James – I just had to laugh when I read this! I’m a coffee person too, and although I agree with Mark that a lot of other places have better coffee, there’s just something about Starbucks that keeps me going back. The thought of a Starbucks running out of coffee…
Reminds me of the Corona commercial for Halloween – the horrified screams as he realizes he has no Corona…

Ouch Mark! Why don’t you just be honest and tell us how you really feel. :)

Ouch Mark! Why don’t you just be honest and tell us how you really feel. :)

LOL…yeah, seriously, it doesn’t take much shopping around to determine that starbucks blows. Within 1/2 mile of my house are three small, independent coffee shops with better coffee and more variety at half the price, real food, plenty of wifi and an owner who’s actually part of my community. Starbucks is the McDonald’s of coffee, catering to the lowest common denominator. The coffee is grossly overpriced and underpowered, the two within two miles of me don’t have wifi, they’re constantly polluted by those mumbling 20-something hippie wanna-be’s who reek of incense and ass and never buy anything but are constantly in the way of the customers. I’ve never seen a manager in either store which probably explains why the staff are usually rude and incompetent. I’ve been in starbucks all over the world. Most are better than those here but still, I’ll always take the local guy who cares about his customers over the international behemoth that cares about it’s stock going up a quarter of a point.

I love this site, but the Starbucks posts are beyond me. I have been there, I have had two friends try to convince me SBUX was the greatest thing since pockets on shirts. I can’t imagine in my wildest dreams paying that much for coffee. Also, I bought the 2710p last week, so even if I liked Starbucks, I can’t afford it right now anyways. I’ll stack my 32 oz. .99 cent coffee from our local gas station with a tethered connection anyday against SBUX and wifi. :)

this blog should be renamed to JKinSBUX