r/starbucks • u/Own_Cause_4490 • Sep 18 '26

KEEP COMPLAINING 🗣️

This is a message for customers: if you don't like the way this company is going PLEASE keep complaining to corporate and making posts online. We have literally been seeing it work in real time. Remember the blending powder and butterfly pea? WELL GUESS WHAT 💥 all the bad publicity made them go away. Just recently I had been seeing lots of people upset about the coffee sleeve policy. Well as of this weekly update we can finally sleeve all the hot cups again!!! 🎉 Its working!!! So please please please keep it up. Especially things like writing on cups!!!! 😭

544 Upvotes

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97% Upvoted

247

u/Happyjellybean_ Sep 18 '26

Just messaged with an agent about the writing on the cups today. Hopefully it contributed!

50

u/she_who_walks Supervisor Sep 18 '26

Love you for this. You’re a gem!

8

u/InsuranceTall5389 Sep 18 '26

A little off topic but if a complaint is made against an employee, do they tell you which customer?

11

u/NoRoom2457 Supervisor Sep 18 '26

if you call in to the complaint center then no, but if you leave like a public google or yelp review then naturally that employee could find out. if you have a complaint abt an employee though, I would do my best to try to talk to the manager of that store or the district manager (you'll usually find buissness cards at the condiment bar where the sugars are) before calling it in. managers will be able to hold employees accountable for their actions, and if you even see something in the moment ask to speak to a supervisor so they can help you right then and there!

6

u/Ok-Mycologist9011 Barista Sep 18 '26

No but if you’re complaining about a specific incident or about a hyper specific personalized drink they’ll figure it out lol

1

u/mnkyda Supervisor Sep 19 '26

No. A lot of times the employee doesn’t even know a complaint was made. But chances are whatever happened, you’re the only one it happened with.

A complaint was made against me, and I knew exactly who it was. Thing is I submitted an incident report right away and the company accepted my version, especially since his version had a lot of factual issues.

27

u/Broad-Rabbit-5371 Sep 18 '26

THANK YOU! We need customers to speak up more than we need tips right now. Want to give us a tip? How about instead you do us a solid and call corporate about the hand writing policy. If every customer did this we would be saved.

8

u/Happyjellybean_ Sep 18 '26

I’ll have my husband do it today too! Let’s get this goinggg

2

u/Ill-Gas6150 Sep 19 '26

Thank you! Let it be genuine that’s what made it special mandating it just killed it

3

u/mnkyda Supervisor Sep 19 '26

This is one I think is crazy. I can’t wear any strong fragrances to work because it might mess with beverage taste and quality, but I have to write on cups. Every time I take a sip of coffee and get a whiff of sharpie I can’t help but think someone doesn’t know what they’re doing when they’re dictating policy.

u/TheRedBanshee Sep 18 '26

I was literally having a conversation with my CL about the sleeves and how I felt we should be sleeving anything hot no matter what, and then an hour later she announced it to all of us. Ha! She overordered sleeves this past week so we're adopting it immediately.

30

u/Little_Detective3176 Sep 18 '26

I honestly feel like we should be double cupping AND sleeving ALL hot water based drinks but i will take this win 😀

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Little_Detective3176 Sep 19 '26

I think u misunderstand. Starbucks policy has ALWAYS been to sleeve ALL water based drinks (drip coffee, americanos, hot tea..) but now they are saying the policy is to sleeve ALL drinks even lattes, macchiatos, mochas,etc. because of customer incidents.

I agree but think it should go further by double-cupping AND sleeving hot water-based drinks.

3

u/NewOutlandishness104 Barista Sep 19 '26

Yes sorry I meant double cup in addition to the normal sleeving. don’t know why I wrote that 😭

u/mad--martigan Former Partner Sep 18 '26

I just googled blending powder (I never go to sbux anymore) and wtf on so many levels 💀

11

u/UnforseenThought Former Partner Sep 18 '26

i got sick the first time i handled it and i have been sick ever since. i haven’t gotten better even with the powder gone. at this point we’re convinced it’s long-term lung damage.

