"Is It Morally Wrong To Buy Stolen Starbucks Free Drink Coupons On eBay?"

Yes. Stolen good are stolen goods.

I can't believe this question is even being posed. Is it ever moral (not to mention legal) to purchase goods if you're aware they're stolen?

If you're saving money, it can't be morally wrong, could it?

How do we know they are stolen? If the company blesses em, they are legit.

Yeah, I'm guessing the suits don't care because you will buy other otherpriced stuff once you get into the Starbucks and/or you will take a friend with you and they will do the same.

Originally, I thought "stolen" = bad, but if the higher ups know about it and don't care I guess it's okay.

Wrong? Yes. Do I feel bad for Starbucks? No.

@Abusiveelusive: Agreement.

Are they stolen, or just re-produced. I think headquarters would get wise to requests for more coupons than normal at their sites. And if they are wise, and could care less, then it's Below moral, but not Poor moral, b/c it's certainly not Average moral.

Consumer activists shouldn't be endorsing or condoning illegal behavior amongst their readers. Just because you hate a company does not make it morally acceptable to commit or benefit from illegal acts against them. This isn't civil disobedience - it's theft.

I think it's wrong and the tipster is clearly a jerk. However, I also think morality is subjective, so what I think is largely irrelevant.

I once went to a college where the college owned the vending machines. In helping a cute co-ed one day with a stuck beverage, I realized that with the slide-down bottle Snapple machines, a little shaking could produce free beverages. I did this for at least 1.5 years while I attended. There were cameras on the vending machines, but they were hardly ever checked, because I could put a post-it on the lens, and it would stay like that for about a week. I justified it because the college owned the machines, and were profiting off the students.

Now that the cat's out of the bag, you're gonna have to pay a little more for your free coffee. All of the auctions I looked at were running pretty close to retail (although most offered free shipping). I actually saw one that went for more than the face value. Go figure...

@GitEmSteveDave: The laundry room in my college dorm had two washers and a dryer that if you just did the coin slot right you could get the dryer to start and get your quarters back.

I always wondered what the person who collected the money thought when the washers would be full of quarters and there would be like $2 in the dryer.

Buying property you believe to be stolen = morally wrong. Doesn't matter if you think starbucks is "evil" or its "just a drop in the bucket" Just because its a big corporation doesnt make theft, or purchase of stolen goods moral.

It is morally wrong to pay $2.47 as a "deal" on a cup of coffee.

@public enemy #1: There was also a Pepsi machine right next to the Snapple machine that would jam with quarters. In helping another lovely co-ed get her "lost" money back, I dicovered with a bent paper clip, I could usually get gas money out of the machine each week(gas was under a buck a gallon back then, and my Stanza was good with gas). I justified this because no one ever repaired the machine.

As a former Barista, I can attest that the Company definitely thinks that this is illegal behavior and is not above going after a mom in our community who would unload her van of kids with these coupons, since I was the bastard who ratted her out.

corporate printed the coupons so they know how many should be out there. if they stop printing them, eventually all of them will be gone.

if some employee snagged a bunch of them and then sell them them online, well that's another story. that's not very nice.

Stealing is wrong.
Profiting (knowingly) from stealing is wrong as well.

@public enemy #1: Really wet college students.

@nonzenze: Even if they're not stolen, I think Starbucks is playing cool on this one because they have a loyal customer base and they could endanger that if they are perceived to be doing somthing 'not cool.' For the most part, the people who order the no whip caramel macchiato or the pumpkin spice lattes on a day to day basis don't actually enjoy coffee. They get them because the brand is popular and the drinks are hip. I know people who add up to half a cup of creamer to their regular coffee because they hate the taste of coffee but they want to be known as someone who fits in with the coffee drinkers. It's a strange thing to do to blend in, but what do I know? I'm a coffee drinker.

I just checked out Ebay to see how many of these exist and I was amazed at how many coupons are on the site. ( [search.ebay.com] ) although, I personally don't think I'd use this option of buying coupons. Plus I don't live in an area where there's many Starbuck's anymore. I recently moved to Massachusetts and the thing here seems to be Dunkin Donuts, I can only find a Starbucks when I go inside my local target and they have a little kiosk set up in there.

@onetakedizzle:

:)

Morality is entirely subjective, stealing is wrong only if you believe it is wrong. Not beleiving in something that is legally defined as wrong, does not alleviate the possible repercussions for following what you believe is right. However it does make your actions to YOURSELF as right irregardless to how others might view your actions.

Addition is a terrible thing.

Yes and addiction is too!

[reviews.ebay.com]

@ChChChacos: I didnt know that a place existed in US that wasn't overrun by Starbucks. I live in DC where you can find them on 2-3 corners of the same intersection.

Starbucks employees are probabylo seling them and starbucks probably doesn't care they are. Because people will eventually get hooked on these drinks and they will keep coming back when starbucks stops sending these out.

They aren't stupid..

Are we certain that Starbucks itself isn't selling these coupons on ebay?

I don't know, but it is morally wrong to go to Starbucks.

