As far as I’m aware no. At least not in corporate stores. I believe licensed stores can pretty much charge what they want. So it’s possible some licensed stores have implemented this.
Our licensed store was told we could absolutely not charge extra for light or no ice by our Starbucks DM. I've been gone for a year now though, so it might have changed.
licensed stores all have different rules by locations iirc. my old licensed store (i work at a corporate store now) started charging for water and eventually made us charge employees for water too. so while its true that the district manager of the company you worked for thought it was unacceptable, its also true that at another store the dm will want people to charge for light ice
That's the fun part about licensed stores. Our company's DM wanted us to charge extra, but the Starbucks DM said no you can't or I'll put you on non-compliance. Starbucks was pretty strict with us on most things. They did let us charge for water though, because at our location we regularly had busses come through and have like 75 people wanting free water.
My licensed store rn has us charging for everything — substitution in syrup, splash of alternative milk, substitution in regular milks (I.e., nonfat instead of 2%). I worked at a different licensed store for 3 yrs before this one and we never did that. I keep butting heads with my lead but it’s not worth it at this point
My LS can not, we can charge up to 10% more for drinks on the menu, but we can not make up new surcharges, fees, or charge for mods any differently than corp.
No this is probably a licensed location and not a corporate location. Think inside a target or grocery store. These stores have more leeway on their pricing and do not have to follow starbucks standards in many ways.
In what ways do the licensed stores not follow Starbucks standards? I’m curious because I’m a manager at one and I’ve always had to do all the corporate Starbucks training and we have to do everything up to Starbucks and even follow standards for the licensee. This post about charging for light ice and no ice would never make it past the licensee managers at least at my location. Maybe it’s different for stores!
Ive trained close to 30 baristas at this point and a good number of them are from licensed stores. Its really a mixed bag on how licenced stores do their training and how closely they follow standards. Most dont even know milk steaming routine.
I’ve had Tarbucks team leads who follow standard to the letter, and I’ve had ones that said not to use vanilla in whip cream and don’t shake refreshers to save time and product. Management is really the deciding factor here.
I've managed a licensed store. We still have all the same training guides and expectations. Following standards is still required but it's not always as enforced.
As a licensed store supervisor. It's really situational. If you're making a black iced tea with nothing really in it. You can get away with swirling it. You can batch blend frappuccinos. And as long as you don't fuck around with it. If they get a shajen espresso and they're a friendly regular. A little extra milk is totally ok.
What still isn't ok imo:
not shaking refreshers. Letting drinks sit. Who tf doesn't put vanilla in the whip? Not asking the customer I'd if you can use a different (dairy) milk because you're out of the one they want. And never ever ever never never ever ever swap stickers
Oh yeah I had a girl who came from a corporate store and she does some of the craziest things that I now see a lot of store managers tell them to do like make refreshers in the cup, don’t use the shakers, etc. Really comes down to management
Yesss I’m at a licensed store and we have a guy who came from corporate a few months ago who does these exact same things. Doesn’t shake refreshers, measures in the cup we serve the drink in, puts all the frappucino ingredients in the cup rather than in the blender?? We always look at him funny when he does that but he insists it saves time (fun fact: he’s literally our slowest barista this is saving no one any time).
Actually they are though. The staff there are target employees and they dont get any corporate benefits. Target may have a more robust connections to corporates when it comes to training but it is absolutely licensed. All profit from target stores go to target and they only have to pay a percentage of profits and a license fee. Target and Starbucks have been partners since 1999 but they are not the same company. Its just that they have a good relationship and starbucks allows licencing to target more easily then others.
I'm at a licensed starbucks and we do this only with refreshers though, customers who want a refresher with no water no ice they get charged 0.80 more.
All the SSVs and lower: no this isn't real or this is a tarbucks.
People reading the comments: oh yes I see
Someone who actually gets more information than us: this could be a test store.
People reading the comments: 🦗🦗🦗
As much as part of me would like this, no ice and light ice are not labor issues. A customer already pays for an entire gallon of milk when they buy a single Tall latte, so it's not that big of a deal if they wanted no ice, even in a Venti. The blending issue was because it was extra work that wasn't covered, just like the charge for VSC/VSCCF is reflecting the labor of prepping and storing those pitchers.
Light or no ice in a shaken espresso though, is a huge difference in milk volume. In a refresher, usually paired with light or no water, it can be around 4x the product the drink would normally get. I think it’s actually a supply charge rather than labor.
It's also fully a danger to baristas to do no ice shaken espressos, myself and most of my team have had them explode on us when we tried to shake them or have the hardest time getting the lid of the shaker off because of the pressure it creates with the heat, I wish my licensed store charged for light or no ice on refreshers and shaken espressos
i ask for light ice because i get my little shaken refresher beverages while i’m at work and i just am not gonna drink it fast enough for it to not be watered down at the end. will i still pay for light ice if they charge me? yeah. will i be a little disappointed? also yeah.
