[Starbucks is] aiming to double the hourly income of baristas over the next two year from 2020 levels, through more working hours and higher pay…
— Unconfirmed news story from a certain mainstream media source.
I see where Starbucks is re-inventing itself? Starbucks CEO, Laxman Narasimhan refers to the company strategy using a catchy, coffee-themed phrase: “Triple Shot Reinvention Strategy with Two Pumps.”
I personally have never tried a “triple shot” at Starbucks. It sounds slightly dangerous. In fact, being something of a tight-wad, I have never bought a coffee drink from Starbucks. But a lot of other people have.
In the coming years, the customers are going to be mostly Chinese, apparently.
From the The Seattle Times, November 2, 2023:
Narasimhan’s plan includes expanding the Seattle-based coffee giant’s store portfolio from 38,000 to 55,000 stores globally by 2030. Of the new stores, 75% will be outside the U.S. The international expansion is in line with how Starbucks has been leaning heavily on global expansion in the past few years, particularly in China.
Starbucks got its start in Seattle, in 1971. So maybe the The Seattle Times is a reliable source of information about the company? It’s not The New York Times, but it has the word “Times” in its name.
I’m also reading that Starbucks had a profitable fourth quarter, and their stock price went up. And they announced that they are going to give raises to their employees? That can’t be a bad thing.
From the SeekingAlpha.com investment website:
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) announced that it will raise the hourly pay for its U.S. retail workers by at least 3% [starting in January 2024]…
As we know, inflation in the U.S. has been running at about 6%, so a 3% raise will certainly be helpful. From a company that makes a lot of coffee drinks. And a lot of money.
According to their website, Strabuck’s net profit, last year, was $1.2 billion, after taxes. An increase of 38% over 2022.
So maybe the company can afford a little 3% raise for employees?
Maybe they could even afford a 6% raise? I’m not a financial expert, but it seems like they’re making a lot of money.
I understand Starbucks calls its employees ‘partners’. Not like, ‘investment partners’ but more like ‘limited partners’. Sort of like the way I’m a ‘limited partner’ at the Daily Post.
Which brings me to the whole point of this column. Asking the boss for a raise. The Starbucks partners (workers) didn’t have to ‘ask for a raise’. Apparently, they are all getting a raise, without even asking.
Of course, they did start organizing. Which could be interpreted, by management, as ‘asking for a raise’.
As of October 2022, more than 300 Starbucks stores in almost three dozen states had held union elections — an impressive number, given not a single company-owned store had a union one year prior. Even more remarkable is that 80% of them, or around 245 stores, have gone in favor of forming a union.
Management hasn’t been too supportive, apparently. They’ve initiated a pattern of closing unionized stores. But after all, we’re talking about ‘limited partners’.
I had been thinking, lately, about organizing the Daily Post contributors. Sort of daydreaming about it, really.
I doubt we could form a union and, like, agree on anything. Too many opinions.
And I wouldn’t want to see the Daily Post shut itself down, over a little bit of unionizing.
It’s a tricky subject. Unionizing.
I wonder if they have unions in China?