The ConverSAYtion
The ConverSAYtion is simply a couple of middle aged men sharing company and conversation. Psych and K take their time sorting through so much to say about society, culture, relationships, education, finance, technology, health, and more. Inspired to find engaging ways to entertain and enrich the lives of their listeners is their primary pursuit. Join them as they invest themselves in providing value to their audience. Welcome to The ConverSAYtion.
The ConverSAYtion
From Gate Disasters to Corporate Decisions: How Small Changes Lead to Big Consequences
What drives major brands to abandon their iconic original locations? We explore the recent closure of Starbucks' famous Pike Place adjacent store in Seattle and In-N-Out's unprecedented shutdown of their Oakland location after 75 years of continuous operation. Both companies cited safety concerns, with In-N-Out specifically mentioning they could no longer guarantee customer and employee security despite the location remaining profitable.
The conversation weaves through how corporate policies have evolved regarding theft prevention, with many establishments now explicitly prohibiting employees from intervening during incidents. This hands-off approach contrasts sharply with previous eras when staff would actively protect store property, raising questions about whether current policies inadvertently create environments where certain crimes face minimal resistance.
We also examine how small decisions can cascade into major problems, illustrated through a gated community's misguided installation of a speed bump that's causing more harm than good. This parallels the larger societal questions about well-intentioned policies that produce unintended consequences. Meanwhile, the compensation package for Starbucks' current CEO—approximately $96 million annually—highlights the growing disconnect between corporate leadership and the everyday challenges faced by retail employees.
Beyond the headlines, this episode invites you to consider what we lose when historic business locations close their doors forever. Is there a balance to be struck between safety concerns and preserving the places that helped build beloved brands? Listen in and share your thoughts on whether these closures represent necessary adaptations or troubling signs of urban decline.
You don't gotta do it if you don't want to. You don't gotta do it if you don't want to. You don't gotta do it if you don't want to. It's just a suggestion. Come on,
Letter K:dude, that one had a ring it did, and it came from here, so we gotta turn the overheads on.
Psych:Oh yep, let's get those. Here we go.
Letter K:Nothing worse than shiny hair.
Psych:Can't we just have the producers do it.
Letter K:It's your turn. So yes, thank you, mr Producer for turning on the lights.
Psych:O h, it was my pleasure, you know they pay me extra to do that.
Letter K:That's not how producing works.
Psych:All right, well, welcome back to the conversation. Today we're just
Psych:going to be going through contemporary news, what's out there, what's going on, things that interest us, things that can spark some conversation. The thing about today's episode is neither of us know what the other is bringing to the table, so I have no idea what you want to talk about. You have no idea. No idea what I want to talk about.
Letter K:I have no idea. We're going to find out.
Psych:And it's going to go over well, or it's not, but this episode is going to continue. Please like, comment, share, subscribe, and we do hope you enjoy, thank you.
Letter K:So I think it's only fair that I go first. I have an article here called A man Takes Offense to Cats Moving Into His Neighborhood. As you can see from the photo I have in the article, Is that my house? That was what I rolled up this morning that is too good.
Psych:That is too good. I should probably explain that container that is upside down there. We had that in the side yard and it filled in when it rained. It was the wrong, it was the wrong way, filled it with water. And then I was like, why have I been noticing more mosquitoes? And I walked around the side of the house, was like, well, that's why, and I, right before work, I dumped that thing out and then I, then I had to leave so so I can explain to you and I know that, I know that you're pretty miffed that the, the cats are hanging out in here.
Letter K:For you that's putting it like. After seeing it, I can tell you why it's. It's your cover, you have. You know from these houses along the street here, your, your house has has the uh, the most cover, you know. So it's it's the same for them.
Psych:It's a safety thing there's there's two or three at least other houses that are the same style of this house. I think it's the proximity that we are to a home that just loves and adores cats and leaves their garage door open at all hours to so these and harbor these cats, and so this picture has two cats, and these cats are well cared for. They are gorgeous, yes, so one was on my wife's car when we came back after working out, just laying there like it was its bed. Yeah, wow, yeah, yeah, there's a $50,000 bed for you. Okay, you're welcome. Oh, that's so sad.
Letter K:Your life is terrible.
Psych:So we had to chase it away. My wife kind of like, and then she walked inside and the cat proceeded to go underneath the vehicle and then it's like no yeah, no, no, no.