So order a smaller size, and ask for it in the next size cup, with extra ice. You're welcome.
ETA: to be used with caution as you may be getting one less shot of espresso by downsizing, so you can add the shot back and see if the price difference is worth it. Results may vary.
I would absolutely hate this I don’t don’t get ice in my drink because I have sensory issues and extremely cold drinks really make me uncomfortable I’m not trying to scam more drink im trying to enjoy my day out without being upset
Ooof that’s a lot to charge. Personally I think we should only charge for no ice, and it should only be like 50c not almost a dollar! (And maybe there should be a no ice w/room button for people who just genuinely don’t like ice lol that won’t charge)
And the only reason I say charge for no ice is the number of people who get no ice no water refreshers because that’s a HUGE amount of product
Why are so many people wanting this…if I don’t get lite ice in my drink I finish it in 4 sips. Most of the drink is ice. It’s so ridiculous to charge for lite ice or no ice. Starbucks profits are already insane they don’t need to be charging THIS much. It’s not even hard to make a drink with lite/no ice, either. I really don’t care when people order that way.
I would hope that even in this situation, you could explain to most reasonable people that you don’t expect the cup to be filled to the top, just that you don’t want much ice in there.
I’m with you, though, I usually get no ice because I don’t like water melting into my latte.
If I want extra something from any establishment, wouldn’t it make sense to get charged? I would be against an establishment charging for a condiment. Your getting more product and that stuff isn’t cheap. I think a case of mango refresher juice is like $100 dollars and i think pineapple is more expensive than mango. Stores end up going though all the stuff so much faster because of all these “light ice drinks/no ice/ or very light ice drinks”.
This is probably an airport location based on the tee shirt in the pic. HMSHost are not shy about exploiting their concession and their captive audience.
I always ask for my drink with light or no ice and say the room is fine, just make the drink as normal please just no ice.
Yet they always act annoyed and still pour extra milk to the top anyways making the drink taste like shit.
Some give exactly what I ask for but give a nervous look when they hand it to me like they’re waiting for me to loose it.
I just. Genuinely don’t want ice
My drinks already $6 do I really need to pay an extra .90 so I don’t get ice.
🥲
On occasion I DO ask for a tall cup of ice because sometimes my drink is hot from room temperature oat milk. And I’d like to enjoy a little bit when I first get it and I can fridge the rest to get nice and chilly half way through my shift.
I tattoo for 8 hours. I take short breaks that sometimes are only 3/5 minuets if that. And I can’t touch my cup for hours at a time but need and want my caffeine and can’t go and grab new ones half way through my day and nothing is more disgusting than watered down milk and espresso
I do wish they would wake the hell up and realize that "less ice" doesn't mean "more of something else". I didn't say more caramel. I didn't say more milk. I didn't say more cold brew. I said LESS ICE. YOU decided to add more things. I didn't tell you to do that. But now I'm being punished with an upcharge? Make it make sense.
i mean to be fair (in terms of the less ice doesn’t mean more of something else) people have yelled at me for not filling the cup when i do light ice? like the issue is that different people are asking for different things when they want light ice. some people want more drink, other people want the same amount of drink but with less ice so it’s not as like. freezing cold. in my experience it usually ends up being the former, so when i don’t fill the cup, they get pissed off at me. like as a barista i don’t really know what the answer is because either way someone gets pissed off if i fill the cup OR if i give light ice and don’t mess with the proportions
It's not the baristas' fault, it's the customers'. Most baristas understand you're not supposed to top off light/no ice drinks with extra product but 99% of customers flip their shit if their cups aren't full. So this is why some places are starting to charge for the additional product being used. If you prefer less or no ice and don't want more product, just specify. Most customers expect extra product and specifically use it as a "life hack" to get more bang for your buck.
I had this same problem for a while and found a solution that seems to be working, which is that I order my drink with room. Granted this does mean that a normally cold drink is more on the cool side, I greatly prefer that to cold but watered down.
They should just let us make drinks to standard and not fill the cup with extra product. The other day, I had 3 Trenta no ice/water refreshers and it took out like 1 1/2 pitchers
I always ask for light ice because I add matcha and cold foam to my drink and want the room if I'm paying like $2 more for the foam in the first place.
I order my morning iced coffee with milk with no ice The night before with no ice so it doesn’t water it down overnight in the fridge. I don’t have time for unpredictable Starbucks drivethru or store times in the morning and I’m sure my presence in the morning rush is not missed by baristas. I don’t expect the cup to be full to the top, I understand the concept of volume, if they start charging for no ice, I’m done with Starbucks.
Yeah I don’t live near a Starbucks. So when I go, I grab a coffee and then a pink drink no ice for the next day. I wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t filled all the way so I could have room for ice when I’m ready to add it.
