Starbucks moving backwards?
I thought it was a fluke when I bought a pastry from Starbucks and they gave it to me in a white box rather than an unbleached paper bag. After all, the Starbucks around here are always running out of things. But then after another visit to a different Starbucks I realized that the company had done away with their simple to go bags and had replaced them with cardboard pastry boxes.
I can't quite figure out the reasoning behind this shift as pastry boxes weigh more, take up more space and most likely are made from bleached pulp. For a company that claims to be reducing their waste, this comes as a surprise.
When I contacted Starbucks, asking why they had changed to the more wasteful boxes, I got an email back thanking me for my comment. Nothing pleases a customer more than knowing that their carefully thought out question warrants them a form letter.
I can't quite figure out the reasoning behind this shift as pastry boxes weigh more, take up more space and most likely are made from bleached pulp. For a company that claims to be reducing their waste, this comes as a surprise.
When I contacted Starbucks, asking why they had changed to the more wasteful boxes, I got an email back thanking me for my comment. Nothing pleases a customer more than knowing that their carefully thought out question warrants them a form letter.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-29-2008 @ 10:19PM
Jas said...
Meep. My store doesn't use those; in fact the only time we did use those is when we had cupcakes that were problematic to fit into our pastry bags. Possibly those Starbuck's ran out of bags?
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4-29-2008 @ 10:21PM
kelly.leahy said...
The weird thing was that it happened in two stores in two different towns. Perhaps they were both told to use up their supply of boxes ... that's the only thing I can think of. I probably should have asked the barista -- that would have been the smart thing to do.
Thanks for the comment though, I'm glad to see that it's not nationwide!
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5-08-2008 @ 3:58PM
danielle said...
i work at a seattle's best coffee, which is owned by starbucks and subsequently uses the same pastry boxes/bags. we currently have both, and the larger boxes are used only for to-go items that are too big to fit in the bags.
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