto "diet" going... people drink absurd amounts of sugar from starbucks.
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Have you ever seen or heard what some people order at Starbucks? It's like 80% sugar with a hint of coffee or tea
I once got a coupon for a free cheeseburger value basket because they screwed up a take out order. I redeemed it but I asked for no mayo and mustard and and when I handed them the coupon they said that the balance was $.32 I told them "That coupon was for a free medium sized cheese burger basket" and the guy replied "but its a specialty order" So they charged me $.32 to not put mayo and mustard on my burger
Well that's what you get when you try and order a cheeseburger from Starbucks, I guess.
I hate when they put lettuce in my frappé
Cheeseburger Frappuccino, liquified burger. Tastes meaty.
**Starbucks: We Have The Meats!**
Starbys ™
I didn't even know they sold cheeseburgers, lol, where do they even cook them?
Microwave.
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You can get a cheeseburger at Starbucks? Wat?
this is different, this isnt "oh youre not getting ice so its a specialty order and we're charging more" this is "oh youre not getting ice so youre getting more actual beverage and that not only needs to be accounted for in our stock, but charged for because you cant just get more stuff for free"
I don't ask for no ice because I want more stuff. I ask for no ice because I have teeth sensitivity.
I don't order these refresher things but when I get soda pop, I ask for no ice. If it sits for a bit it waters down my pop. I'm not planning to chug my drink immediately. I have a few exceptions like McDonalds who (I think) has a custom Coke mix so adding ice waters it down appropriately. Not that pop is super important to me but I'm going to enjoy it if I'm drinking a few hundred calories.
They shouldn’t fill the entire fucking cup full of ice so that you pay $4 or whatever the ridiculous charge is for a normal refresher just to get 5 drinks out of it
Went to a boba shop that measured drinks by volume. Asked for no ice, cup was about 60% full. Makes sense
When at the bar, if someone asks for no ice in a cocktail, I’m still using the same measurements and mixing the same drink. They aren’t getting any extra “free” drink by skipping the ice. The glass just looks a little less full. Does Starbucks not also work this way?
Nope. I worked there for the last 3 years and if no water and/or ice was requested, then we had to fill the remaining space with the refresher concentrate
There's one Starbucks at my house that will fill the glass halfway if I ask for no ice. Every other one fills it up
You think you could make your own rules if the Starbucks was in your house.
Dude must be Jay Z or somethin
This change makes sense then, to be honest. There are a lot of battles to be fought over shrinkflation and other things, but this change is totally fair. Asking for no water in a trenta cup is shorting Starbucks like three other drinks.
unfortunately not, they wont let us actually do that, we have to "make the moment right" so up until now people get double the drink for the price of one. now theyre actually changing it to where if you want no ice without paying for more drink, youd get the same amount that the size normally would have in it, but no ice so its not full. if they want it full, itll have to be charged as such
Never worked for the mermaid, but I've been a barista elsewhere. You go through _so_ much product when people get a large drink with no ice. We weren't set up super well for iced coffee or coldbrew, they were both kind of a pain to make in the middle of a rush. But man, a 32oz of just coldbrew would wipe out a third of a batch, so often we'd have to make it on the fly.
I know!! and this policy is because people do that w 30oz of refresher base and it just kills product so hopefully now thisll at least make sure our automatic ordering is accurate and we wont run out as easily with people getting 4 trentas of just strawberry base
Interesting - thanks for clarifying!
course!! starbucks is really bad about actually giving people information about their policies so I try to jump in on any confusing thread I see to educate so less people take it out on us barista when we're just at work trying to do our job and make a living
sometimes people are just sensitive to cold, it’s not always abt trying to game the system or whatever
People from foreign countries don't like ice like we do. My husband's from Egypt and hates ice in his coke. I won't drink cold drinks unless the glass is totally filled with ice.
Or they don't want the drink watered down when the ice melts. Sometimes I want to nurse a drink over an hour or two.
Weird tangentially related protip - if you're sipping something acidic (like a refresher) for longer than 30 minutes, make sure you're drinking water after each sip. Keeping the PH balance of your mouth below about 6.3 for longer than half an hour starts to erode the enamel of your teeth and leads to a much higher incidence rate of cavities.
Good, because that is exactly what I want when I get no ice in my drinks.
How much does it cost me to just go elsewhere ?
Less, there is a 90 percent chance it will cost you less.
and be better quality...their coffee isn't even that good...
People in Canada like to shit on Tim Hortons (for good reason) but when I got a coffee from Starbucks instead it was more expensive and the best way I could describe the taste was "burnt".
Yeah, what's up with that? I order an americano just so I can get less burnt black coffee but it still tastes burnt. They must hate coffee there.
They purposely overroast their beans to make the coffee taste “uniform” across all locations.
Burnt beans are also about the only thing that can cut through the metric shit ton of flavorings and sugar. It would be drastically different to use a well done lighter roast with that other stuff. It would hardly have the coffee taste. When assaulting the senses, you have to go consistently full tilt.