Letter K:I had to like I said that's the, it's the it's the safety thing, like so you've got, you've got the big, the big hedge. There's a lot, of a lot of ways that they can. They can kind of kind of hang out, kind of put their back against the wall and see, see their surroundings, you know. So that's why you are, you were the selected one
Psych:one morning this was in the summer I was, I was teaching summer school and I went to go to work. But I could not because of these little meows that I was hearing. And in the undercarriage of my car were five kittens. Oh geez, five of them. Yep, got mom to leave, got four to come out and it was just the last one, stuck way up there in the wheel. Well, almost didn't getting into the engine, and that's the one you take home. No, no, no, I, I was. I was way late for work that morning. I was really late and I I could not confirm whether or not the last one got out. My boys were helping me. We're just circling my car. They're looking at all angles, we're trying to scare it out. We're trying to try whatever we can do. And I looked away to go get something to reach or to try to. I forget what I was doing. But I turned away and they said my boy said it ran off, but I didn't see it and I don't know if they were keeping count of how many were made. It made their way into safety.
Letter K:But why ask for help if you're not going to trust the help?
Psych:well, yeah uh, yeah, well, they were much younger then. So you know, when you got little kids that are cat lovers and we're also distracted by a myriad of other things roaming around, who doesn't love cats?
Letter K:cats are awesome. So and I know you're allergic to cats, I have allergic to cats, I. You know, my one of my top three allergies these are like my devastating allergies is horse horse dander. All right, I still, I still think horses are kind of awesome.
Psych:Yeah, I I like, I like, I, I can appreciate cats for for, uh, for what they are, they're just. They're just not for me. Yeah, um, and it seems, whatever environment I find myself in and you've told me this before that cats know I don't like them and they just oh, yeah, they just like rub it in they do literally, so to speak, sometimes and I'm like no get off like cats are so funny about that?
Letter K:because, because my cats. Mason is the same way with my father who, who my father is a dog person for life, Couldn't care less about cats, Isn't actively like fuck this cat, but doesn't want the cat around him. And Mason, just every time my folks come over he's just there Back on the ground sideways just rubbing against both my dad's feet.
Psych:You know, hilarious, oh yeah. So I guess I just really haven't had that many pleasant experiences with cats because of my allergy. All of my childhood was just my allergies are better now, better, I've built up a little bit of tolerance. But when I was a kid it was just puffy eyes, swollen shut and tears running down my face and I couldn't get my nose to stop and just non-stop sneezing An acute allergy, so to speak. And all right now, these animals that are beautiful I can appreciate that A lovely animal that's well kept, like the cats that you had in the photo. I can appreciate them for what? they are, but I was never allowed to have pleasant experiences with them because they were always tainted by my reaction to them.
Letter K:So I'm really, really allergic to dogs to dogs primarily why I'm a cat person, plus I don't want to be going outside a lot, but I grew up in a dog household and so, yeah, I always had allergies. As a kid I was kind of sick, you know, whatever, um, but yeah, I had a bit of a tolerance built up. It wasn't until I left you know folks' house and moved out by myself and now I can't really go over to their house and spend a lot of time there and not get really sick because of the dog dunder. That's terrible. So did somebody get sick of the new situation with your yellow post and decide to just derail the entire activity?
Psych:So our community has an app, and well, our community is on this app that's used to help people that live in gated communities with homeowners associations, you know, figure out what's going on, get updates, you can pay your pay your bill or what have you. There's a myriad of things you can do on there. So I got, I had, a email from them and then so I got on the app and what it appeared to be was somebody pulled in and somebody was tailgating them, and they have now changed the front gate to. There used to be a weight in front of it on the outside, so if the gate was open and you pulled close enough, it would recognize there's another car and it would reopen. They don't want that feature anymore, so they removed it. So what happened was somebody pulled in and what you're supposed to do if somebody's tailgating you and you don't know them, is you're supposed to stop in front of the gate on the other side. Once you've entered, allow the gate to close and, you know, keep the other, the other people, out. If they have access, that's great. They should be able to get in on their own. If they are invited, whoever has invited them should have given them access. So basically, stop before, don't allow people in. And someone tried to do that, I think, and the other person wasn't having it and tried to enter anyway and didn't judge satan caught the gate and caught it pretty good yeah, I saw it.
Letter K:Yeah, that's. It's completely off the track. It's gonna have to be and it's bent.
Psych:Yes, it's gonna be bowed pretty good their car took. I mean, I can only imagine you know.
Letter K:So again with the dumb solutions, because this is dumb. So their solution is to make you, the citizens who live in the gated community, the police of the front gate.
