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It's getting to be like Mickey D's and the ketchup packets.
Or Taco Bell putting the packets behind the counter. Now, how am I going to make my world famous Taco Bell Salsa Soup?
"We had to power down or leave instantly," Ms. Moots wrote in her blog. She left and went to a different cafe, where she later expressed her dismay on the Web. Masoud Soltani, a Cocoa Bar owner, confirms that he sent her a Yelp message: "I remember you very well...I would not think you would write such bad stuff about us." Mr. Soltani says she is no longer welcome in his store.
There is a Starbuck's in the lower level of Kuwait airport. It has one (1) outlet for customers. Good luck finding an outlet in Amsterdam or Dubai, as well. Amsterdam has them, they're just on the "emergency posts" and you'd have to sit in the middle of the floor, in foot traffic. I doubt you'd be there for very long. That is one thing I like about a lot of American airports. They usually have an eletrical outlet somewhere. And the internet usually works, too.
People have become so used to their gadgets. People have become used to things being "free." They used to say that about sex & marriage. Why buy the cow, if you can get the milk for free?
Haven't been to Panera for a while, but one reason I don't go there at lunch is that invariably there's A guy (it's ALWAYS a guy), sitting there alone, taking up a table for FOUR with his damned laptop PC and papers - and a cup of coffee. I made a spot decision that if Panera valued his $2 coffee purchase more than the $15 lunch business of my wife and I, then I did NOT need whatever Panera was selling.
Starbucks isn't much better, several tables are always busy with people using a PC and making a token show of sipping coffee. It's a management problem; managers should enforce a policy of getting those people out of there during the lunch rush.
Charging for it may help a bit, but then these folks will feel entitled. If it were me running those places, I'd turn the damned Wi-Fi totally OFF during the lunch rush, like from 11AM to 2PM. Many of these people are just cheapskates and moochers.
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These stores were happy enough to offer WiFi to lure people into their establishments. Now that it has worked ... maybe too well ..... they are whining.
One place I went to gives you one hour free with every coffee. You get a coupon with a code on it that you type into the welcome screen. That way, they sell their coffee and you get an hour online. Seems like a fair compromise.
If I were running a coffee shop, ideally I'd have one section reserved for people with laptops and another for one without laptops. The nicer part near the windows would be for people there to spend money and enjoy conversation, the back (or second floor) for people who want to work. I'd have no exposed electrical outlets anywhere in the store. Internet would be by login only, half an hour with each drink purchase, or an hour with food and drink purchase).
These moochers should find a way to cough up the money to rent a small office if they need somewhere to work all day. With the coming commercial real estate crash, prices should be pretty reasonable.
For a business, the best action depends on a lot of factors. If I had a coffee shop with a large parking lot and limited space inside, I'd make the wi-fi free in the parking lot. Lots of cars generally entices people to a store, and the people mashing keys in their cars are going to get thirsty or hungry sometime. I'd also close off access about twenty minutes before closing, for safety reasons.
So many people have gotten rid of their internet to save money and use the free wifi at many of the stores. I don't see it as an issue if people are sitting there for hours on end and forcing customers to go elsewhere because moochers are taking up all the seats. There are some coffee shops near me where I see the same people, day in day out, sitting there when I catch the commuter bus into work and see then when I get off on coming home.
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