The Starbucks Effect?

A rather sad notion occurred to me this morning as I opened my email. It was from my mom, and it simply stated "Let's go to Starbucks soon!" Attached to this email was a video clip of a rather, say, brusque old man presumably from New York (read: New Jersey) complaining about Starbucks. In his abrasively loquacious rant, he compared paying seven dollars for a "...coffee and a...pound cake..." to "...eight and a quarter..." for a comparably substantial meal. But, is he complaining about the right thing?

Let's go back to my dear, sweet mom. She wants to hang out with her son and find out the goings-on of his life, and rather do it in that proverbially same old boring kitchen, she'd like to go somewhere warm, inviting, and open to social interactions. So why not Starbucks? Our curt border-hopping friend would be first in line to tell you that you can get a cup of coffee for $1.19 'round the corner and they'll keep filling it up until you say stop. While I appreciate the fiduciary concern for my wallet, I think it's the wrong thing with which one should take issue. I'm not made of money, and I am well aware of the times and amounts I spend. In this instance, money is a dumb thing to complain about. I'm not even going to say it's about the quality of the coffee. It's something much more global.

What is referred to as The Starbucks Effect is the inability to predict traffic patterns on any given morning, which can lead to serious delays for commuters everywhere. Travel patterns are usually based on efficiency, and as such, traffic lights are programmed accordingly. Streets may be designated "One-Way" for a portion of the day to accommodate the traffic. The point is that we map our own behavior for our own good. Now, say one member out of every 50 households in a city (let's say there are 5000 households) strays from this pattern in favor of grabbing that early cup o' joe. We have 100 "bogeys" on the grid. These "seceders", if you will, may turn green lights red with their presence, cause municipal vehicles to fall behind on their schedules, or block traffic when they double park on the street to run inside (That last one really only applies in big cities, but I wanted a third example for effect. Yes, I know it's a petty stretch, but again, effect...).

Granted these are problems that we face everyday and cannot be blamed specifically on those who wish to make a special trip for coffee every morning, but they aren't innocent. We all have vices, but this is one that, on the largest of scales, can be detrimental to the world. I'm talking about the added pollution in the extra miles a car must be driven to get that coffee blah blah blah.

My point (finally) is this: Don't jump on bandwagons. Too many people already do, and this saddens me. I mean, this old guy is complaining about one of two things I have ever heard negatively about Starbucks. The other being their many, many, many, many locations; some are literally across the street from one another. Both the former and latter are brilliant lessons in marketing and I refuse to complain about them. Now, I'm not proselytizing for Starbucks, but those are kind of ignorant complaints. Instead, complain that they roast their beans way too much or they don't know how to operate their thermostats. Anyway, I'm off to meet mom at Julius Meinl. Their coffee is soo good.