Do you still get the free coffee if you've volunteered to create a community group that helps zone Starbucks out of neighborhoods?

Wow, a whole medium coffee.*

* Extra charge for cream and/or sugar

Look, they're not obligated to hand out coffee for free. The fact that they offer a reward for you to do 5 measley hours of community service is a gesture of good will in my book. I don't know why you have to bitch about them being stingy. Get over it, freeloaders.

How do they know? Do we have to submit a bunch of paperwork then wait 8-10 weeks for a free coffee coupon?

Nice idea but if there is no requirements to show proof most people will just lie to get a free cup of coffee...

No the value of community service is priceless and most people that do it, do it without compensation. That Starbucks would reward those who would usually go unrecognized is honorable... even if it is a sleek 'get people into the store' strategy. :) We ought to be praising the companies who do more for consumers, no?

So what do you have to do to get this free coffee? Do you have to hold up your hand and say "I pledge that I will do 5 hours of community service?" and then they hand over the cup? I'm not saying that I would try this nor would I want a cup of their coffee, but how will they prevent people from saying that they'll do community service just to get the free coffee?

@BMRFILE: Its not that they're doing it. Its that they're doing the absolute bare minimum to scratch out some free advertising and publicity.

That being said, you're right. We DO bitch too much.

@Trick: The coffee is free after mail-in rebate.

I work there, and it's actually a free coffee to anyone 21st thru 25th. Just say you want a free coffee, and they should do it.

@LintySoul: I worked for a locally coffee shop before Starbucks. No benefits, no future. The worst part is that even though we were the busiest shop in town, the owner still had to drive truck to make a living. Capitalism is Capitalism, no matter what the size, at least Starbucks is big enough to give benefits.

@Trick: It's a free coffee to anyone, you don't have to lie.

I no longer work at s'bux. Due to "Just say yes" theyre supposed to give you the coffee wether you volunteered or not, kinda making this promotion useless. I feel for the Baristas who will have to deal with more crap from custies.

Theres a facebook page for the promo, get a load of all the sarcastic and cynical comments. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Cute idea. A lot of dishonest people are going to be getting free coffee.

@homerjay wants Boston Legal back!: Yeah, screw them for giving out anything. How dare they?

@joebobfunguy: But you have to pledge to do five hours of community service. So, its entirely possible and likely that a few/several/some/many people will claim a free cup of coffee with no intention of doing any community service.

At least this is better than the promotion where they donated 5 cents off a few specific expensive items to charity. That was an insult and I'm surprised more people didn't raise Hell over that. You could argue that they were trying to help in some way, but they can afford to send a lot more, and either on EVERY beverage for that time, or on those beverages FOREVER. Plus, forcing you to buy an expensive drink to donate just 5 cents is an insult to the cause. You know it's only a publicity thing to get more customers. So they earned more customers and profit while throwing a few dollar bills at the faces of needy people.

The only time I actually went into a Starbucks was when they gave out a free one for voting. I took a few sips and threw out the rest. That had to be the absolute worst coffee I had ever tasted.

@homerjay wants Boston Legal back!: It's still infinitely more than you're supposed to get for volunteering. At least it isn't a short coffee.

What if your community service is court ordered?

This is a post where there was a choice to put a particular spin on a piece of news and the Consumerist chose the low road. This is part of Obama's promotion to use MLK day as a day of service and Starbucks is offering this promotion in line with encouraging people to do that. They're not looking to "pay" you for your volunteer work, but perhaps add a small reward to the good feeling you're supposed to get from doing something for others.

Rather than being snarky about it, why doesn't the Consumerist frame this information in a more neutral fashion if being positive about it is out of the question?

@homerjay wants Boston Legal back!: Damn beat me to it.

@ccbweb: In the handouts they gave the employees it says give a free coffee to anyone who asks for one, regardless of if they pledged hours to God or Country. Okay?

@joebobfunguy: The way I understand it, the intent is to reward those who do community service. However, Starbucks does not have the means to actually check whether people are actually doing that service. So the instruction to employees is "give it to whomever asks".

@joebobfunguy: One local cafe here has enough financial support from the community, and from roasting their own beans, to pay their employees above minimum wage and to provide health insurance. I recognize this is not too common amongst small cafes. But at least its a shining beacon that these things are possible.
But yeah, capitalism is capitalism and in the end someone pays the price...

Why do people feel so compelled to knock Starbucks? I buy the coffee I drink at home mail-order from a small artisanal roasting business, Ristretto Roasters, in Portland, but I go to Starbucks venues in Los Angeles and elsewhere in America, and I've always been impressed that they seem to have a culture of niceness there. They seem to hire nice people as employees, and the employees seem to treat the customers pretty well -- even some extraordinarily rude customers.

Also, I've seen a few local Starbucks really look after the homeless that come in there, and treat them with a lot of respect.

Regarding this promotion, I think it's really great. Social programs can come from anywhere, not just government, and I'd rather see people volunteer to help others rather than having funding often ineffective, state-run programs sucked out of my tax dollars.

Starbucks has previously given out free coffee to people who voted. They also give health benefits to people who work (I believe) 20 hours a week there, and I believe they give benefits to their employees' gay and lesbian partners, despite the fact that they aren't required to by law.

In my book, they're a company other companies should emulate, not a company people should sneer at. What is it, the fact that the company has been successful that makes people want to knock it?

I'm reminded of all the commenters on the Times of London site who kicked around Madoff victim Alexandra Penney simply because she had a lot of money before she lost it to the scumbag, and still has some real estate holdings. The lady is self-made, and worked for everything she has, and whether you're rich or poor, getting cleaned out to a great degree by a crook is a horrible thing.

Tall is actually a small coffee at Starbucks. So, basically, you'd get a small paper cup of gross.

@homerjay wants Boston Legal back!: tall is the equivalent of a "small" (kind of)
short (8oz) (only by request, not advertised)
tall (12 oz) (small)
grande (16 oz) (medium)
venti (20 oz) (large)
(note: these are for hot drinks)
supposedly they used to only offer small/tall/venti (8/12/16)

(damnit, i didn't mean to write so much...)

@Chris Stone:

Yeah, a nickel is an insult. Are consumers REALLY suppose to feel good about themselves knowing that Starbucks gave a NICKEL to charity?

How will they know we took part?

@Gstein: They actually originally offered only short and tall (which makes sense... short is small, tall is large). Then people started wanting larger drinks and they added grande (grande meaning "large" in Italian). People wanted even larger cups (being the Americans that we are) and they then added venti (meaning "twenty" in Italian... 20oz... get it? clever).

At least that was they story they gave me when I worked there.

@fantomesq: Due to some strange vagaries of accounting and required reports for some grants, the Federal Government assigns a value to different types of volunteer community service. Spend the weekend framing with Habitat for Humanity and you're worth ~$18/hour! Now how can I get that in coffee form?

It isn't even worth a promise.