Online Marketing – Marketing Don

Starbucks Out Of Splenda? How Can This Be?

Yes, this is another off topic rant of mine, but I cant help it.  The stupidity of it is too overwhelming for me to ignore.

I was on my way to work yesterday and stopped at the Starbucks on Highway 55 in Cary, NC.  It was about 8am so they have been open for about on hour or so.  I ordered my coffee and went to the area to add crème and Splenda.  The Splenda bin was empty.  I walked back to the counter and asked if I could have some Splenda and they reply was “we are out of Splenda.”  What? How can you be out of Splenda?

Why didn’t the closing manager notice they were out and buy some?  Why didn’t the opening manager notice they were out when they opened and buy some?  I don’t like the taste of Equal or Sweet n Low and I don’t want sugar.  Plus, what about the diabetics that want Splenda.  I wouldn’t be surprised if some people decided not to buy they drink after they found out they were out.

So who is to blame?  I think it starts at the top.  Starbucks are corporate owned. 

1. The managers must not be empowered or feel ownership in the company otherwise they would completed this simple task on their own.
2. The employees must not have been taught that they can notice something like this, pull $5 out of the cash drawer, go get some splenda, and put the receipt into the drawer.

I am not sure if any of you have been to Cary, NC but there are 2 supermarkets and 2 large pharmacies (that carry things like Splenda) within a 5 mile radius of almost anywhere in Cary.  It would have taken less then 10 minutes to get some Splenda. 

This also bothers me because something similar has happened before.  A while ago I went to an ice cream shop and asked for a banana split.  There were 3 people behind the counter doing nothing and one of them said that they are out of bananas.  I asked if they had a mad rush for banana splits that day and they said no.  They told me that they have been out of bananas for 2 days.  The sad thing is that this ice cream shop was in a strip mall and was one store away from a supermarket.  I seriously could have walked about 50 feet, bought a banana and walked back into the ice cream shop.

This is customer service management 101.  Get with it.

Tags: customer service, management, splenda, starbucks