Starbucks 4Q profit drops 97%

[MrsCat 6]

I wasn't thinking it would disappear, just that in the search for profits the employees are simply expendable. So sad, too bad. I know that is the way it is - but then again does it make sense to expand and shrink like that? There has to be a considerable waste factor - that just seems stupid to me.

I guess that's just being a corporation with a bottom line. I dunno if my BIL has drank the Kool-Aid but from what he has said they have taken a lot of opportunities to save costs before laying off employees. Like getting rid of some extravagances such as a nursing room for nursing mothers, decreasing benefits. Once that didn't solve the problem they offered some employees who wanted to stay a cut in pay rather than laying them off.

While I agree those are all to the detriment of the worker, it still offers them some security and demonstrates that their employer does care about their situation. It would have been much cleaner just to drop as many employees needed to meet their bottom line.

[doodlebugg 10]

Trader Joe's fair trade, organic coffees.... anywhere from $5.99 - $10.99 per pound, from Africa, South America, Hawaii... lasts hubster one month. I can't imagine the cost he'd incur getting one cup of Starbucks everyday...

A pound lasts a month? OMG we go through a pound a WEEK and that's with spreading it out and holding back!

[mawilson 2,133]

I think Starbucks will be here long after the recession. My brother in law was explaining his end of the business (not retail, but supplying to hotels/restaurants) and Starbucks is so integrated into the market its amazing. Now they'll probably lose a lot of money and a lot of staff over the next few years, but Starbucks is here to stay.

I hope so.

[Sister Fracas 5]

Trader Joe's fair trade, organic coffees.... anywhere from $5.99 - $10.99 per pound, from Africa, South America, Hawaii... lasts hubster one month. I can't imagine the cost he'd incur getting one cup of Starbucks everyday...

A pound lasts a month? OMG we go through a pound a WEEK and that's with spreading it out and holding back!

I THINK it's a pound. It couldn't be more for that price, could it? I was surprised to see that their coffee is cheaper than the stuff at the regular grocery store, and that stuff ISN'T organic, fair trade. He's not picky about flavor, so I just pick a different can of beans each time he needs it....whatever sounds like it might be good, whatever can has the cutest label, whatever country he hasn't tried the coffee from yet... hehehe.

Also, he only has one 12oz cup a day and I don't drink it, so it does last.

[Peikko 1,575]

I wasn't thinking it would disappear, just that in the search for profits the employees are simply expendable. So sad, too bad. I know that is the way it is - but then again does it make sense to expand and shrink like that? There has to be a considerable waste factor - that just seems stupid to me.

I guess that's just being a corporation with a bottom line. I dunno if my BIL has drank the Kool-Aid but from what he has said they have taken a lot of opportunities to save costs before laying off employees. Like getting rid of some extravagances such as a nursing room for nursing mothers, decreasing benefits. Once that didn't solve the problem they offered some employees who wanted to stay a cut in pay rather than laying them off.

While I agree those are all to the detriment of the worker, it still offers them some security and demonstrates that their employer does care about their situation. It would have been much cleaner just to drop as many employees needed to meet their bottom line.

It is partly the nature of the corporate beast - but one wonders why that is deemed acceptable to those who actually work there. I know why it's acceptable to share holders of course.

Yes, they are being reasonable, they are using the scalpel rather than the hatchet, but my question remains, why do businesses that want to remain businesses operate in this manner?

[NickD 203]

The Starbucks are falling, the starbucks are falling! More proof, if more were needed, that indeed we have entered the END TIMES!!!

Didn't the execs see this coming? Surely it's reasonable to expect that a business like Starbucks has a saturation point - which they reached some time ago. Even without the recession (or period of non growth or whatever the hell economists are calling this) this company was going to have to shrink.

Ha, all this talk about coffee is making me want to have another cup. Anybody have a dirty sock they can lend to me? Got a pot of boiling water on the stove.

I can't think of anything good about stewed coffee.

Ha, recalling stupid conversations we had in the military about strong coffee, if you don't have hair on your chest, it will put it on, if do, it will take it off. But we were bored waiting talking about coffee. So are the people on this thread bored too? LOL, better get back to work.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well I used to drink that freeze-dried Nescafe $hit in the UK. No way I'd touch that now...

After you've had espresso its hard to go back...

[Sister Fracas 5]

Well I used to drink that freeze-dried Nescafe $hit in the UK. No way I'd touch that now...

After you've had espresso its hard to go back...

But do people really want espresso every morning to start their day? WOW

[MrsCat 6]

Ha, recalling stupid conversations we had in the military about strong coffee, if you don't have hair on your chest, it will put it on, if do, it will take it off. But we were bored waiting talking about coffee. So are the people on this thread bored too? LOL, better get back to work.

[Jenn! 918]

Well I used to drink that freeze-dried Nescafe $hit in the UK. No way I'd touch that now...

After you've had espresso its hard to go back...

But do people really want espresso every morning to start their day? WOW

Why not?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well I used to drink that freeze-dried Nescafe $hit in the UK. No way I'd touch that now...

After you've had espresso its hard to go back...

But do people really want espresso every morning to start their day? WOW

Sure - why not?

[Jenn! 918]

Well I used to drink that freeze-dried Nescafe $hit in the UK. No way I'd touch that now...

After you've had espresso its hard to go back...

You really should try the stove top maker.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well I used to drink that freeze-dried Nescafe $hit in the UK. No way I'd touch that now...

After you've had espresso its hard to go back...

You really should try the stove top maker.

I might. We already have a drip coffee maker and a coffee grinder. Its good - but its not espresso.

[Sister Fracas 5]

Well I used to drink that freeze-dried Nescafe $hit in the UK. No way I'd touch that now...

After you've had espresso its hard to go back...

But do people really want espresso every morning to start their day? WOW

Why not?

Well I used to drink that freeze-dried Nescafe $hit in the UK. No way I'd touch that now...

After you've had espresso its hard to go back...

But do people really want espresso every morning to start their day? WOW

Sure - why not?

I dunno... seems a big jolt to the system.. lol I guess that's the point. I've just never been someone to need a jolt in the morning. I do like grinding the beans for hubster every morning though... LOVE the aroma.

Hubster has one of those stove-top espresso makers that he bought when we were in Milan. He used it a couple of times, and liked it, but now it sits in the cabinet. lol

[PlatyPius 5]

Well I used to drink that freeze-dried Nescafe $hit in the UK. No way I'd touch that now...

After you've had espresso its hard to go back...

But do people really want espresso every morning to start their day? WOW

Why not?

Well I used to drink that freeze-dried Nescafe $hit in the UK. No way I'd touch that now...

After you've had espresso its hard to go back...

But do people really want espresso every morning to start their day? WOW

Sure - why not?

I dunno... seems a big jolt to the system.. lol I guess that's the point. I've just never been someone to need a jolt in the morning. I do like grinding the beans for hubster every morning though... LOVE the aroma.

Hubster has one of those stove-top espresso makers that he bought when we were in Milan. He used it a couple of times, and liked it, but now it sits in the cabinet. lol

To get any kind of "jolt", I'd have to drink 4 or 5 espressos..... Even then, it just makes me slightly jittery, and then I fall asleep for a few hours.