Psych:Yes, so you remember I had a problem with a complaint about the speed bump directly before the gate track. Yeah, so I emailed them about it and and I got a reply and basically, basically in my message was hey, uh, this doesn't deter people from entering which it should. The one-way spikes prevented people from entering our community through the exit and people's tires and wheels are going to get damaged. So that was what I left them with and their reply was more or less hey, thank you for bringing this concern. It started out pretty formal. Thank you for bringing this concern to our attention, dumbass, and we will have our contractors take a look at it today and have the board review it. If people wanted to enter the community, they could simply tailgate somebody through the entrance. So I don't know why they would wait for somebody to exit when they can also wait for somebody to enter. So I and then like okay, we'll take a look at it, we'll get back to you. So I responded and I let them know Just people in business serving a purpose. I was like hey, talking about people tailgating people to enter through the entrance is a completely separate topic. I wanted to make sure I'm not discussing that. That's not the complaint I'm raising. I'm raising the complaint about the exit. Let's limit our conversation. So I took that away and said people's wheels are going to be damaged their wheels and tires. When that happens to me I'm going to be looking to be made whole for my loss. And then I was like can you share what contracting company did this? I was like can you give me any examples of gated communities that have a speed bump position, just the way ours is placed in our community? And then I ran a search through Grok. I had Grok and ChatGPT try to look up photos of other gated communities and both ChatGPT and grok said oh yeah, hoas and and and things like that they have. They have a history of errant speed bumps everywhere and just putting things in in in places that don't make sense. Oh, that's kind of funny. But neither of those two technologies could find a current photo out there that exists of one place precisely where ours is. Yeah, like, hey, what do I have to do to have this changed? I'm willing to follow whatever formal process exists to remedy this. I want that extracted. Oh, the other thing they cited in their response was one of the goals was to slow down people as they exit the community. It's like slow people down.
Letter K:So you have to wait for the gate to completely open before you can start going, to wait for the gate to completely open before you can start going? Are people doing burnouts and and the? The distance between the gate and the street is about 30 feet. How fast are you getting up? And they have to stop again to wait for traffic to get into the street. No, that's that argument's not valid.
Psych:Yeah, it's not valid. And I mentioned the. The one-way spikes did in no way, shape or form, limit people's speed when exiting. That that's never been a concern. No one's ever brought that to me. Oh, and then they said the one-way spikes were we. They haven't been there. They were removed eight or nine months ago and I let her know. I was like no, I'm sorry if someone told you that. Uh, you know you've been misinformed. Uh, that's incorrect. This is all happened recently, two to three weeks tops. I had just driven out just a couple weeks ago and and then came home and everything was different and every you know the those spikes were gone. The speed bump was in place, the new pillar to protect the sanctity that is the panel that allows people to check in.
Letter K:Did you see the image that Photoshop's AI generated for our episode? That just came out? No, I'm sorry I missed it. It's pretty good, hold on, I've had quite the week. No, I'm not mad at you for not seeing it.
Psych:I should have seen it. I should have looked at it.
Letter K:So I asked it for an image of a man who can't get into his gated community because of a big yellow post. That's what it gave me.
Psych:It's just all. What the fuck is this? Yes yes, that post is annoying. So what I did find out through all of this, after going through some of the the more recent documents and things that they have sent. Now I'm going to stay more up on.
Letter K:They're reviewing things that the community is doing because they need to benefit from your intelligence.
Psych:It sounds like yes yeah, yes, so uh the other. The other point I made was when uh were we provided, did I miss something? I was like where we provided notice about this change and I couldn't find them giving notice and they should have. I think it's in the bylaws that they're supposed to give ample notice so that people can can comment and raise concerns they can wtf and and bring suggestions to the table or other possible solutions can be explored. And no, they did not, they just did it. Yeah.
Letter K:And I wonder how much it cost.
Psych:Well, I don't know, they probably got a deal on it. This contracting company what reputable contracting company thought that that placement made sense? It was probably they didn't have. I don't think they had a say in it. I think it was just like hey, the people running this place are like we want it there you're willing to give us money to do this? Sure we'll put it wherever you want. Do you want it in their driveway too?
Letter K:get people they can put what is right in the middle of people's driveways. Every single driveway gets a speed bump.
Psych:I had a coworker recently who got into a car accident pulling out of her driveway. But here's what. Okay, so I could understand it If you're pulling out of your driveway, if you're backing out, she was not, she backed into her driveway, she was pulling out head first.
Letter K:And hit somebody.
Psych:Well, she claims it's the other person's fault because they were, they were going over the speed limit. Okay, okay, that's that's. That's going to be a hard that's going to be. I mean, you, you have to really be flying for that to hold water, because they're already in the lane, they have the right of way. You should make sure you have a clear path when you enter traffic. So, anyway, that's a separate. Yeah, but if she had a speed bump right in between her front and rear rear axle axle she would have to stop and slow down.
Letter K:I love. I love that you have actually come up with a better example of the proper use of a speed bump within a community than the one that they did in your neighborhood yes, yes, I'm always thinking so so I should take the day off to go to the next board.
Letter K:Yeah, yeah, you should, and meanwhile glad that we solved speed bumps. We did solve. So that was can't solve cats because cats won't have it. No, you know they're not going to the, to the board meeting they. They couldn't be bothered. So I love thank you for letting me derail your whole thing for 20 minutes because I thought it was funny.
Psych:Oh that's not what you actually wanted. No, not at all. Not at all. You're just messing with me. Yes, I was the whole time I was taking it seriously?
