Starbucks is closing a 130 employee call center in Seattle and relocating it

[gateley]

to New Mexico. Although we in Seattle don't aren't thrilled, I'm so pleased they're not moving it overseas. And congrats, NM! Keep an eye out for its arrival, job seekers. :hi:

[Wickerman]

1. just out of curiosity

what does a Starbucks call center do?

I admit to being not entirely on top of the Starbucks business model.

[undeterred]

2. People who have technical problems drinking coffee...

I can't imagine what they do.

:donut:

[LynneSin]

4. Starbucks has a credit card and gift cards

I'm guessing it's to handle issues with those cards.

[KittyWampus]

30. yeah, but the other DU'ers answer is funnier!

[SoCalDem]

35. My mocha-frou-frou-cappo-latte- cha cha was not frothy enough"

:rofl:

[csziggy]

37. And you didn't call 911?!

Sorry, thinking like a freeper.

[ddeclue]

38. So sir.. what temperature is your coffee?

71 degrees Fahrenheit..

Oh I see.. I think I see the problem.. you want it to be 71 degrees Celsius..do you have access to a microwave oven sir?

Yes

Can you hold for a minute while I look up some information?

Yes..

Muzak plays...

Sir?

Yes...

Can you go to the microwave oven with the coffee cup in hand?

Yes.

Now make sure there is nothing metallic in the coffee like a spoon or other source of metal.

Why is that?

It might cause sparking and damage the microwave oven.

Oh I see.

Can you open the microwave oven door sir?

Yes.

Now remove anything you see in the microwave oven that someone else might have left in there like popcorn bags or other food or drink and place your coffee cup in the center of the microwave.

OK.

Do you know if this microwave has an automatic turntable to rotate your coffee cup as it microwaves it? If not you will have to stop the microwave several times and move and rotate the coffee cup to insure even heating.

It has a turntable.

Oh, good..

Now close the door.

OK.

Now set the microwave to heat on its highest setting for 45 seconds and then start the microwave. You will need to carefully test the temperature again after the 45 seconds have elapsed. The coffee should be approximately the right temperature but it may be too hot to drink so be careful sir. Once the coffee is hot, I'm sure you'll find that the sugar you previously put into the coffee will have properly dissolved. Please be sure that the coffee is not so hot it will burn your mouth and then you can start drinking it.

OK.

Have I solved all your problems today with your cafe latte grande?

Yes, thank you.. you've been very helpful.

Thank you for drinking Starbucks today... Goodbye.

Goodbye.

Click..

[NightWatcher]

3. the coffee is too hot, what do I do?

[joeybee12]

10. The line is long...can you help me with that? n/t

[Matariki]

5. My boyfriend used to work at their call center

he helped people with their orders, fielded complaints and played pranks on his co workers.

[gateley]

7. They said it handles customer inquiries and complaints. So customer service

maybe would have been a better choice of words.

[lpbk2713]

15. Complaints about their wi-fi?

:shrug:

[dysfunctional press]

16. "hello? i just had a barista cop an attitude with me..."

nt

[progressoid]

27. People are confused about the difference between a Grande and a Venti

[maxsolomon]

6. help! my beans are burnt

methinks call center drones are marginally cheaper in NM. min. wage WA: $8.55/hr., NM $7.50/hr. 130 FTE's at a savings of $1.05/hr. = $283,920/yr. saved.

howard schultz you suck. i will never forgive you for selling the sonics to those okies.

[gateley]

8. Yeah - I'm with you on the Sonics. Big time. nt

[FarCenter]

9. Plus, it can be downsized during the move

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

12. The savings are more than that

Seattle (and Washington generally) has a somewhat stupid tax structure that makes it worthwhile to move many operations out of the area, and many companies do. The savings are not from shaving a little off the minimum wage but from structural savings because Washington imposes an unreasonable overhead on business.

It could be worse. My company is moving from California to Washington because California is so bad that Washington represents an improvement.

[Raster]

22. "...unreasonable overhead on business..."

