Starbucks seeks to annoy its customers

At coffee shops in Vancouver, customers have a choice of sweeteners. Sugar is the most popular choice, with many shops providing a choice of artificial sweeteners and honey.

In most shops honey is provided in either a pump bottle or a squeeze bottle. And up until last week that is how one of my local Starbucks provided honey for customers.

Now, if you want honey you must ask at the counter. If you knew in advance that Starbucks had made this change then you could ask for honey when you place your order. But I stood in line again to get honey and was offered two of these small packages.

As far as I can see, the only rationale behind this change is to reduce costs. And how much will the cost saving move annoy Starbucks' customers and drive them away?

Customer loyalty is a hard-won commodity. And it doesn't take much to drive customers away. Petty actions like rationing the honey will do nothing to encourage loyalty. And without customer loyalty, a business like Starbucks becomes a lot less valuable.

As the English expression describes it, "Penny wise and pound foolish".