Letter K:Yeah, I was taking it seriously. No, I wanted to because I seen your gate with the caution tape holding it in place because it's completely bent and off the rail it is. So I really wanted to update people and myself on that continuing saga.
Psych:It is a saga and it continues. Last summer there was somebody out here, once a week at least, trying to fix things and shore things up, and I knew, because I was doing a fair amount of running last summer and I would see the same guy working I would just pass him. You're just doing laps, just pass him hey.
Letter K:I'm wondering if they can take their ego out of this whole thing, uh, and see that obviously they made decisions that caused this, because they removed that. They removed the sensor from the incoming side of the the fence, the gate and somebody hit it. Somebody hit a horde like the horde, uh, and I wonder if they might be open to your suggestions after the fact, or if they're just too deep into it now to look back.
Psych:So just because you are a manager doesn't mean you have to manage everything. It also doesn't mean that you're good at it. True, some people are into the title of manager and they don't know the first thing about it. Yeah, that is true, but you don't I mean about it that, yeah, that is true, but you don't I mean. This is just a good, good lesson in life. Just because something can be changed doesn't mean it should be, doesn't you don't?
Letter K:that's what we're just talking about with my, with my firmware at work yeah we. We do as built standalone systems and if and if it works, I don't go through and update the firmware just because it's available. I've got systems in place that have firmware versions that are 30 or 40 versions back, but they've been working for years and no one's complained. They're super stable. I'm not going to go upgrade the firmware just because it's available. If it's broke, don't fix it.
Psych:What is broke is my front gate.
Letter K:Dude, that's more than broke son. It's demolished, they're going to have to probably replace it, because I don't know if they're going to try and bend that iron.
Psych:Well, it's all going to translate to our HOA fees going up, I'm sure, over time.
Letter K:I would draw that line in the sand and be like you came up with an idea that you didn't put past anybody else and you're raising my fees because your idea that you did not get permission to do failed. No, yeah, no, and I've got fucking cats in my front yard can we get rid of the cats please?
Psych:yeah, oh, all right, so uh let's actually start the episode. Yeah, let's okay, let's go all right. So, uh, let's start the episode, like I like to start my morning with, sleeping in with with coffee. Oh, okay, with coffee. I don't know if I don't want to subscribe. Did I have this up here too long? All right, did you know? Starbucks closed their flagship, their original starbucks number one.
Letter K:Yes, no, we just. We just talked about how I've only been to starbucks a handful of times in my whole life. I don don't care.
Psych:Okay enough. So this article this is slightly dated. Oh, so it was updated Wednesday, january 1st. All right, so I know we're in March now, but Starbucks confirmed this is according to Como News. This is where are they Como News Senior Reporter. This is Tuesday, new Year's Eve, and then New Year's Day. They updated it and I have to find the date that it officially closed. So you know what? Let me play this video. This might be appropriate. Let's take a quick peek at this. Watch them. Try to put an ad in it. Let's get some sound. There we go. Let's make it bigger. Let's go back to the beginning. Here we go. Nope, oh, let's get where is. Oh, turn the volume on.
Video Audio:Allen County is a busy place, the place that tourists mistakenly visited, thinking it was the first Starbucks in Seattle, but now it is the latest downtown vacancy, closed for good. A quiet spot it is not. This corner, where hundreds of cups of coffee were served daily, is now visited by more pigeons than people. And then we just saw the for sale signs that went up and we were like, oh my gosh, it's like actually real. Deanna Cunningham runs the seattle shirt company across the way. The main focus is to have your customers feel comfortable, and if that isn't happening, even if they? are busy. Cunningham says she's heard the story about the concerns she's had with the despair and distress outside their front door, the company only saying officially about the closure. We regularly evaluate our store portfolio and in part ensure partners are supported in crafting beverages in a warm and welcoming environment. It has cited public safety concerns before enclosing another tourist-laden store at westlake and while organized labor has suggested the company has ulterior motives to cool a grande-sized workers' rights movement, the store was not on a unionization list. I really hope that something does get there soon and it doesn't become like all the other businesses on like 3rd Avenue where it's just an empty space now Cunningham believes there is proof, businesses like hers here on the Pike Place doorstep can succeed. I know that there is the ability to still thrive and be a successful business, even when markets what is this.
Psych:Well, people are taking this opportunity to get some attention.
Video Audio:May say otherwise.
Letter K:So yeah, so so the first thing that he said was people mistakenly say this is the first Starbucks.
Psych:I know, and I started to say that too, but uh, it first caught my attention. I was listening to podcasts and they had mentioned that starbucks is closing their original store. This one's on first. And pike okay, the the their medium roast brewed coffee. Uh, pike place, right, yeah, um. So uh, I asked rock about it and it said as of the latest 2024 start oh no, go back here. No, all right. So I guess the question is did starbucks, did Starbucks original store close? Or where is Starbucks first stores? Oh, okay. So Grok says no.
