Hmmm. Why should I have to ask?

This is good:
http://www.mises.org/story/1548

Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/

The Starbucks between my T stop and my office was brewing Fair Trade coffee this morning as thir daily offering.

Why do you have to ask?

Because we live in a market-driven system (for better or worse) and by demanding, you affect supply. (I'll give to a nod to the fact that most of our so-called "democratic economy" is actually a command economy, but that's for another day.)

To the point: While government regulations seem appropriate at times, often the best of intentions turn into bad policy. (Think USDA Organic versus QAI Organic given the stranglehold Kraft, et al, have on the USDA.)

In the end, an educated consumer and demand-driven economics is the "best" solution.

Recently I was in a Starbucks in Sydney. My companion ordered a coffee, and noticed the poster about Fair Trade coffee, she was surprised that what she was drinking was NOT Fair trade, as the poster gave teh impression that all the coffee was fair trade.

So I'd like to see Starbucks not only make Fair Trade an option that was always available, but also cease advertising which misleads at least some of its customers to think that all their coffee is Fair Trade.

Or, you could support 100% Fair Trade roasters. Cooperative Coffees (www.cooperativecoffees.com) is a group of 17 or so small coffee roasters in the United States and Canada, almost all of whom roast and sell only Fair Trade Coffee. Starbucks is indeed the largest roaster if you go buy tonage, but when viewed as percent of total coffee roasted, they pale in comparison to dedicated Fair Traders. Give your business to folks who really DO want to make a difference.

what about espresso beans? same bean, different roast- if I recall correctly from my barista days. then, do they have free trade cappucinno for the asking?

I work at Starbucks and find that there is a lot of misinformation about the company floating around. Most Starbucks coffee is not "certified" fair trade. It is, however, grade C (the highest grade) of coffee, and they pay an average of double market price for their coffee so in some situations they pay more for their coffee than the fair trade price. They also pay for coffee based on how well the coffee farm treats their employees and they have a lot more involvement in the local communities that they buy their coffee from than most companies do.

If you want fair trade coffee, Starbucks will gladly brew you a pot, provided you have 5-10 minutes to wait. Conversly, you can always buy their certified fair trade blends and brew it yourself.

Anon, I'd be interested in knowing what you think the misinformation is.

To get me to order a cup, you'd have to get me into a starbucks, and that ain't likely to happen. While I support fair trade and all that on the local supply level, I can't support their business practices on the local retail level.

While it's admirable that Starbucks jumped on the bandwagon, you can't forget that they're leveraging their non-Fair Trade, non-Shade Grown and non-Organic coffees (which are the lion's share of their product line) with this miniscule (in comparison) Fair Trade offering. What this does is give them good publicity exposure but it does not help those in the world who are completely committed to Organic, Fair Trade, Shade Grown to compete and survive in this atmosphere of pseudo exploitation.

as far as corporations go, i'd rather see one like starbucks who treats employees well, contributes to communities and charities, educates the masses about organic & fair trade, and provides a decent product succeed than to see the average corporation win. it's ideal to support local economies, but i doubt much of the specialty coffee market would even exist if it weren't for starbucks massive popularity. they opened the door for the mom & pops.

supporting the local economy is ideal, but having a major corporation with some social and environmental responsibilty is the only way capitalism will move in a sustainable direction. buying their sustainable products will make them mainstream a lot faster than rejecting them on principle.

i asked at the starbucks on 1st ave and bell in seattle this morning. the lady looked flustered and told me what they had was fair trade. i couldn't find any mention of fair trade on the website about that blend.

As of 1.5 years ago, I went to 3 Starbucks to ask if they had a bag of fair trade beans to sell me and none did. I eventually found one that did, and the price was about $11.50/lb. Their other bags were around $10/lb. This bothered me as it was a message of "yeah, we'll give the coffee farmer your $1.26, but YOU'RE paying for all of it and we're going to take an extra 24 cents for ourselves while we're at it."

