What is this Starbucks of which you speak? Do they sell things a reasonable person might find useful?

The people that work there would say that, I doubt the people that own it would.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp

Claim:   Starbucks refused free product to G.I.s serving in Iraq.

Status:   Undetermined.

Given what we can determine of Starbucks' corporate giving policy and its attitude towards those who serve in the armed forces, we suspect the rumor will ultimately prove to be somewhat true in one aspect but false in another. Regarding the claim that java giant Starbucks turned down Marines serving in Iraq who were looking for coffee from home, such a refusal would be well in keeping with the corporation's donations policy, in that Starbucks chooses to direct its charitable resources within the communities where its stores reside and limits its funding to non-profit organizations. Moreover, it does not consider requests for funding that come from political or religious organizations or which would fund political or religious initiatives or programs. Therefore, according to the guidelines currently in place, a request for coffee from soldiers serving overseas would be turned down.

However, the claim that in its refusal Starbucks would have said "they don't support the War and anyone in it" almost certainly has to be false, in light of what various news accounts show us about the coffee retailer's attitude towards those who serve in the armed forces. In addition to what Starbucks itself says above of its beneficences to soldiers, we know from different newspaper articles of other instances of glad-hearted support. In July 2004, a Starbucks in Cincinnati was reported to have been practically overflowing with people making yellow ribbons in support of Keith "Matt" Maupin, a soldier whose fate was then uncertain (it has subsequently been reported that he had been beheaded by his captors), along with red, white, and blue ones to show support for American troops in Iraq. In June 2004 in Cleveland, when the mother of one serviceman called her local Starbucks to arrange for the shipping of some java to her son, the employees at that store insisted on paying for 30 pounds of coffee as their gift.

Regarding another of the claims made in the e-mail, while it is true someone working at a New York City Starbucks did indeed charge ambulance workers $130 for three cases of water on September 11, 2001, it would not be quite fair to say Starbucks did this. However, act of a single, misguided employee or not, the corporation alone bears responsibility for afterwards spurning a number of opportunities to offer the rescue workers their money back or apologize to them — though it finally took both those actions, it did so only after the story attracted online and print media attention.

In addition to the "rescue workers charged for water" and the "spurned servicemen" story that is the focus of this piece, Starbucks has been the butt of a number of other unsavory rumors and mistaken beliefs just in the past few years, including:

   * A 2002 poster promoting two new iced drinks prompted some consumers to see in it reminders of the hijacked planes hitting the twin towers.

   * In 2001, a false story spread in e-mail about the wife of the owner of a Thailand Starbucks telling non-white customers the coffee shop was not for Asians.

   * The company's 2003 termination of its business interests in Israel caused some to believe Starbucks had abandoned that nation in favor of being able to continue to do business in Arab countries.

   * In 2002, a prankster who scanned and distributed online a coupon entitling the bearer to a free Crème Frappuccino caused any amount of bad feeling to be directed at the company — those duped into believing they were entitled to free product were often angry at the stores who refused to honor the fake coupons rather than with the unnamed person who had deceived them.

Starbucks, like any other successful corporation that has a strong public presence, is fated to operate with the Damocles sword of public opinion hanging above its head. No corporation can fund everyone who comes to it looking for assistance, which means some deserving groups will always be refused. In less emotionally-charged times, the logic of such a policy is better understood, but the current climate makes it a dicey PR proposition at best to say no to anything having to do with soldiers.

Quoted: Thats funny, my local starbucks gives me all kinds of free coffee, and asks me to hang out there open carrying late at nite.

Please explain your avatar. It is fucking cool.

The hated forwarded email. Do these things EVER turn out to be true?


sure they do! i just got my $42 million from nigeria! woohoo!

Quoted: Quoted: Recently Marines over in Iraq supporting this country in OIF wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them know how much they liked their coffee and try to score some free coffee grounds.   Well last time I checked, business aren't owned by the government and charged with providing FREE product to the Citizens. Some people need to read Atlas Shrugged

LOTS of people need to read Atlas Shrugged.