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Maybe this policy explains why Starbucks, the U.S. coffee company that recently opened a few beachheads on the French front, is looked upon by the pompous elitist asses of the French iPhone-babbling, MacBook-clicking, Latte-sipping, Velib-ridding intelligentsia with a degree of fondness only consistent with the mindless hatred they direct towards another massive American actor of the global food industry, McDonalds—even though it was at first presented as a direct threat to the age old myriads of grubby Parisian grease pits called cafés, in which thousands of Japanese and American tourists consistently confuse brazen French drunkards on welfare and cheap white wine for post-modern philosophers deconstructing something or another or whatever:
Laissez-faire. It's a policy that made Starbucks vastly successful. But don't try to put that phrase on a customized Starbucks Card. (…) when my friend Roger Ream, president of the Fund for American Studies, received a Starbucks gift card for Christmas, he found there was a limit to how personalized a card could be. His card required him to customize it on the company's Web site. So he went to the site and requested that the phrase "Laissez Faire" be printed on his card. A few days later he was informed that the company couldn't issue such a card because the wording violated company policy.That's a good question indeed. Another good question1 is: how do you take your coffee? Black, cream, or Socialist?—after all, it seems Starbuck is doing what every sensible, Laissez-faire Capitalism venture does:
(…)
Is the phrase "laissez-faire" threatening? Only to officious bureaucracy, I would think. So, it must be that the phrase is considered to be "inappropriate" by corporate Starbucks.
(…)
Maybe Starbucks considers the phrase inappropriate because it's "overtly political commentary"? Certainly my friend regards it as a firm statement of political philosophy.
And so, at my suggestion, my friend went back to the Web site and asked that his card be issued with the phrase "People Not Profits." Bingo! Starbucks had no problem with that phrase, and the card arrived in a few days.
I wondered just what the company's standards were. If "laissez-faire" is unacceptably political, how could the socialist slogan "people not profits" be acceptable?
Catering for its known customer base.
Comments
Comments thread (11)
3376 - 2hotel9
2hotel9 Western Pennsylvania
OK, I'll step up. Starpuke coffee sucks.
3377 - Lady Cincinnatus
Lady Cincinnatus Ohio & Kentucky
I've officially banned FourBucks a while ago. I've also transfered all my banking to BB&T. I realize that many people reading this might not have access to a BB&T bank, but if you do...here's is why they are owned by worthy freedom-lovers...
"News Releases Printable Version
January 25, 2006
BB&T announces eminent domain policy
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. –
BB&T Corporation today said it will not lend to commercial developers that plan to build condominiums, shopping malls and other private projects on land taken from private citizens by government entities using eminent domain.
The commercial lending policy change comes in the wake of Kelo v. City of New London, a controversial Supreme Court decision in June that said governments can seize personal property to make room for private development projects.
The court's ruling cleared the way for an expansion of eminent domain authority historically used primarily for utilities, rights of way and other public facilities.
“The idea that a citizen's property can be taken by the government solely for private use is extremely misguided, in fact it's just plain wrong,” said BB&T Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Allison.
“One of the most basic rights of every citizen is to keep what they own. As an institution dedicated to helping our clients achieve economic success and financial security, we won't help any entity or company that would undermine that mission and threaten the hard-earned American dream of property ownership.”
3378 - Valerie, Texas
Valerie, Texas
At first pass I just shrugged. What a non story. This guy and his pal have so little to trouble them that being denied the "vanity plate" of one's choice is cause for such angst? Lucky them.
Not understanding exactly the terms of this card. Is it a gift? Something one purchases? Regardless the personalization is a perk offered by the comapny. One would assume a company offering perks does have the freedom and right to set the policy for them. Wondered if it is Starbuck's policy to print only English? If, so, bravo.
Would rather Mr. Boaz, and others at the WSJ, get their knickers in a twist over such companies as The Stanley Tool Co. who shut down their factory, thus destroying over night the economy of an area, and moving it to China. Not because it was too expensive to make a profit here in America--they were posting the best gains they had in their history of a 100 yrs. of great success--but because they just wanted even more. Screw the American workers that got them to that point. Then, the CEO decides he's going to quit paying federal taxes that built the roads his delivery trucks move on and provide other infrastructure that allowed his company to flourish so he tries to set up a shady deal of registering his company's address in the Carribbean. Congress started looking into such things, and he backed off, for now.
Ah, as shitty as all this is, Stanley Tool is a private company and can do what it wants...they can set their own policies.
These two guys get all twittery over a freakin' personalized card?
Give me a break.
3379 - Valerie, Texas
Valerie, Texas
Many thanks KL! I will definitely be looking in to this bank!
3380 - Proof
Proof Stockton, Callifornia, USA
Cup of joe...Stalin! Very clever, Monsieur Frogman!
3381 - TooTall
TooTall Utah
Quote Proof:
[quote]Cup of joe...Stalin! Very clever, Monsieur Frogman!
[/quote]
Looked so natural I almost missed it.
3382 - DaToad
DaToad Glendale, AZ, USA
No problem for me. I don't drink their swill and would never buy one of their cards, but I do wonder about the motive.
I thought the pic looked more like Lenin than Stalin.
3383 - Proof
Proof Stockton, Callifornia, USA
"I thought the pic looked more like Lenin than Stalin."
Mon dieu! I think Da Toad is correct! I have transposed my Commie icons!
3384 - tinga-tinga
tinga-tinga
Ha ha ha! I thought it really WAS their logo - did a double take. Good job! Don't know about the Starbucks invasion of Europe, but its flanks in the US of A are collapsing. It took a while, but people are getting tired of expensive burnt coffee. Duncan Donuts is chugging down market share like crazy. DUNCAN DONUTS!! Ha ha! What a come down for Starbucks and their throat clogging biscotti. Better coffee and CHEAPER and no one as yet has given up on donuts. All the Southern Ladies working checkout at Duncan Donuts call the customers, "Sweetie" and "Sugar" and "Baby." Fun to watch 320 lb construction guys get all weak-kneed and silly. Don't get that at Starbucks and even though they''ve cut their prices to try to compete with the king of the donuts hang-out, where all the early birds go - the road crews, linemen, construction, cops, SWAT, US Customs - Starbucks STILL serves BURNT java. Ack!
4265 - Sharon Rambo
Sharon Rambo
I was recently in Purvis, Mississippi helping my brother recover from quadruple by-pass surgery. You should see the acres of "FEMA" homes parked there. I heard that "they" were auctioning them off. Listening to today's broadcast and hearing of folks still recovering from Katrina, I thought you should be aware ...
Thank You!
Sharon