So, in essence, they were making MORE money on the Fair Trade bags than the normal ones. So why was it difficult to find a store carrying the Fair Trade if it had a higher profit margin? A helpful manager at one location told me the reason was because it didn't sell very well...and I believe him, due to their marketing strategy.

You see, they put the Fair Trade with ALL the other bags of coffee and when a typical customer came in (not the minority "treehugger"), they saw many bags for $10, and then another for $11.50. Why not save $1.50? Its starbucks we're addicted to...not the style of bean or how much they payed the farmer. So we just buy the $10 bag.

I contend that if they charged $11.50 for ALL their bags of coffee, sales would not decrease and Fair Trade sales would be equal with all the rest of their flavors.

Of course, this still results in Starbucks charging me 24 cents to let me send a poor costa rican farmer a $1.26 in charity. So that's the next problem for the rest of you to solve.

As I said, this was all done close to 2 years ago, I hope things have gotten better for the Fair Trade movement at Starbucks...I'm interested to read more on people's experiences today.

Sincerely,
John Cochtosen

Fair Trade Coffee certification is only given to worker's co-operatives, therefore an alturistic estate (and there are many) would not be certified however well it treats it's workers.

Likewise Organic certification is very expensive to procure and comply with. This leaves the smallholder (who generally can't afford chemical pesticides anyway) with less places to sell his wares.

I'm not knocking either program, merely pointing out that a blind devotion to FTC & Org. will leave many worthy players out in the cold.

I went in today (downtown Phoenix), and ordered a medium 'free trade' coffee, the guy corrected me "Fair Trade" and they call it the "estima" blend. (brewed just 40 minutes ago). I ordered it, and he also asked if I wanted to buy some of it to take home. I said 'sure why not' and he asked me how I would like it ground. I said 'i grind my own' and I Was able to buy the coffee for abount $11/lb. Yes, it is certified "Fair Trade" (not free trade, guess I needed more caffeine).

I am a student studying industrial design (the design of mass produced consumer products) and have stumbled across this website looking for more information on sustainability, green design, etc., as part of my course research.

That said, I also work for Starbucks and field many a question of Fair Trade Certified coffee vs. fairly traded coffee.

As previously posted, the certification and re-certification process for both organic and Fair Trade cost money and are administered by third party organizations which we all assume have the farmer/environments' best interests first and foremost as their organizational priority and not extending their own brand, not creating awareness about the farmer's plight, etc.

When it comes to products, remember that people make purchasing decisions based on more factors than just social responsibility. One would hope that a person chooses to drink a particular coffee because they like the way it TASTES, rather than because they think they're somehow making a difference, no matter how miniscule it may be.

The old Fair Trade(tm) Blend and its new replacement, Cafe Estima are made with the best beans that Starbucks can source that are Fair Trade Certified. Sadly, the best of those lots, IMHO, are still inferior in taste to the beans we can source from non-certified farms while still incorporating fair trade principles.

Starbucks propaganda vs. TransFair propaganda. You decide. Sure, vote with your dollars but think why you're doing it and hopefully in the case of coffee, you'll include taste/flavour somewhere in that decision making process.

STARBUCKS SPONSORS RODEOS

Starbucks has been sponsoring numerous rodeos. Learn more about Starbucks and their specific sponsorships at www.buckstarbucks.com

E-mail Starbucks. Tell them you won’t buy while they are sponsoring cruel rodeo events: http://www.starbucks.com/customer/contact_forms.asp?nav=3f&cookie%5Ftest=1

Post this flyer around bulletin boards in your community/campus: http://www.sharkonline.org/BuckStarbucks.pdf

Also, sign the online petition to Starbucks: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/787688008?ltl=1130167795

Fax Starbucks at 206-447-0828 so their corporate officials will see your responses too.

