Starbucks, Coming to a Landfill Near You

It is not my intention to bash large corporations for their poor business practices. In some cases these large corporations get a bad rap while many small companies are just as bad. I was living in the beautiful small town of Durango, CO when the first Starbucks came to town. Some locals were upset about this company coming to town to compete with our wonderful local coffee shops. A window was broken and trash was left on the door step and many awful things happened the first week Starbucks was open in Durango. I think this was totally unfair and uncalled for. The local newspaper was quick to point out that the new Starbucks was paying employees good wages compared to the other local shops and they even offered a benefits package.

I personally have never had an issue with Starbucks. I have had their coffee on occasion but I prefer to go to the local and smaller chains, mostly because I honestly don't like Starbucks coffee as well as the others.

But this week a friend of mine told me a first hand account about an extremely unethical practice that the company is doing in my own community. I live in a community of 60,000 people and we had 7 Starbucks about a year ago. One closed about a year ago and a second one closed this week.

My friend works across the street from the location that closed this week. He says that a HUGE dumpster was delivered to the store and he watched as workers carried out an threw everything away. Chairs, Tables, Booths, Counters, everything. This particular location was in business less than 2 years. The stuff they were throwing away was basically new and could easily have been used by someone else in another business or home. They weren't just throwing stuff in the dumpster they were breaking these brand new tables then throwing it in the trash.

My friend says that he couldn't believe his eyes so he walked over to ask the workers what was going on. They told him that this was company policy "It is cheaper to just throw it away than to give it to someone else".

How can anyone at any level in the company think this is okay. Our community has a Habitat for Humanity Home Store who takes in furniture, doors, appliances, and household items like a thrift store to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. Can it really be any cheaper to haul it to the landfill than to the charity resell store? What about our limited landfill space? What about all the energy and materials used to produce these items? Their useful life was so much longer.

Is Starbucks the type of company you want in your community? Do they care about you, your community, or your children's future?

I have spent my last dime with this poor excuse of a company.