Starbucks to ban smoking within 25 feet of cafes

[alp227]

Source: AP

Starbucks customers will soon have to stamp out their cigarettes before approaching the cafes.

The Seattle-based chain says it will start banning smoking within 25 feet of its stores, beginning Saturday, where permitted by its leases.

Starbucks spokeswoman Jaime Lynn Riley says the intent is to expand the indoor no-smoking policy to the outdoor seating areas.

"If there were any concerns, we would hope to resolve it amicably." Riley said, referring to a customer who might be smoking within the restricted area.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/starbucks-ban-smoking-within-25-feet-cafes

[hobbit709]

1. I don't smoke but that's still 50 feet closer than I'll get to a Starbucks.

[Skittles]

2. THANK YOU

I think I dislike their coffee more than I do cigarette smoke

[RebelOne]

15. I do smoke, but never go to Starbucks as I do not drink coffee. n/t

[otohara]

3. Feel Free To Bring Guns

leave your ciggies at home however.

Fuck them

[KarenS]

4. you beat me to it!! =)

I was just getting ready to post the same thing.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. But, no SMOKING guns. nt

[awoke_in_2003]

25. I smoke...

but I can why they are doing this. No everyone wants to walk through my smoke to get a cup of coffee. I sometimes meet my sister there and we hang out for an hour or so- I can withhold that long (but I spark up even before I put the key in the ignition)

[Cha]

54. Aren't you an understanding smoker! I don't smoke and run

everytime I smell cig smoke on the street.

[awoke_in_2003]

55. As much as I pretend otherwise...

I try to go through life not being an asshole. I know people don't want to deal with my, admittedly, bad habit. My wife is a non smoker, so I am used to going elsewhere- never in the house, and if we are outside I stay down wind of her. She enjoys my pipe, though. I need to use it more often, since I generally don't inhale that. back at you. You been okay, Cha?

[Cha]

58. I'm okay, awoke in 2003.. you?

you're more than understanding.. you're a considerate smoker!

[awoke_in_2003]

60. I am well...

even though my two grown ass stepdauters are driving me nuts

[benld74]

5. Already happens in STL. Wintertime it is funny to see someone sitting in the patio

all bundled up smokin like crazy

[KamaAina]

6. They already ban smoking inside everywhere

what's new is it'll expand to the patio, too.

[russspeakeasy]

7. If they do that, what will they grind up to make their coffee ?

[MADem]

8. They do love their profits, though....

Wonder how long before they start selling Venti Latte Bullshit Fake Italian Phrases "e-cigs" to the unsuspecting masses? Get your acid rich caffeine and nicotine here, folks!

[awoke_in_2003]

26. One good point about them...

they support marriage equality

[MADem]

27. If only their coffee didn't double as paint stripper! nt

[awoke_in_2003]

30. I like a cup from time to time...

always the coffe of the day. I have been lucky so far.

[MADem]

34. I find the stuff from that place undrinkable.

I'm a bit picky when it comes to coffee, I must admit. In my old age, I favor Brazilian coffee--it is robust, yet not at all acidic.

[markiv]

10. most of the nation is within 25 feet of a starbucks

it essentially bans smoking nationwide

[freshwest]

36. Agreed! It's the END!

[onehandle]

50. oh, darn...

...shucks...

[HolyMoley]

11. Good luck enforcing it

if the 25' zone is public property.

[Eleanors38]

38. Same thing crossed my mind.

[dembotoz]

45. so they would have me snuff out my smoke when i walk past their damn store?????

outside of the obvious litter problem--what the hell they gonna do about it.

this pisses me off and I stopped smoking over 30 years ago

[dbackjon]

74. No - did you read the artlcle

[L0oniX]

12. Next: smoking in front of a restaurant and or grocery store. n/t

[kestrel91316]

13. Fine with me. I wish smokers had bubbles mounted on their heads to smoke in so they could be

assured of personally inhaling every molecule of their own damned smoke and then not spewing it out for others to get secondhand.