Learn about rodeos at www.bucktherodeo.com and WATCH A VIDEO ON RODEOS at http://walklightly.org/rodeo/Rodeo%20Streaming%20Video%20(high).wmv

Organic Consumers Association has a campaign against Starbucks too: http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/downloads.cfm#fax

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Buck Starbucks Campaign Update
The Deception Runs Deep Inside: Hidden Sponsorships, Our Call for Activists

Message from Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK):

We were all surprised. We expected more from a company that waves its ‘progressive’ and ‘socially responsible’ flag so high and so brightly.

When SHARK discovered that Starbucks had sponsored the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo—one of the most appalling rodeos that SHARK has documented—we could attribute it to a momentary lack in judgment by the company’s management. Boy, were we wrong.

The lies just keep coming. When SHARK initially contacted Starbucks about the matter of the Cheyenne Frontier Days’ ad, Starbucks insinuated that we were mistaken. They said didn’t know anything about such an ad, and that we were probably wrong. Consumers who called were told by Starbucks, “No, we don’t sponsor sporting events.” So, SHARK showed them the ad. After a bit of balking, Starbucks spun their story to say they are proud to support local “festivals” and that the ad only cost $250

While we all know there is nothing “sporting” about rodeo, Starbucks made that misleading statement to imply that they do not sponsor rodeo-related events without specifically stating that. They didn’t want to get caught in a lie. Starbucks wanted everyone to believe that the Cheyenne Frontier Days support was an isolated incident. In fact, when SHARK further discovered that Starbucks is a sponsor of Miss Rodeo Washington, Starbucks again said they didn’t know anything about it and refused comment.

Now, we are really seeing how deep the deception goes. SHARK learned this week that Starbucks was not only a Gold Spur Sponsor at the Belton Rodeo in Texas, but also sponsored last week’s American Royal rodeo in Kansas City, Missouri. Starbucks must really be taking us for fools and is hanging tight to the belief that their big green flag will distract everyone.

The American Royal is a rodeo that SHARK has investigated and documented for the last two years. We have seen this event to be one of the most abusive and malicious rodeos around. How many more Starbucks rodeo sponsorships will we dig up? Who knows--and Starbucks isn’t talking.

The Belton PRCA Rodeo in Texas gave a very telling ‘thank you’ to all of their sponsors, including Starbucks, saying, “It is because of you that we are able to continue this event that impacts everyone’s heart and pocket books in this community.” Does Starbucks dare to claim that their company dollars are not subsidizing this animal-abusing industry? Look no further than the rodeos themselves, which say again in Belton, “Thank you for your continuous support in keeping the 80-year Rodeo tradition alive.”

There it is folks, from the mouths of the Rodeo Mafia: their corporate sponsors keep rodeo alive. Dead steer. Dead calves. Dead horses. But, rodeo ALIVE.

Please, continue telling Starbucks to stop supporting the shameful rodeo industry! If you were one of those that have been lied to by Starbucks about their involvement, call back and demand to have these newly discovered sponsorships addressed.

I went to the Starbucks in downtown and ordered a Fair Trade coffee and they told me they didn't have any of that "hippy bullsh*t" then all of the baristas behind the counter started laughing at me! I was about to turn around and leave when one of the workers said "hey!". When I turned around, she threw a pot of hot coffee in my face! When I dropped to the ground in pain, one of them jumped over the counter and started stomping on me! When I managed to grab his foot to stop him, he proceeded to flick his cigarette in my eye (That's right, he was smoking a cigarette in the store! Hellooooo, my air space too! Hellooooo!) Blinded, I felt my way to the door and made a mad dash out. From now on, I'm sticking to local coffee shops for my Fair Trade low-carb low-caf soy venti mocha capalotta frappucinno!

Recently I have been researching fair trade and starbucks. Some people say that starbucks is doing more then people asked them too, and others say they are not even doing the bare minimun. It seems to me that Starbucks wants to seem as though they support fair trade, so they make posters and buy some fair trade coffee, but is not making the genaral public aware that fair trade coffee is an option. If you go into a Starbucks and ask for fair trade coffee most empolyees have no idea what you are talking about.