Letter K:Yeah, so it's a social media.
Psych:The first store is often referred to as the original Starbucks, opened in 1971 at 2000 Western Avenue and today out of Washington. Okay. Well, that rumor spread quick
Letter K:so we just learned a lot about how the internet can skew information rather easily.
Psych:It does continue. Yes, the original Starbucks opened in 1971 at 2000 Western Avenue in Seattle Washington. It operated there until 1976 when it moved to its current location at 1912 Pike Place and Seattle's Pike Place Market. Okay, so that's why? So they had one, then they closed it to move it to there. And then that was then considered the first original place until it. Okay, so semantics, so it was essentially there. You know, if I start a pizza place in my house here and then I'm like, oh, I'm going to move across the street over there If that's the only one, if that was the only one at the time, then yeah, it would be considered the original. But that's not the point of the article.
Letter K:No, no, no, Of course, to close, because crime and homelessness and all of these negative things are reducing foot traffic and making having a business in that location unsustainable.
Psych:Yes, they cited safety. I wonder what all went into their assessment of the safety issue.
Letter K:well, it's so, so I like this speak. So, um, not starbucks, but you saw recently that in and out closed its first location ever. Oh yeah, I didn't, I didn't know that. Yeah, so they, they did it last year. Um, or they announced it last year
Psych:I would think, if you have something as loved and admired as the brand that you have created, if your brand is notable, if it's famous, yeah, that history that goes into it why wouldn't you figure out something else? So, grock, saying that they closed? Let's see, the iconic starbucks at 1912 pike place is still open as of march 8th. Okay, today. Uh, so the focus on okay, um, first in pike location, which is indeed closed. Okay, so that's what we're talking about. Uh, the starbucks at first and pike, directly across the street from pike place market entrance, permanently closed. December 2024, starbucks confirmed the closure on okay, initially shutting typically down to evaluate the environment. The official reason from starbucks for the closure was part of their routine store portfolio evaluation, aiming to best meet our community and customers needs and ensure partners are supported.
Letter K:Well, that's exactly what they just said. Yeah, that's it. So wait, they're trying to tell, they're trying to tell you that they closed that store to evaluate whether or not that location met uh, met their climate initiative. Is that what I'm reading?
Psych:here. I don't know what you, I don't know. I think there's numerous ways to interpret, to evaluate the environment. Is it the? Is it the cultural environment?
Letter K:yeah, yeah, you're right, you know you're right, I'm being snarky. So yes, so in and out closed its first store in its 75 year history in oakland, california, in january of 2024 due to escalating crime and safety concerns.
Psych:I remember that because I was just. I was just in oakland last year when the, when the oakland athletics closed, yeah shop in oakland,
Letter K:and so you know the article from the New York Post said actually this is from CNNcom said that incidents such as gunshots, a stabbing and frequent car break-ins led to the decision, despite the location being profitable. So that location still made money, but they still closed it because they said and I remember this, they said at the time that they could not guarantee the safety of the customers or the employees, so they closed it down, even though it was still making money. And it just goes into your you know, into what I think you were trying to head towards. You know what is happening, that is, creating these environments of crime and danger around these retail locations that are so populated by foot traffic and by customers. I mean, if you go to a place that's just slammed at all times, like every internet I've ever seen has always had a line snaking the parking lot, oh yeah, how can I mean? There's so many people there, right, there's so many people there, but it's not deterring the crime.
Psych:I would think more people, more innocent bystanders bystanders would be enough In past generations it would have. It would just be too, too shameful. It would be too risky. Right, there's people now people are getting more bold and brazen.
Letter K:Risky is the right word you know, crowds are a natural deterrence because if I walk up to you and just haymaker you across the jaw, everyone here sees that.
Psych:Yes, yeah, I think people are becoming more bold and brazen, and they're not deterred by any sort of moral code or standard anymore, of the opportunity that they see. Knowing that many establishments have policies that prohibit people from interfering or intervening or trying to protect the assets of that particular company, they don't want to struggle. They don't want to put anybody's health and safety at risk. They don't want anybody to be injured. That's an employee. They don't want employees treating the property of the company as their own and attempting to protect it. If they have an owner, supervisors, managers that they respect and admire and they enjoy their work and they love going to work and doing their work, those sorts of people especially if their work ethic is high or above average, they're going to feel obligated to protect.