What's that, fairly paying your taxes? Care to elaborate? This is a non-personal income tax state. You have to get revenue to run the state from somewhere.

[gateley]

28. But we get even less revenue when the entire company picks up and moves

to another State, people may need to go on unemployment, etc. I just wish we were more competitive at least.

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

33. It isn't about taxes per se

It is about all the other overhead related to tax and regulatory structures. Two different States taxing businesses at the same revenue level can have wildly different adverse economic consequences to the business, which becomes a real cost independent of the tax raised.

Many jurisdictions choose very stupid tax structure implementations for political rather than revenue optimizing reasons. The difference in negative economic consequences between two different tax regimes can be very large even if the taxes extracted are identical. It is not just about the amount of money. To give a well-known example, income taxes are strongly preferred over capital gains taxes because the adverse economic consequences of the latter is ~3x that of the former. All taxes have negative economic consequences beyond the scope of the revenue raised, but some tax structures are far more damaging than others.

Everyone knows that Washington State has a somewhat unique tax structure that is very sub-optimal for service organizations, making the cost of business significantly higher than if companies were paying the same amount of taxes under a different structure. Consequently, many (most?) Washington companies put their service organizations in other states. They still pay the taxes, the taxes just aren't as damaging because other states are smarter. California is brain-damaged on every level in this regard, very expensive to do business with no upside to the overhead.

Stupid tax structures are an unnecessary economic loss if the goal is simply to raise revenue. Ideally, taxation should have as few side effects as possible.

[gateley]

26. I know we lost Boeing because of it, and more recently a Boeing manufacturing

facility was awarded to another State. I don't know why they're not more flexible - lots of jobs going elsewhere. How does that help the State? :shrug:

But the silver lining is that these jobs are going to other workers in our country, rather than overseas.

[Truth2Tell]

39. A lot of bad information being tossed around here.

First, very few businesses have left WA because of the tax structure. As a % of total jobs in the state, it's virtually insignificant. Several high profile businesses have left and made a lot of noise about taxes, but it's just not an endemic problem for the state.

Boeing is moving on a broad scale to outsource everything from WA as quickly as they can, and nothing we do tax-wise is going to change that one bit. But they, and others like Starbucks, use the threat of leaving as ever-present leverage to blackmail WA into ever more tax breaks. 99.9% of the businesses in WA don't have the inclination or the wherewithal to up and move on the basis of tiny differentials in tax rates.

Furthermore, many WA businesses understand that a fair tax structure leads to a strong community in which to do business; with good schools, clean environment, parks, lower crime, etc.

The poster going on about the tax structure for service businesses is reciting Evergreen Freedom Foundation talking points (a WA anti-tax group) and hasn't made a single specific claim that makes any sense.

Please don't fall for the "OHH NOESSS!!, BOEING IS GOING TO LEAVE IF WE DONT CUT THER TAXXXES@@@@!!!" crap. It's a totally worn out game.

[gateley]

43. Okay. nt

[Raster]

44. Thank you! This is why I challenged his post. I am sick of this "we have to give business special

rights" shit. This is why this country is in the sorry-assed state it is: kowtowing to businesses--and I mean large corporations--giving them unfair advantages.

And on the subject of Boeing, how many millions upon millions upon millions of tax breaks, advantages, etc. has Boeing been granted? And to what end? Boeing no longer has any loyalty to Washington nor the Seattle area. They're just another suck-ass corporation that thinks they deserve privilege status.

[lumberjack_jeff]

42. Our tax structure encourages rich people to move here

... and set up "operations" in other states.

Works nice for rich folks. Everyone else? Not so much.

[CBGLuthier]

19. pardon?

The only fucking okies I know of moved to california 70 years ago and were treated like shit.

We are Oklahomans thank you very much.

Oh, and the team is working out great. Thanks.

[maxsolomon]

24. sorry to step on your toes - didn't realize it was a slur

but our emotions are still a little raw ever since we got raped by your (and our) most upstanding citizens.