Support your local coffee houses, folks.

panda: I don't get it - if the suits say it's OK that makes it OK regardless of their motives.

I did the same with one dollar off lipton tea coupons off of ebay last year. I really stocked up & saved a lot of money. I KNOW that the coupons were taken in bulk (a customer taking the whole pad of coupons from grocery store promotional displays instead of just taking a few like they are supposed to do). Meh... I dont see anything wrong with it.

One thing odd I noticed in a grocery store last year was a lipton tea display with a bunch of coupon pads attached, but EVERY SINGLE COUPON (must have been at least a thousand) had a black mark written thru the UPC code by a black sharpie marker... making them unscannable).... why would this be done? Why would they (either the lipton distributor/delivery man OR grocery store employee) mark thru them all & then leave them attached to the display? I dont understand. MAybe someone could explain?

Morality is subjective, but if you think stealing is wrong then I would say this is probably "wrong" if you know they are stolen. It's probably also illegal if you are knowingly buying stolen goods.

Are we certain that Starbucks itself isn't selling these coupons on ebay?

A) Print and give away coupons for free drinks
B) Print and sell coupons for free drinks

I'll take B, Mr CEO!

@Balisong: Ding ding ding. There's the answer. They'd rather give you a free cup of coffee that costs them a few cents and have to pay the competition and, in turn, keep the competition afloat.

If their plans for world domination actually come to fruition (no more local coffee houses) don't expect them to stay so cool about coupons.

@johnva:

I think it is illegal to sell coupons. BUT coupon sellers get around this by saying that you are paying for their time/service to collect said coupons.... so you arent actually buying the coupons. The coupons are free.

@Applekid: " ... a few cents and have to pay ... " should be " ... a few cents than have you pay ... "

I have to side with the morally wrong crowd.

But I'd suspect the reason Starbucks doesn't care is that as soon as those coupons are printed the accountants mark it in the books as a cup owed. It doesn't matter to them how you got the coupon, the money's already magically gone anyway.

HEY. The fucking company thinks it's wrong. I don't know why this keeps coming up, but it's all over the training material. Managers are supposed to keep an on hand count of these coupons everytime there is a shift change so that they can find out if people are stealing them.

no problem with me....i don't do starbucks

"Morality is totally subjective." It boggles my mind. So, you must therefore be OK with the person who honestly believes he or she has a right to your stuff to just take it, including the guy in the Volvo who decides to blow you away because he has a moral right to, given that last lane-change you made? What a remarkable bunch of moral-relativists we have here!

For those of you who need direction here, given this is even posted, YES it is wrong to traffic in any goods not having a "clean" chain of custody. Now, back to the playground all of you and thanks for asking. Jeesh.

@onetakedizzle: That is awesome.

I don't know who the tipster actually talked to when they contacted Starbucks but I seriously doubt it was anyone high up in the chain.

What if the coupons are not stolen but instead are actually being sold by Starbucks themselves? So not only do they get money up front, they get your business later too.

Sounds like a plan to me.

@Rectilinear Propagation: Yeah I'm totally confused that everyone is just running with that. If the conspiracy theories want to go on about the company selling these, that's fine. The company owns the coupons and may do as they please. But I've seen even Regional "higher-ups" step in and put an end to this. Granted they don't step in every time, but that doesn't imply that the company is cool with getting their stuff stolen...

*this = manager's or baristas taking the coupons themselves and selling them on ebay or giving them to friends.

what the fuck?! *managers*

Lamest. Question. Ever. Oh, and suggesting that Starbucks is selling them themselves on eBay? Lame too. Companies with thousands of stores that do quite well don't need an eBay coupon scheme trickle as a revenue stream. Clearly this is a case of Joe Barista stealing and selling to unscrupulous people who think it's clever to buy stolen goods to save a few bucks on coffee. These are the same types that buy slugs for the subway.

In many ways, the people that buy the illegal goods are so much lamer than the actual thieves themselves.

@nonzenze: I don't think the suits are saying OK, I think they're under-reacting. They are probably not going to over-react to something that can't necessarily stop since they can't prove the coupons on ebay were stolen. I'm sure they're working internally to solve this problem but until then, they seem to be keeping mum. They can't just say, "this is wrong" and people will magically realize the error of their way and stop bidding.

@EvilConservative: Philosophically, morality IS subjective. Different people, religions, and cultures have different ideas about what is and is not moral, and there is no way to prove who is "right" or if anyone even is "right". Some "moral" values, like the idea that we shouldn't murder each other, are pretty widely held within humanity. But even there there is widespread disagreement about what constitutes murder and what doesn't. For example, is abortion murder? Is negligently killing innocent civilians through aerial bombing during a war murder? Is killing someone who dishonored or harmed your family murder? There is no clear-cut consensus on these questions.

However, you can make an argument about ethical consistency here. If you wouldn't think it's moral to steal in one context you probably shouldn't think it's moral to steal in another if you believe in a consistent system of morality. Just recognize that your moral values may not be universal.