[forestpath]

31. +1

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

70. YEAH! But only if we can put bubbles around non-smokers cars, too!

Lets see who's filth is more dangerous.

[LanternWaste]

72. If the day comes that a cigarette may transport durable goods, food and other necessary consumer...

If the day comes that a cigarette may transport durable goods, food and other necessary consumer items across the national highway system, you may then have a point. But in the here and now, this particular smoker thinks your contrast is one of the most petulant, idiotic premises lacking any validity in either premise or conclusion I've read on DU this month.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

73. Doesn't change the facts

Your opinion does not decrease the filth put out by automobiles which does extremly more harm to not only our bodies but also our planet yet there is no witch hunt for those who drive them.

Hmmmm...

[notadmblnd]

82. Funny how no one ever complains about the semi

they're stuck in trafffic behind or some car that spews toxic shit, or a bon-fire or burning leaves in the fall or the smoke from the bbq grill or a host of other cancer causing "smokes, but will scream bloody murder over a person with a cigarette?

[gordianot]

14. Not defending smokers but do they own the sidewalk public and on the mall?

[dipsydoodle]

16. I wondered about that.

I would assume this refers to the US : they definately have no say on surrounding pavements in the UK.

[premium]

18. Same in the U.S.

they have no power of enforcement on the public sidewalks.

[joshcryer]

42. Probably not but most Starbucks I've seen are on private shopping mall property.

Which would definitely be enforceable by security. Whether they'll do it of course is a joke, but it feeds into their hip image.

There are some out there which tend to fit the "image" of what Starbucks is: a small shop next to a public sidewalk and road, but most aren't like that.

Here's one near me, for an example: http://goo.gl/maps/LijRO

[primavera]

71. That concerns me, too

Since Starbucks doesn't own the public sidewalks, they have no authority to enforce this new policy of theirs, making it, I suspect, mostly just a marketing device. Nevertheless, I disapprove on principle of a corporation splashing headlines with a policy suggesting that they have such authority, then burying the reality that they don't in the fine print. If corporations are allowed to dictate private policy over public spaces, or even permitted to mislead the public into believing that they possess such authority, I believe it sets a bad precedent. What if Chic-fil-A were to announce a new policy banning gay people from using public roads and sidewalks within 25 feet of their restaurants? Is imposition of corporate values upon public space something that we want to encourage or tolerate in any way, shape, or form?

[dbackjon]

77. Read the article

You would have saved yourself the ten minutes needed to write that screed.

[dbackjon]

75. Did you read the article

It is subject to local laws, and where they have the right to do it.

[Xithras]

80. It's more of a headline piece than anything.

I can think of a dozen Starbucks locations near me, right off the top of my head. Two are standalone stores where Starbucks could enforce a limit. The rest are in outdoor shared strip malls and facilities where they will have little power to do so. Most retail facility leases only give retailers rights to control the sidewalk directly in front of their own store. And if the Starbucks is located on a city sidewalk, they have no power at all.

But it sounds good, doesn't it? Got everyone talking and thinking about Starbucks. Which is exactly what it was intended to do...

[Pragdem]

17. My city has an indoor smoking ban.

Eating is blissful when the walking cancer cases aren't polluting your area.

[99th_Monkey]

19. So now corporate "edicts" like this, will dictate behavior on public space?

If I'm on a public sidewalk outside a Starbucks (which is as close
as I ever get to the counter) I can do whatever the fuck I want to
as long as it does NOT break THE LAW, as dictated by the city
council, not Starbucks.

btw- I'm an ex-smoker, so I'm not meaning this to be "pro-smoking".
That's almost beside the point. The point is private corporations
presuming to dictate the public's behavior on public land.

I feel like I just woke up in Idiocracy, where every public space is
branded by private corporate logos and ads.