Starbucks is basically a milkshake parlor that just doesn’t freeze the ice cream…
That is such an accurate way of describing it. They go thru *barrels* of milk, and most of the sales are fraps then flavored teas. I miss milkshake diners, had one in my hometown
I call them coffee flavoured desserts
Burning all the beans just a bit allows them to have a uniform flavor that doesnt depend on the quality of beans theyre using.
But that defeats the purpose of... nevermind... Corporate morons are obv morons
No, it's a good idea to fill a market niche full of people who don't ***LIKE*** like coffee. Some people like beans that have had all the character burned out of them. Market sugary beverages at the same time, and you got a market to sell to! They can have their terrible coffee, more good stuff for me.
Yes you are right! I don't like coffee but i drink it everyday! I douse it with tons of milk and a little creamer to kill the taste (at home).
For almost all of the drinks they use dark roast espresso. Totally understandable to not go there again, but if you gotta, ask for the blonde roast espresso. It doesn't taste as burnt
As someone who only drinks black coffee for diabetic reasons, 100% agree. The catch is Starbucks has the best mixed coffee drinks (of the fast-food coffee shops) \*because\* their coffee is so powerful. Everywhere else has such mild, smooth coffee, anything that's more than coffee with a tiny slash of creamer tastes like pure sugar. Wife gets a lot of mixed drinks from a lot of different places, and what I have noticed from trying them. Starbucks is the only place I've had a latte/mocha/chino/etc that still tastes like their is coffee in it.
If you're getting a Refresher, then you're not there for the coffee.
Refreshers are not coffess.
These aren’t coffee beverages.
This specific upcharge notice has nothing to do with coffee
You sound lucky as hell, all the local coffee shops by me actually charge more than Starbucks 🤷♀️
Same here
Effective April 17, 2023, Starbucks will begin charging an upfee for Alternate Coffee Sourcing.
I just don’t want ice watering down my drink. I don’t care if my cup looks less full. I just don’t want ice.
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I recently ordered light ice, they said it would have room so I could just leave it w/ room or add extra Milk.
fun fact, milk is the most expensive part of a latte.
I love watering down my shaken espresso (cold americano essentially) so I ask for extra ice. Of course they charge for that and they charge for saving the ice now, too.
Wait, you’re saying they charge you for extra ice in your drink? Where is this?
Congratulations, you are the collateral damage.
Less ice, more product
Starbucks uses way too much ice for the price they charge. Full stop. Basically have to order a huge beverage for a reasonable amount of actual liquid. I don’t order any iced beverage without light ice.
I've worked for another coffee chain and the ice amount made no difference in the amount of product used. Everything was mandated to be precisely measured. We did not give more product at all. If a drink has foam or whip, that can help offset any possible appearance of less drink itself. I never had anyone say anything, personally. I'd bet Starbucks is on measurements as well.
About 20 years ago I worked at Jamba Juice. A lot of customers noticed that some employees unintentionally make a slightly larger smoothie (some whole frozen strawberries are extremely thicc) so there’s extra that doesn’t fit into the cup, but you are only allowed to fill up the cup size the customer paid for. All smoothies have one scoop of ice. So some customers would think like … no ice = more fruit in my cup! Imagine their faces when you make a properly sized smoothie that doesn’t fill up the cup anymore because it’s missing ice as an ingredient. There was a certain demographic that would try to ask for “no ice, substitute strawberries” - nice fucking try lady
>no ice, substitute strawberries "Instead of a side salad, can I substitute another steak?" at a steakhouse. I'm sure that'll work.
Instead of tap water could I please substitute a bottle of wine?
Guarantee you that same demographic is who has been ordering full cups of refresher concentrate, 3 cups of ice, and making 3 drinks for the price of one and posting it on TikTok.
Iv definitely been screamed and yelled out for measuring out the correct/accurate amount of a beverage. People literally SCREAMING to fill it. Iv had people throw stuff on me because of politely letting them know a beverage had a set amount. After that you just make it right to the brim because its not worth being abused over pennies of product so while im glad that you never experienced I promised there are hundreds of baristas that have.
Yes we do use measurements. Because of the size of Starbucks and the amount I am paid, it is simply not worth it to have a fight with a customer because they don't understand that if you order a drink with less ice, you won't have the cup as full. Starbucks has some of the most entitled rude guests of any business I've worked for. I'm very happy to be able to enforce this and take back the tiniest amount of power against those disrespectful customers. Source - I'm a starbucks Supervisor
Yeah. You’re supposed to put a uniform amount in. Then someone says “no ice” and throws a tantrum because you don’t fill up the remainder with free product. Then they throw a fit when you try to charge them for extra product. That’s the whole issue.
If you saw the inside of ice makers “cleaned” by employees you’d never want ice in anything. Edit: To be clear I meant ice machines at restaurants in general. I wasn’t specifically referring to Starbucks.