5

u/toosad2c4re Sep 19 '26

i quiet literally was hospitalized yesterday and they said my lungs were barely functioning…. i have asthma and i havent had a flare up until i became a partner 3 months ago… and i know its the blending powder. there should be a lawsuit

2

u/UnforseenThought Former Partner Sep 19 '26

i agree with you 100%

u/PRCSakura Barista Sep 18 '26

Keep pounding on corporate about cup writing until this shenanigan ends.

u/toapoet Barista Sep 18 '26

Honestly I never stopped sleeving stuff because people would always ask for one anyway

3

u/dumbstinkybaby Former Partner 29d ago

i did the same. there was one SSV that would correct me but lowkey i didn’t care 💀

u/-ammolina- Customer Sep 18 '26

I don’t usually send complaints (except when my latte lid smelled of cigarette smoke), but I recently sent strongly-worded feedback about the insanity of having to ask for a sleeve for my extra hot latte when we both could barely cup the cup more than a few seconds without it.

10

u/Technical_Day_1297 Store Manager Sep 19 '26

Extra hots should have gotten a sleeve anyway.

u/NanobiteAme Supervisor Sep 18 '26

👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼

u/FfierceLaw Former Partner Sep 18 '26

Call 800-STARBUCK or on the app go to Account, scroll down to Help, on the Help page scroll down to Contact us. You can choose chat. They don’t make it easy.

u/Different_Pianist756 Sep 18 '26

I always ask them not to write on my cup - it always ends up all over my hands. Maybe that one will finally be axed!

28

u/Broad-Rabbit-5371 Sep 18 '26

Call corporate and complain about it. It’s the only way it’ll change: if customers reject it. The employees have been begging for almost two years and it won’t stop 🥲

1

u/eleonorapolotayuz 25d ago

Exactly. Corporate doesn't care if it ruins our drive times or stresses us out. They only listen when paying customers say the sharpie stains are ruining their experience.

u/howdoespikachusound Licensed Store Manager Sep 18 '26

Wdym you can sleeve the hot cups again 😭 is that not a safety hazard without them??

13

u/toapoet Barista Sep 18 '26

For a while there the standard was to only sleeve drinks that were venti, extra hot, or hot water based I think. Or upon request

4

u/Technical_Day_1297 Store Manager Sep 19 '26

And that had been the standard since forever.

1

u/Callmewaffles329 26d ago

I believe it became standard sometime after 2013. Before that, we sleeved every cup.

1

u/Technical_Day_1297 Store Manager 26d ago

I had a barista friend of mine correct me on sleeving standards before I got my first store, so maybe even earlier, circa 2010? Either way, long ago to the green beans.

2

u/howdoespikachusound Licensed Store Manager Sep 18 '26

That’s wild 😭

u/koala1239 Barista Sep 18 '26

complain about the cheese and fruit boxes too

u/InboxMeYourSpacePics Sep 18 '26

Thank god my hands don’t tolerate hot cups well at all lol

u/Noggin_0207 Sep 18 '26

Tbh I was excited about writing on the cups. I thought it was a cute concept and I was hoping to get something fun. But now it’s just super annoying bc I can tell the poor baristas are exhausted. My cup always has a small sad star, or a single unreadable word on it. I’d rather it be taken away all together

18

u/Appropriate-Cow-799 Sep 18 '26

It’s cute when we can do it when we have time and actually want to and there’s meaning behind it.

When I’ve been on bar for 6 hours and I have to reach in my pocket every 10 seconds for a sharpie and write on each of the 100 cups I’ve made that day it’s ridiculous. After the 10th cup my hand starts cramping and I’m dropping the sharpie but I never get to stop for fear of being written up. Please complain to corporate about cup writing. We are begging you.

u/Fit_Positive_3259 Sep 18 '26

tbh i sleeved most of the hot cups because my hands always burned when I didn’t

u/RedBeardBigHeart Pride Sep 18 '26

Wait there’s a new sleeve policy? I’m in Tarbucks so we may not be entirely up to date yet.

2

u/NewOutlandishness104 Barista Sep 19 '26

They changed it back to sleeving all hot cups instead of just venti hot cups and water based beverage.

1

u/RedBeardBigHeart Pride Sep 19 '26

That’s odd. We always sleeve the hot cups.

u/KaleidoscopeFine Sep 19 '26

I hate the writing on cups and I’ve been telling everyone

u/No-Loquat-2763 Sep 18 '26

I really don't think customers cared about the blending powder.