Letter K:So I remember so in groceries, you know it was always kind of a kind of we're like a gang. If you got caught stealing like a bottle of liquor or something you know, back in the back in the day, you know you'd get chased out of the store and you, you got got, you got tackled, you got, you got drugged back in. Sometimes you got roughed up and I remember when the stuff came out it was like you guys need to stop doing that, cause you know not only were people who were getting hurt, stores were getting sued and all these safety concerns, you know like the liability was way too high. So one day, like flipping a switch, they're like you never chase anyone again. The cameras will get them. You let them go and that's what you see. Now you get. Yeah, I, I read it and hear stories about people like liquor stores or like am, pms or quickie marks and stuff where somebody just walks in hey, how you doing there, buddy, let's see you grabs two cases of beer from the case See you next time walks out and nothing to do. They just like, they just kind of okay, you know, okay. And now you get. I see, especially where we live, I don't go to quickie Mart's for after because I don't really drink. You know, like, like regular don't get tall cans of beer, but the lot they have, even just as far back as few years ago, a lot of places if you want beer they're locking the cabinets. You got to go get the clerk. They have blocks on the damn doors. Uh, so, yes, so do we think that this is, this is a direct result of, of relaxed uh, arrest and prosecution requirements? Because you know, I know, I know what, I know what the uh, I know what the the conservative camp is going to say, the whole defund the police thing. But In-N-Out's owner explicitly cited safety concerns, lack of police presence and ongoing criminal activity as reasons for shutting the Oakland location. And then, of course, you always read articles about somebody being arrested and then just kicked loose because they don't meet the requirements to hold them. So do you think all these things, this is a result?
Psych:I think it's a natural conclusion that one can make. I think, if it's not the sole contributor, it's at least a component. I live across the street from Starbucks and I have been over there occasionally and the lobby is locked and it's like hey, what's going on? Oh, we just had an altercation here. Somebody came in and Wait a minute.
Letter K:So occasionally Like this has happened more than once. Jesus
Psych:they got robbed or somebody was causing some trouble. And the baristas, they're so apologetic, they're just like hey, we don't have enough people here to make you know to properly supervise this property or store, so we had to close the lobby. We hope you understand, you know, and, and they, they do have a walk-up window, they do have a. It's a mobile, so you don't need. If you mobile order, you don't even have to go inside. You can walk up to their mobile order window and you can wait there. And suddenly there you go and just like, just like a drive-thru would, but at a certain hour of the day they do close the lobby, they're not open.
Letter K:So they continue to serve from the exterior.
Psych:Yes For safety. Wow, so I was looking at Starbucks. They don't have a want really for locations Back in 2024, 40,199 locations worldwide in over 80 countries, and in the US alone, as of this month, they reported basically $36.2 billion.
Letter K:In revenue. So they're selling coffee, among other things, sandwiches and cookies and stuff.
Psych:I remember vividly when they first introduced food at Starbucks, there was an uproar. People were vehemently against.
Letter K:This is coffee, only for coffee lovers. Yes, Okay.
Psych:So the main complaint was and this is for coffee aficionados, nerds, coffee connoisseurs, nerds, but think about it all right. So they back then they were still hand crafting drinks like the baristas actually had skill. So they don't do that no more. No, it's all automated. Oh, okay, it's all, it's all automated. As far as pulling a shot of espresso or to to load everything up and tamp it down and and to to certain it's, it's a science and nobody at starbucks is doing anymore. Back then, they, back then they did, and starbucks was actually serving a much better coffee then. And the people when they're. When they introduced their first sandwich, I think it was one of the sausage, I think it was the sausage, egg and cheese. It's all heat and eat crap, yeah, but yes, and they were complaining that the aroma of the food was going to interfere with their enjoyment of the coffee I could see that, yeah, because you're enjoying your, your fine espresso here, and the person at the next table has got sausage and egg and cheese on a english muffin, wafting through their restaurant and you're a vegetarian snob.
Letter K:And now you're sipping sausage flavor with your, with your double mocha cacchiato americano.
Psych:Yeah whichever should be forced to cohabitate with such heathens I will submit that those complaints were not valid and I will tell you why.
Letter K:It is because, as you just said, over time they have completely eliminated successfully the skill involved in producing quality coffee at Starbucks and they're still making $3618 billion dollars quarterly. Is that quarterly? Is that an annual report fiscal year ending.
Psych:Yeah, it's an annual report.
Letter K:Okay, so so all those people who are like, oh you can't have your sausage egg mcmuffin in my Starbucks, they're still going there for coffee, even though you said that it has gone down in quality because they don't make it right anymore.
Psych:That's one explanation. Or all of the other people that complained have gone somewhere else and it just which do you think it is? I think there are some people, so I think it's a little of both. I think some of the people are just like you know what? I want some coffee, I mean. I make good coffee here. I make good coffee, but sometimes it's too easy. It's in your face. I can walk across the street and just go get some if I want, and I have better water let's stick to the subject right now. Look into the water, the water the water is great. The water is great, okay, and you can't have good coffee without great water. So the two go hand in hand. But it it's. It's the brand name and recognition, it's the it's. The availability and convenience is what's drawing people in. It's not not the coffee anymore, if somebody really knows. I went to a small little coffee shop. Where were we? We were up in, is that a Bass Lake trip? I think it might've been a Bass Lake trip. On the way home we stopped at some random center and I was like like, oh, there's a coffee shop, I'm gonna go over there and I ordered, got my espresso and they were. They were making it like it was a hands-on experience for them. And that final product was it was like I hadn't tasted it in a while because I had just been drinking so much just absolute trash coffee. I was like, oh, all right, thank you for reminding me. I'm so glad I stopped here.