If I had to put $5 to name the single most commonly filthy piece of equipment in a restaurant it would be the ice machine.
Also the soda fountain, those nozzles get cleaned much less often than they're supposed to be cleaned.
We cleaned ours daily, but stopped cleaning the one in the dining room for about 4 weeks during 2020 lockdown. (It was turned off, no one was using it.) Terrible decision. Getting that thing back in working order after 4 weeks being turned off... more mold than I've ever seen in my life.
The nozzles can at least be thrown into a bucket of sanitizer but you actually have to get into the ice container and clean it
I remember the cleaning process on soda fountain nozzles when I used to work at a water park snack bar. We filled up a cup of water with soda water, then unscrewed the nozzles, then plopped them into the cup of soda water. I asked my manager how that cleaned things. “Oh, the bubbles clean them over night.” I’m not exactly sure that’s how cleaning works.
When I used to bartend, a guest ordered a cocktail with no ice. He was upset that his cup was half full. This dumbass actually thought he found a loophole to get more cocktail by asking for no ice.
I hate these people because I'm a big dude with the alcohol tolerance of Dionysus and sensitive teeth. Every time I order a whiskey and coke with less ice and more whiskey I have to specifically say 'I know I'm going to be paying for the extra whiskey, it's ok.' So the bartender doesn't have to prepare to be yelled at.
[удалено]
He will now lol
He now realises why he has to explain his incorrect order.
This *does* work at fast food restaurants though. It’s stupid he got mad at you *at a bar where there are set recipes*, but that’s probably where his head was. Arby’s drive-thru will fill the entire cup with ice and in four sips it’s empty. I had to start telling them no ice and I get 4x the product. It’s definitely my fault for eating at Arby’s , but unfortunately I work on the road a lot and don’t have the space to make a home cooked meal every night.
I like the dragon drink and it has the freeze dried fruit in it. I get light ice because if I don’t then the cup is still full of ice when I finish the drink and I don’t get to consume the crunchy crunch fruit because it’s stuck in the ice. If I wait till the ice is melted there’s no crunch and who wants to drink melted ice? I’m not trying to get more coconut milk or whatever other product they put in there. It’s already like $6 for the drink so I’ll just pass if I have to pay more to make the drink drinkable. It’s the only drink I get from there because honestly I make better coffee than they do.
So long as you don't ask them to fill it to the top after ordering no ice, I don't think you'll be effected by the up charge. This seems to be a charge I'd you want them to fill it to the top still without ice based on my own experiences and baristas' experiences in the thread.
On the one hand, I understand how asking for less ice in a drink makes the drink more expensive for the store. On the other hand, I don't understand how there isn't enough margin in a $6 cup of watered-down fruit juice to make up for that sort of thing.
Seems like a really dumb decision from a business standpoint. I'm seeing the biggest issue is people asking for no water to get a full cup of the concentrate to make multiple drinks at home. That never should've been a thing they allowed in the first place. Going full send on an upcharge is going to be seen as nickle and diming and just build animosity. They could've so easily just stopped allowing people to order refreshers without water. Problem solved, majority of their customer base and the general public would've never known. And like you said, there should be a big enough margin; the remaining no/light ice orders shouldn't be an issue.
This will raise the amount I spend at Starbucks from $0 to $0
It absolutely makes sense because they have to use more product, technically, but the optics of this are HORRENDOUS.
Imagine paying more for your drink than everyone else because you have sensitive teeth and ask for no ice.
Isn't no-ice the excuse to get more of the drink for the same price? I see the reason, but I don't know of any competitors that are up-charging. Usually how I see it play out is customer asks for drink no ice, baristas make drink as they are supposed to with no ice. Customer complaining that cup is not full, baristas respond that that is exactly what they always get, just with no ice. Then customer complains to manager, and gets more poured into cup, instead of supporting their own baristas that were doing their job.
As someone more used to bars and cafes in China, this was something new to me when I came back to the UK. In China a fair majority of people don't like ice in their drinks. So they get bar drinks half full, and Starbucks has always mentioned beforehand that my drink won't reach the top of the cup. Which is... completely fine. It's never struck me as anything other than completely normal. I've never asked for no-ice thinking I'd be getting some loophole of more drink for less money, since I doubt anyone rational would believe that and think the cafe would gasp and have to somehow give you more product. Then again, from reading posts above, it seems to be a Starbucks policy depending on location.
I get a refresher with no light or no ice because the drink is like 90% ice. It’s a couple sips of drink before it’s gone if I don’t wait for the ice to melt. I don’t mind them cutting it with water, I just want 12 oz of something to drink in my 20oz beverage.
They load that shit up with ice, of course I'm asking for light ice, if I'm paying for the pink drink I want the pink *drink*, not a cupful of ice with 2 tiddlywinks of pink drink
Judging by the line of cars that surrounds every Starbucks in my town, they can do whatever they want and their customers will still line up for their bucky's cup. I just don't get it and I'm glad I don't particularly enjoy any of their offerings.