[Inkfreak]

32. 100% correct. n/t

[christx30]

37. In Austin,

there is a ban on smoking within 150 feet of a public entrance. I love this law. I don't have to walk through a wall of air pollution on my way to get a burrito.

[Eleanors38]

39. "150 feet?" Sure it isn't 15 feet?

[Nine]

20. Google search found this very quickly.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-starbucks-prohibits-smoking-20130531,0,3048050.story

The 25-feet smoke-free radius is flexible based on each store’s lease size, Riley said. If Starbucks-controlled property only extends 15 feet from a particular store’s exterior, then smokers outside the area are free to puff away if local law allows.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

23. Time to buy cheap cigars, the stinkyer the better, and wait for the bus...which is 25 feet away.

And I can't control which way the wind blows...

[SlimJimmy]

33. Thanks for the additional info. As an ex-smoker I'd like to see them move it 100 feet from the

building. But as an ex-smoker I also understand the point of view of those that still smoke.

[onehandle]

21. Great! People smoke sometimes at the outside tables at the Starbucks 300 feet from us.

Not anymore. I will bring it up with the management. They know me by name.

[Bluenorthwest]

22. God without cigarettes people will taste their burned bean brew, not a good idea

I don't care for their coffee or for the Morning Joe right wing show.

[Hugin]

24. Starbucks *officially* supports Social Security cuts. Huge cuts. (retro link)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022795402

Screw them.

Thanks, Manny.

[awoke_in_2003]

28. That figures...

I gave them props for supporting marriage equality

[rug]

29. I propose GPS chips on their coffee cups

so they can pick up their own trash.

[BobbyBoring]

35. This will be good

Does Starfucks own he 25' of property from their stores? I think NOT. I see law suits coming to a Star Bucks near you!

[customerserviceguy]

40. It's already the law in Washington State

that smokers have to be 25 feet from an entrance, a window, or a vent that brings outside air into a building. All Starbucks is doing is nationalizing the rules in the state where they're headquartered.

Being as I have to endure a cloud of smoke as I enter or exit a bar here in NY, it doesn't seem like a terrible idea. Washington State bars and taverns have adapted themselves quite nicely with designated smoking areas that comply with the law.

[Douglas Carpenter]

41. remember when cafes and smoking were synonymous?

what is happening to this world?

[Posteritatis]

47. In this case, it's improving. (nt)

[RobinA]

51. I Think Of This

Every time I sit in Starbucks. What a sad, sanitized world we have made.

[Douglas Carpenter]

52. amen!

[Joe Shlabotnik]

56. I agree.

Sanitized, shallow, litigious, predictable, run by bean counters and authoritarians. Spontaneity and imagination are not welcome in the new corporate world, unless you're impulsively purchasing something.

[quakerboy]

59. I know I think of

Corporate tobacco products whenever I think of spontaneity and imagination and getting away from the new corporate world. What would this world be without them?

[Jennicut]

61. Funny how that is what some here are defending.

Freedom means spewing my crap over everyone else that wants to breathe clean air. I'm a type 1 diabetic, I stay very, very far away from smokers. I have enough health issues as it is.

[alp227]

65. A world where you don't get smoke blown in your face is SAD and SANITIZED?

Are you serious?

[The Straight Story]

66. I'd be more worried about the things being blown in your face from the street

Like car exhaust.

Or the coal used to power all of those stores when you can make coffee at home.

Or all the energy used to make the cups, transport them, landfill for them.

People don't need starbucks, they want it, and they are willing to impact the whole world around them to get it - then get all sanctimonious when other people want something they don't.

[alp227]

67. It's much easier to tell a smoker to fk off rather than shove cars off the street. n/t

[LanternWaste]

76. I imagine others may, with the same validity, think the very same whilst sitting contentedly

"Every time I sit in Starbucks. What a sad, sanitized world we have made...."

I imagine others may, with the same validity, think the very same whilst sitting contentedly in a pile of fecal matter...

