Starbucks closing 600 stores

**Will** · 07-06-2008, 06:35 PM

Fuck Starbucks. Here's your daily dose of Coffee-Proselytization.

Get an Aero-Press.

http://www.aerobie.com/Products/aeropress_story.htm

It makes an excellent cup of coffee with just a microwave (although a kettle is nice addition). Seriously, this thing changed my life. Sold online, at fine goods stores (my bro got me one at Zabars), and now MountainGear as well. If both the crunchy types and the food-snobs think it's good there's got to be something real behind it.

Only downside = uses lots of coffee. One cup requires two large scoops of coffee grinds.

"It makes the absolute best cup of coffee I've tasted in my entire life."
Lewis Singer - Cooks Junction

"When used properly, AeroPress produces a remarkably good straight espresso and an excellent Americano-style taller cup. In fact, it produces a better espresso shot than many home machines that cost twenty or thirty times as much." Kenneth Davids – Author of:
Coffee: A Guide to Buying Brewing and Enjoying
Espresso: Ultimate Coffee
Coffee Roasting: Romance and Revival
editor of coffeereview.com

"Thank you for leaving us an Aeropress. I'm sipping a delicious Americano as I go through my emails--you have saved me from servitude to the office brew cup and I will be forever grateful! The funny thing is, I made it with the same pre-ground coffee the drip stuff is made of (just to do a more direct comparison) and, well, there is no comparison--one has flavor, the other has bitterness."
Molly Watson - Sunset Magazine

"I didn't know the same coffee could taste so good."
Peter Whitely - Sunset Magazine

"This is the first cup of coffee I've ever enjoyed without cream and sugar."
Margie Gray – Professional Engineer and coffee lover

"Thus, the result with hardly any tinkering: Two very, very good mugs of coffee. I was able to taste qualities that I had mainly read about before, particularly on the floral, fruity, and sweet end of the spectrum. You've obviously made a fine discovery."
Jeffrey Steingarten - Vogue Food Editor

Smokey McPole · 07-06-2008, 07:57 PM

Am I the only one who just dumps a few sporks of Choc-full-o-nuts into the Jetboil every morning?

**trainnvain** · 07-06-2008, 08:18 PM

Why a spork?
Nathan: No understand retail OCP.

Coffee= good drug (or bad)

**Steven S. Dallas** · 07-06-2008, 08:19 PM

Ooh yeah
Mmmmm
Yo, man
Ain't nothin' like a nice bowl of cornflakes in the morning to smooth you out.

**trainnvain** · 07-06-2008, 08:22 PM

^^^^LL Cool J Fucked Nancy Reagan?
Just say no!!

**P_McPoser** · 07-06-2008, 10:20 PM

Wait? It's hard to find a job as an engineer right now? huh?

**Blurred** · 07-06-2008, 10:28 PM

Originally Posted by P_McPoser

Wait? It's hard to find a job as an engineer right now? huh?

I read somewhere that they don't "pull as much tail" as Doctors either.

**P_McPoser** · 07-06-2008, 11:16 PM

It always seemed to me that most doctors became doctors because they lacked any tail pulling ability.

**Chainsaw_Willie** · 07-07-2008, 01:03 AM

Boo hoo for Starbucks.

I only go there if I'm really jonesing for a cuppa and can't get to a different coffee shop for some reason. That doesn't happen very often.

I can pay the same money and get way better coffee elsewhere, so why would I go to Starbucks? I dunno what Starbucks does to their beans, but they manage to make them taste like shit.

As an added bonus, the indie shops almost always have hot women working at them. At starbucks it's usually some guy who talks with a lisp and spends way too much time on his hair.

**Nathan Explosion** · 07-07-2008, 01:19 AM

It's really great to see the med student and the law student sticking up for each other. You both clearly need more school to become productive, and you've shown why. Did I say the numbers I ran for her were drink-by-drink? No, actually, I don't think that I did. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to go from orders to a number which could be described as such through simple division and derivative extrapolation. Also, note that I said "per drink", as if to specifically show that I was making no other judgment towards other operational costs, merely that within the process that is a simple cup of coffee. As in, a purely simplified and speculative number. Sue me for being curious. Oh, sorry I used big math words, I forgot you were both liberal art majors in college. Don't actually sue me, gonehuckin. Don't get pissy because I'll be out of debt before you're out of school.

And, 13, make sure you thank gonehuckin for what he's going to do for your malpractice insurance with his clearly illustrious future career running down ambulances.

**Viva** · 07-07-2008, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by Nathan Explosion

Did I say the numbers I ran for her were drink-by-drink? No, actually, I don't think that I did. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to go from orders to a number which could be described as such through simple division and derivative extrapolation.

You also stated earlier in this thread that business was, in part, little more than "half-assed math".

Excuse me while I go perform some irony calculations and plot the datapoints.

**hutash** · 07-07-2008, 09:51 AM

Originally Posted by Chainsaw_Willie

Boo hoo for Starbucks.

As an added bonus, the indie shops almost always have hot women working at them. At starbucks it's usually some guy who talks with a lisp and spends way too much time on his hair.

So true...I just got a coffee at a little shop in downtown San Luis Obispo. There was the most beautiful server there, green eyes, short blond hair pulled back in a perky ponytail, slim, firm, sweet young thing. I am thinking about making the 200 mile round trip daily for my mourning coffee, and I rarely drink mourning coffee.

**cranked** · 07-07-2008, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by Nathan Explosion

It's really great to see the med student and the law student sticking up for each other. You both clearly need more school to become productive, and you've shown why. Did I say the numbers I ran for her were drink-by-drink? No, actually, I don't think that I did. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to go from orders to a number which could be described as such through simple division and derivative extrapolation. Also, note that I said "per drink", as if to specifically show that I was making no other judgment towards other operational costs, merely that within the process that is a simple cup of coffee. As in, a purely simplified and speculative number. Sue me for being curious. Oh, sorry I used big math words, I forgot you were both liberal art majors in college. Don't actually sue me, gonehuckin. Don't get pissy because I'll be out of debt before you're out of school.