Letter K:I had at that, um at uh, biancos and phoenix. I had an espresso, love it, and it was incredible. Yeah, so yeah, I I would agree you can taste the difference. But at the same time, I would also submit that the people who are whining and bitching about ruining their perfect Starbucks experience are still going to Starbucks and are accepting the lower quality service?
Psych:Yes, like myself, but I do go less frequently. You love it, I do, I do, I go less frequently, I. So there, I do, I do, I go less frequently. And and people? I think there's people that go, that people just quit. I think there's people that go less frequent, less frequently. We know there's more people now and they're raising their prices. So I mean, 36 billion dollars is not what 36 billion billion was in 1980 or 1970.
Letter K:Yeah, but at the same time, none of your bougie coffee snobs slowed Starbucks down a lick.
Psych:No, no. Their resistance was ineffective. It was insufficient. I don't think it was an attempt to try to put Starbucks out of business. I don't think anybody wants Starbucks out of business, at least any people in good faith, I don't know they're in business. They're in the business to make a profit and if that's what they're doing, and it shows that there was a slight increase almost a half percent, a little over a half a percent from the year prior, so they're steadily rising.
Letter K:And I would say I would submit that people do if you feel wronged by a company. We live in a world now where those people who are wronged or at least they perceive they were wronged, because most of that is calm down, but they want that company to fail because most of that is calmed down, but they want that company to fail. It's like with Elon and the Teslas and the Tesla stock is going down. It's these people who feel slighted or wronged by Elon Musk because he used to be one of us and now he's wearing MAGA hats and he's firing from employees. They want Tesla to fail, actively fail because they were wrong. And these people I mean I'm glad that you're a big enough man to not be boycotting Starbucks because they stopped training baristas to make your quadruple espresso the way that you like it.
Psych:No, yeah, I think. Whatever it would have to be something out of this world, it would have to be something egregious, it would have to be something gross negligence for me to boycott or align myself with any sort of boycott. I think you raise an interesting point with Elon, because I think Elon, for many years, was beloved by both camps.
Letter K:He was a rich liberal hero.
Psych:Yes, the left loved him, the right liked him. He's right there in the middle. The left loved him, the right liked him. He's right there in the middle. And both you know hey, you're creating automobiles that are going to help save this planet. Hey, you're, you know, the boring company. Right, You're going to help us with transit all the way up and down California, high-speed rail and things. Coming out with solutions for that. He came out with some things about the miners that were trapped years ago. What country was? that. Oh wow, I can't remember the country.
Letter K:I just remember the joke about how, when they rescued them all, they couldn't give them beers to celebrate because they were all minors oh really, it's a joke because they're minors. They're not mine. No ers or else well, that's happened before.
Psych:I've been reading about they weren't young.
Letter K:They weren't young.
Psych:It's a pun, never mind oh no, but, but my mind went to the congo and that's another discussion with my hand over there. But we have vehicles that are going to help us get into the 22nd century, that are going to be good and kind for the environment and stop climate change, and you're coming out with all of these solutions for us. You're helping put people back on the moon again, right where America belongs. So the right kind of lights that, okay, america first is forward thinking and things like that and save the environment and climate change. And these notions are merging and melding and I think it conflicted a lot of people and now it's a little different. Now, definitely definitely a little different. Now, yeah, uh, no 2024 before that the chilean miners, that was 2010 wow, 15 years ago, getting old son.
Letter K:What were you doing in 2010?
Psych:I was. I was still in my. I was in my. I had just started my teaching credentialing program. That's what I was doing.
Letter K:I think the alphabet is selling. I was getting ready to release their first album 33 trapped for 69 days.
Psych:Wow, that's a fair amount of time, but yeah, starbucks.
Letter K:So they closed the one location. It's not like a regular Starbucks, it's a tourist trap Starbucks.
Psych:And so they had the first location, the first location closed, opened that location. It's right in the middle of basically the heart of Seattle in that section and it was beloved. Generations of people had enjoyed that location since 1971.
Letter K:But then think about it from a Starbucks perspective. It's a tourist trap location. People are coming from all over the world to go to this Starbucks and they're taking with them reports of being robbed and violence and homelessness and all these things. And now that one Starbucks represents the other 40,000 Starbucks. They didn't want that, of course. They closed the damn store.