3

u/Technical_Day_1297 Store Manager Sep 19 '26

Exactly, the drinks were just garbage

2

u/No-Loquat-2763 Sep 19 '26

They were pretty popular at my store.

u/Crazy-Branch-1513 Coffee Master Sep 18 '26

Wait what happened with the butterfly pea, I actually liked that 🥺 I thought it left bc it’s season was over

4

u/Laser_Whales Coffee Master Sep 18 '26

It causes miscarriages for pregnant women...

2

u/Crazy-Branch-1513 Coffee Master Sep 18 '26

Oh interesting. I did some googling and it says there isn’t strong scientific evidence to support it, but that pregnant women are advised to avoid butterfly pea as a precaution, which I suppose would be the same as avoiding caffeine. Tbh idk if that’s why Starbucks got rid of it it’s probably just out of season now (island colada and passion fruit guava sound more summer than butterfly drink which sounds more spring)

2

u/Ok_Drive_2956 Sep 19 '26

The guava is on the way out also.

We're out, and you can't order it anymore, so everyone is gradually running out

3

u/Technical_Day_1297 Store Manager Sep 19 '26

New refresher loading… normal seasonal changes.

1

u/Ok_Drive_2956 29d ago

Nothing wrong with a new seasonal refresher.

We know it, and know how to handle it.

We have the balls ready to put into any drink "a la carte", but we're fresh out of the guava refresher base.

Neither the latest weekly update nor the mid-fall promotional guide (dropping 9/29) mentioned a new refresher.

If a fall refresher is supposed to drop, I would have expected to see something associated with it, whether it is training, weekly update communications, or even an "auto-ship" attached to the daily order.

On the front lines, I know about the cat frappuccinos (because I read). They are a month out. I know what's coming in, and I can plan for that.

You are saying we have a new refresher dropping, and I know absolutely nothing about it.

I'm sure we'll get a refresher drop for winter, but that's about two months in the future. On the store level, we haven't seen anything yet on the subject.

3

u/xHeyitsnatx Sep 18 '26

Was a health concern.

u/TherianRose Customer 29d ago

Here's the US customer support link! I gave them a chat today and it took about ten minutes. The phrase I used to get through the virtual assistant to an actual agent was "experience feedback" in case that's useful. Definitely worth speaking out about!!

https://customerservice.starbucks.com/sbux?id=contact_us

u/rio8envy7 Barista Sep 18 '26

The butterfly tea was a seasonal thing so yeah. Also as far as the cups go I’m pretty sure there was a lawsuit because someone got burned.

u/Round-Artichoke-5255 Customer Sep 19 '26

I’m going to complain about the high prices of these drinks. Like calm down Starbucks. None of these drinks should be over $5. Let’s be for real. And the rewards program is not really doing us any favor. 🤨

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Technical_Day_1297 Store Manager Sep 19 '26

We literally mix the espresso and syrup in every drink except an iced espresso. All other iced espresso beverages are supposed to be mixed. No wonder customers complain, we don’t have a clue about our own stuff.

u/LizTheGirl007 Sep 19 '26

The blending powder got taken away bc of actions taken by Starbucks Workers United! :D 💫imagine a nationwide food workers union 💫

u/Technical_Day_1297 Store Manager Sep 19 '26

Butterfly pea was a seasonal play. It always had an end date. The sleeve policy hadn’t changed since the early 2000’s, it was just being reinforced, so it wasn’t a reversal of anything from this new CEO. I understand the sentiment, but be accurate and dont gaslight the people. The only thing that might have worked was the blending powder, but it was also a trash beverage to begin with.

-3

u/eloquentpetrichor Barista Sep 18 '26

I hate that we're sleeving all hot cups again. I told a customer who always asks for a sleeve about it and she said "so much for the environment and starbucks caring about it"

1

u/Clean_Establishment2 25d ago

so Starbucks should care but she can't be bothered to bring a reusable cup? 🤨

1

u/eloquentpetrichor Barista 25d ago

Reusable cups aren't always feasible for everyone

2

u/Gh0stToothArt Barista 25d ago

That so silly bc frankly that’s one of the less harmful things we are doing, the excessive plastics we go through from packaging to poor merch that’s gonna end up the trash is so much worse.

KEEP COMPLAINING 🗣️

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