[jmowreader]

25. That's not justification to call Starbucks' call center

"Burnt beans" isn't a defect, it's a feature.

[Raster]

46. That's why we call 'em "charbucks"

[Terra Alta]

11. I do not care for Starbucks.

The coffee shop here is locally owned and makes much better coffee. Also, they have free wi-fi(as a matter of fact, I'm in here now on my lunch hour). I can count on one hand how many times I've been to a Starbucks and I've never come out of there pleased.

[Zomby Woof]

14. Just about every Starbucks has free wi-fi.

Make sure everyone sees you on your laptop! You're cool.

[Captain Hilts]

17. Starbucks coffee is FAR too strong. Ugh! Cosi's can be worse. nt

[HuckleB]

21. Nah, it's actually too weak.

[TransitJohn]

41. I think they're referring to the burnt flavor of all Starbucks coffee

They definitely need to rethink their roasting methodologies.

[gateley]

29. Many of us in Seattle prefer locally owned shops, too (Vivace, anyone?) but

Starbucks does represent a lot of jobs and revenue to the State. That was the point of my post.

[The Straight Story]

13. Are they moving to Moriarty, NM? I know they used to have a lot of call centers there (nt)

[gateley]

31. Here's some snips:

Starbucks said Thursday it will close a 130-worker call center at its Seattle headquarters and rely on an outside company in Albuquerque, N.M., to handle customer feedback.

Sitel, of Nashville, Tenn., a privately held customer-service provider with operations in 27 countries, will then take calls for Starbucks at its Albuquerque operation. (Oops -- does this mean the employees in fact may be in one of their 27 countries??)

And this (bullshit, IMO):

"As we've grown, the number of calls we get fluctuates during the year. Going to a third-party provider gives us flexibility" to ramp up or down as needed, said Starbucks spokeswoman Stacey Krum. "Also, they have state-of-the-art technology for managing calls" and tracking customer feedback, she said.

Starbucks did not disclose details of its arrangement with Sitel.

Krum characterized it as an effort to better manage the feedback, "not a cost-cutting move."

[jxnmsdemguy65]

18. Starbucks' Serena organic blend is the only coffee I can drink...

due to a health issue (cold sores)... I've grudgingly gone to them over Community and other brands. Organically grown coffee definitely has to be better for you, based on my experience. Tastes a lot better too!

[HuckleB]

20. So what did NM give Starbucks to get this?

Will the cost to NM be made up? If so, how?

[rucky]

36. Sunshine?

:shrug:

[Raster]

47. !

[truedelphi]

23. Often, once a company sends people further south, it

Is only a matter of time till they send the work over seas.

But I will keep my fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

[gateley]

32. After looking further, I'm not sure that's not happening now:

Starbucks said Thursday it will close a 130-worker call center at its Seattle headquarters and rely on an outside company in Albuquerque, N.M., to handle customer feedback.

Sitel, of Nashville, Tenn., a privately held customer-service provider with operations in 27 countries, will then take calls for Starbucks at its Albuquerque operation. (Oops -- does this mean the employees in fact may be in one of their 27 countries??)

And this (bullshit, IMO):

"As we've grown, the number of calls we get fluctuates during the year. Going to a third-party provider gives us flexibility" to ramp up or down as needed, said Starbucks spokeswoman Stacey Krum. "Also, they have state-of-the-art technology for managing calls" and tracking customer feedback, she said.

Starbucks did not disclose details of its arrangement with Sitel.

Krum characterized it as an effort to better manage the feedback, "not a cost-cutting move."

[SemiCharmedQuark]

34. Yeah, that's what happened to my aunt. She worked for Mercedes, and they moved her to TX

and she ended up spending a lot of time going to Mexico, presumably training her replacement.

[SoCalDem]

40. Corporate Cannibalism at work

"Create" jobs in a cheaper venue, at the expense of lost jobs somewhere else..

[Chomsky_Fan]

45. Good observation

I can't get my head around the fact that this company survived recession. Expensive coffee should be the easiest thing to do away with.