Psych:They didn't want that, of course, they closed the damn store. Part of me is like if you have something good, right, if it's worth keeping, then find a way to keep it. I think they should have kept that store open.
Letter K:What could they have done? Put security guards out there, then you have a different optics issue.
Psych:I think they had a variety of solutions that they I think they took the easy route. I think they were just closed.
Letter K:It's just. I mean, you're talking about a macroeconomic powerhouse. Why would you distill down to a single location for any given reason? The fact that it's the first or the second Starbucks ever is just not important enough. You can let that go, because you're making 36 billion dollars a year I know they, but there's something to be said for the history yeah, it's not 2010 anymore, bro.
Psych:You're getting old and nostalgic yeah, now I disagree with her decision. They should probably, they should probably consult with me first and, uh, I think we would have arrived.
Letter K:Could you buy that? Could you buy that location, open a coffee shop and and name it some kind of pun spelling of starbucks?
Psych:I should. I should write them a letter who's who's the ceo? uh, ceo nowadays is it schultz
Letter K:I don't know, I didn't know who it was before.
Psych:Who is the?
Letter K:it was schultz, right, I thought. For the longest time I thought that Starbucks was named after the Dirk Bennington character from Battlestar Galactica.
Psych:Oh, okay, so I'm way Brian Nickel, nickel, nickel, nickel, nickel he took the role last year, replacing Laxman.
Letter K:List all the Now we're down into the weeds now.
Psych:Yeah, I'm happy to hear your article. I thought it was the cast, but I guess no. Yeah, howard Schultz, howard Schultz.
Letter K:I knew it was.
Psych:Schultz. He ended in 2000. Wow 2000.
Letter K:Okay, in 2000? It's been 25 years you were still in high school. Oh no, he came back. He came back.
Psych:Okay, so it was Jerry Baldwin Howard Schultz, jerry Baldwin Howard Schultz. Then he took his first tenure See first tenure here. Warren Smith. Jim Donald Howard Schultz came back in 08 to 17. He had a third stint, march 2022. I'm sorry, april 2022, march 2023. And that's when he left.
Letter K:It's like Bob Iger in Disney you keep letting the right person retire. You got to keep bringing them back. I wonder how much money they keep offering him. Hey, dude, hey, just eight months this time. Just eight months. Give you whatever you want. Starbucks is hurting right now. We only made $22 billion last year. We need you to come back.
Psych:So the current CEO's salary is $96 million.
Letter K:Hold the fucking phone. What?
Psych:did you just say? Well, the total compensation package $96 million.
Letter K:Wow, this is why people get pissed off. They think that all the rich are this elite group of people that are just keeping all of us down because this guy's making a hundred million dollars to run starbucks, and there's no world in which that's not agreed.
Psych:all right so base salary 61 538 Base salary. That's his annual salary. Yes, okay, okay, signing bonus $5 million. Okay, paid after his first month with another $5 million due March 2025.
Letter K:So he just got it.
Psych:So he's making $32 an hour, but they gave him a $5 million bonus $90 million of that is stock awards, including a 75 million equity grant to offset whatever he forfeited. So he came from Chipotle. They brought in a guy from Chipotle to fix Starbucks. Yeah, so Chipotle is closing.
Letter K:Starbucks, it's not.
Psych:And then other perks about a half million dollars. Private jet use Go from California to Seattle because he's back and forth commuting. Personal jet use All sorts of stuff.
Letter K:So yeah, yeah, that all equates to $100 million.
Psych:About $113 million yeah.
Letter K:Yeah, uh-huh, I've still never been to Chipotle, never once. I don't feel like I'm listening to anybody.
Psych:So you already went to Dave and Buster's.
Letter K:I did Dave and Buster's in Phoenix.
Psych:Can you at least preserve Chipotle?
Letter K:Is it such an experience that we need to go? I mean, we live in California.
Psych:Just tell me when you're going to go. I'll stop what I'm doing. I'll take the day off work. I'll stop what I'm doing. I'll take the day off work, I'll drive anywhere or fly.
Letter K:That'll be easy, because if it's up to me to randomly decide to go by myself, it's just not going to happen. I'd rather go to the taco truck down at the end of your block here, which is fabulous.
Psych:That would be so good. And they do treat us well.
Letter K:They do, it's quite the experience we have elevated to what I would almost consider VIP status. But of course we do, we do, you know. We take care of them, we provide them with goods and services.
Psych:You snuck in a good tip last time we were there. I did. He had his back turned, but I think they'll figure it out. It doesn't matter to me, I know it doesn't matter to you, but we take care of them, yeah. So Starbucks, but we take care of them, yeah.
Letter K:So Starbucks, there we go. I don't know.
Psych:I love how that had almost nothing to do with what you had originally intended that to be about. That's okay. I knew this particular story. It had many, many different avenues and ways we could take it and I think we did just that. So