And, 13, make sure you thank gonehuckin for what he's going to do for your malpractice insurance with his clearly illustrious future career running down ambulances.

In that case, what you were attempting to refer to is "operating margin" not "profit margin".

I love the fact that you think engineers get paid...pure comedy. I can't wait til you graduate, dad quits paying your bills, and the real world slaps the taste out of your mouth.

Here is the real question, do you consider it ironic that you think you are worth way more than you will get paid coming out of undergrad?

**Nathan Explosion** · 07-07-2008, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by cranked

In that case, what you were attempting to refer to is "operating margin" not "profit margin".

I love the fact that you think engineers get paid...pure comedy. I can't wait til you graduate, dad quits paying your bills, and the real world slaps the taste out of your mouth.

Here is the real question, do you consider it ironic that you think you are worth way more than you will get paid coming out of undergrad?

Average starting salary for my field is $85,000. Have offers of that amount. Not bragging, debunking your horseshit.

Nobody pays my bills but me, unless you're offering.

**fallin** · 07-07-2008, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by hutash

I am thinking about making the 200 mile round trip daily for my mourning coffee, and I rarely drink mourning coffee.

As in, you are "mourning" the thought that you won't really get this girl?

**hutash** · 07-07-2008, 11:27 AM

maybe moaning would be the best adjective.

**cranked** · 07-07-2008, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by Nathan Explosion

Average starting salary for my field is $85,000. Have offers of that amount. Not bragging, debunking your horseshit.

Nobody pays my bills but me, unless you're offering.

Neat...you will realize very quickly how far that goes.

(EDIT: BTW, I am not shitting on your career choice or degree, only your attitude and talk about how phat your wallet is going to be. Trust me, as an engineer, you won't be making it rain at clubs and you never will be...unless you round out your nerd skillset and lose your cocky little attitude...remember, there are probably about 1000 kids at better schools, with better connections than you, getting the same degree and choosing the same career path.)

**gh444** · 07-07-2008, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by Nathan Explosion

Average starting salary for my field is $85,000. Have offers of that amount. Not bragging, debunking your horseshit.

Nobody pays my bills but me, unless you're offering.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/workl...ads/index.html

No its not. Continuous lies.

**Toadman** · 07-07-2008, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by gonehuckin

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/workl...ads/index.html

No its not. Continuous lies.

Was surprised too, that an undergrad engineer in any field other than oil would bring in $85K. Even in the oil services, geo fields are pulling in mid $60's for undergrads. Isn't inflation great? That's probably like $40k in today's dollars, before taxes of course.

http://education-portal.com/articles...ge_Majors.html

**Brock Landers** · 07-07-2008, 01:19 PM

I refuse to believe Nathan Explosion dated a Starbucks manager.

**Blurred** · 07-07-2008, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by gonehuckin

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/workl...ads/index.html

No its not. Continuous lies.

I make more than any of those jobs, and I take 4 months off in the Winter to ski.

WHO WANTS TO TOUCH ME??!!!

13 · 07-07-2008, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by Nathan Explosion

It's really great to see the med student and the law student sticking up for each other. You both clearly need more school to become productive, and you've shown why. Did I say the numbers I ran for her were drink-by-drink? No, actually, I don't think that I did. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to go from orders to a number which could be described as such through simple division and derivative extrapolation. Also, note that I said "per drink", as if to specifically show that I was making no other judgment towards other operational costs, merely that within the process that is a simple cup of coffee. As in, a purely simplified and speculative number. Sue me for being curious. Oh, sorry I used big math words, I forgot you were both liberal art majors in college. Don't actually sue me, gonehuckin. Don't get pissy because I'll be out of debt before you're out of school.

And, 13, make sure you thank gonehuckin for what he's going to do for your malpractice insurance with his clearly illustrious future career running down ambulances.

it's really great to see you backtracking and continuing to pretend you actually know what you're talking about.

ok, so you admitted the 150% ("purely simplified and speculative number") was pulled out of your ass. that's a good start.

now it's time to admit that you never dated a starbucks manager and you definitely didn't "run her numbers" for her, much less do simple division and derivative extrapolation to find the "per drink" profit margin. christ, you'd have to have way too much time on your hands to do that.

you can try the semantics arguement all you want, but it all comes down to one glaringly simple fact: you have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to retail business. zero. zip. zilch. none.

Liberal Genius · 07-07-2008, 03:10 PM

Note to self-

The yardstick of success is not only how much money you'll make in the future, but more importantly, if you've banged the Manager at Starbucks. Wow, who knew?

**trainnvain** · 07-07-2008, 03:33 PM

Latte dah.

**BmillsSkier** · 07-07-2008, 03:37 PM

Wow, never thought I would ever dedicate the time to read 5 pages of posts about starbucks.

I'm proud of most of you for keeping the hating on starbucks closing 600 stores to your distaste for their clientele and not just hating on them because they're "big". Those of you who relish in this closing really aren't thinking that hard. How do you think the people who work in these stores feel? How about the vacant storefronts? Here I thought "independent" liberals were the caring type.

Those who bitch and moan about how much better they prefer their indie coffee shops should read the book "Starbucked". It shows some pretty impressive numbers about how when a starbucks opened nearby an "indie" shop that indie shop's sales categoricaly increase. Weird huh?

And to the guy who lusts after the girl at his indie coffee shop, why am I getting the picture of Charlie from It's Always Sunny in my head when I read your post?