[ThomThom]

43. I appreciate it

I pass one of their stores frequently in my travels and always have to walk through a cloud when I pass their cafe. It is a corner store and I get it coming and going. So thanks. Oh, I do not drink coffee either.

[xenoturkey]

44. How do enforce this?

When most starbucks are in strip malls - its 5 feet to the next door of another business.

[onehandle]

48. Easily. It's about their outside tables and their doorways.

And Starbucks pays more per square foot than most strip mall stores, due to their heavy traffic.

Strip mall owners pray they will land a Starbucks.

The strip mall owners will back them.

[silvershadow]

46. If this passes, smokers should stand 26 feet away and burn em like they are trying start hell (the

place). No doubt someone will call the cops, and the cops will find them disorderly for smoking 26 feet away instead of leaving or some shit. (I say this as former LEO). I am so glad I have no part in enforcing the laws these days. I haven't since prior to 9/11 and our descent into something "other".

[dbackjon]

78. So you are an inconsiderate jerk

Smoking is nasty, and affects others. It should be banned in any public place nationwide.

[silvershadow]

81. That's nice. Out of my entire post, the important part is the inconsiderate jerk for smoking

26 feet away from you instead of the exponentially more important steady creep into fascism. I am not advocating for smokers. Just commenting on the winds of change. If you're ok with the steady creep, cool. I'm not so sure I am.

[dbackjon]

83. Protecting the health of non-smokers

Is creeping to fascism?

Wow

[silvershadow]

84. No, I'm all for protecting health of non-smokers. I'm just saying that private companies will enjoy

ever-expanding "enforcement rights", which is creeping fascism, yes. Doesn't matter that it is for a good and appropriate cause. Just the same as I am totally against private companies with police powers (they are abundant) or private prisons.

[dbackjon]

85. So a business can not control what happens in the space they lease?

Note, Starbucks authority only extends (and it is stated in the article, if anyone would actually BOTHER TO READ it) to what they lease.

Even then, they can't arrest anyone - they can ask that person to put it out, or leave STARBUCKS PROPERTY. If the person refuses, they can call the police.

[RobinA]

49. I Smoke AND Go To Starbucks

This strikes me as a solution in search of a problem. Never have I smoked nor seen anybody smoke anywhere near a Starbucks. Although I do see one problem. At one Starbucks near me you can park within 25 feet of the store. I guess this means if I light up in my car the Starbucks Smoking Police will come get me.

[Occulus]

53. If they're closer than that to an easement they're SOL.

All their properties better be more thn 25 feet away from other properties, too.

They have NO right to enforce this when 25 feet is closer than their own property line or easement. Period.

[onehandle]

57. Sidewalks are less than 25 feet wide.

Smokers are welcome to light up standing in traffic.

And as I mentioned above, strip mall owners will back them, because they pay a premium for their space.

[mulsh]

62. What exactly is Starbucks going to do to try to enforce this?

Create Nicotinistas to douse cigarettes? In public places without any municipal or state ordinances I don't see how they can enforce this.

[pink-o]

63. So we have a HUGE corporation making decisions like this now?

Where are all the RW'ers screaming about their liberties being oppressed? Can you imagine if it were Bloomberg or a city councilman or a state governor et al coming up with this ban? It would be exploding heads all over Faux.

But since it is part of the oligarchy....crickets...

Just a thought.

[crim son]

64. As an asthmatic non-smoker who really dislikes cigarette smoke

I think this is ridiculous. Starbucks doesn't own the street; such a rule is unenforceable.

[Midwestern Democrat]

68. Their coffee sucks anyway. Besides, it's the absolute slowest place to ever order a black

coffee - invariably, you're waiting behind some yuppie who orders some complicated specialty coffee drink that takes 10 minutes to prepare.

[Dreamer Tatum]

69. The article clearly says it will be enforced where allowed by lease

And I say good for them. If you want to smoke and rot out your lungs, go pollute your car and your home.

[dbackjon]

79. Amazing how many here don't read the articles, but still bitch about nothing