Page 158 - The Starbucks Experience

Embrace Resistance

were in shock from the devastation. As many of you know,
shock victims are supposed to drink a lot of water. My uncle
went to the Starbucks down the street to get bottles of water
for the victims he was treating. Can you believe they actually
charged him for it! He paid the $130 for three cases of bot-
tled water out of his own pocket. Now, I would think that in
a crisis such as this, vendors in the area would be more than
happy to lend a little help by donating water.”
The e-mail continued, “I love Frappuccinos as much as
®
anyone, but any company that would try to make a profit off
of a crisis like this doesn’t deserve the . . . public’s hard-earned
money. Please forward this e-mail to anyone you know and
encourage them to do the same.”
Unfortunately, this e-mail was accurate. A Starbucks part-
ner had chosen to charge full price and not give away $130
worth of water during the September 11, 2001, tragedy. In 143
addition, several efforts to get the matter resolved were mis-
handled. When the e-mail surfaced, Starbucks leadership did
the right thing. Then president and CEO Orin Smith not
only had a $130 check delivered to the ambulance company,
but he called a representative of the business personally to
apologize. Independently, the Starbucks stores located at
Ground Zero were operating around the clock and they were
providing free beverages and pastries to rescue workers and
volunteers.
At a corporate level, Starbucks was making contributions
in excess of a million dollars to the national relief fund. But
the bad news of the water sale certainly made a big splash in
the pool of public consciousness. Starbucks leadership fortu-
nately understood that most people are willing to forgive
human error. What they won’t tolerate is a failure to take