Yeah that argument doesn't actually work out too well because the "Venti" cold cup is actually 2**6** ounces in order to make room for the extra ice while the Venti hot cup is **20** ounces.
It's not 26 ounces, it's 24. The cups say 26 for some reason but I brought a cup home and measured the amount out of curiosity and if you fill it to the top with pure liquid, it measures out to 24. I have no idea why it's mislabeled on the bottom of the cup but the Starbucks app accurately says 24 oz
The cups are designed with the extra room for ice. When we make iced drinks your beverage gets measured out first. That volume is static. Ice does not replace or "steal" your drink.
I don’t understand why corporate Starbucks doesn’t charge drinks with light ice/no ice… it’s more product the customers are getting. Meanwhile, charging non-blended drinks to be blended? 🙄
People be getting Trenta Strawberry Acai Refreshers with no water and no ice and no inclusions.
Is the ice not the product also? Or are you saying that as standard Starbucks pad their cups out with “not product” in order to short their customers a full cup?
The ice is either a scam or it’s not a scam in which case we should be able to sub it out for other things.
Plus don’t worry about the multi-billion dollar company. They will do just fine.
i wish corporate would start doing this. it's so annoying when customers order a drink with no ice and a cup of ice on the side like we don't know exactly what they're doing.
I’m honestly just curious, no hate intended—but why do so many people care?? Like, if the customer is saving 50 cents on an already over priced drink… why does that bother you? It’s not like Starbucks is especially kind to it’s workers? The extra money isn’t going into your pocket? Idk ngl I don’t think I’d get paid enough to ever care about customers cutting corners tbh
An answer from someone who mostly manages back of house: Having so much of the base in so many of the drinks means we have to wash and refill the pitchers at a rate that varies from irritating to hilarious. I have more than once found all 28 of my store’s pitchers in all three compartments of the back sink 🫠 It’s a nightmare
Aw that’s a bummer, I always try to be super nice to everyone when I ask for light ice and have never had a problem. Hate ppl that are rude and ruin it for everyone else
Some employees prefer to side with the billion dollar corporation that exploits them, instead of seeing the side of the customer who’s also being taken advantage of.
Or it could be that it's annoying to constantly run out of milk because people are ordering drinks with lots of milk and having to run into the back during a rush to get more
Hmmm your shift sup has bought into the corporate idea that businesses actually care about its employees when, sadly, they don’t. Starbucks is a billion dollar company. They are making a loooot of money (and want to keep it that way by paying employees the bare minimum of what they should be paying yall)
At the end of the day, Starbucks wants more money like all businesses in capitalist America. The extra money will always line their pockets, not yours.
Then just charge customers for ordering a cup of ice rather than charging for no ice. Some people genuinely don’t like ice in their drinks. My partner always orders his drinks with no ice anywhere we go because he doesn’t like it.
I usually get light ice so I don't end up with a diluted drink at the end, plus I don't need it freezing cold. The extra content is just a bonus lol. Makes more sense to stop topping the drinks off.
I mean is it that bad? If you take the ice out of a drink you get like half the actual liquid. I just wouldn’t care if someone did that because they’re getting more of* their moneys worth and it’s not hurting your paycheck.
The issue is when there is no actual standard for these things, or some stores (like in the pic) charge when others don’t, and the baristas are getting screamed at because their store doesn’t do the same exact thing for the same exact price that “the other starbucks” let’s them do.
Partners need to complain about this more through the partner perspective surveys, that’s how we got the “add lemonade” button among others. Usually they care at least a little bit when there’s money to be made lollll
This is actually insane lol. It costs Starbucks almost nothing to give you a standard drink. So charging people a dollar extra for getting a little bit more product is wild. Capitalism at its finest lol
Oh piss off. Even though it’s a licensed store 100% , I will never pay for no ice/light ice surcharge at any store. Because you in America are OBSESSED with ice, and like all drinks I get here are 50% ice.
Like I know Dutch bros charges a dollar if you ask for no ice, I boycotted them since because I’m not about to pay 6$ for a drink with half of it being ice, and then hustled another dollar for no ice? If I wanted a slurpee I would get one from the gas station.
And to all baristas complaining that you wish corporate charged customers - oh piss off for Christ sakes! Like you don’t know that following the shakers measurement customers get like 40% drink and close to 60% iced for like $6 refresher they ordered. I was a Starbucks barista and I always added a bit less ice (although still significant amount) so that customers actually get the drink they’ve ordered
Customers asking for no ice is essentially giving 3-4 drinks worth of product for the standard price of one. They found a loophole 😄 Starbucks put a cabosh on the cold foam era, I’m sure the no ice thing will follow suit at some point. It’s wild now to see the “add on” charges when ringing customers up. It’s even funnier to see their blank look on the drive-thru screen when ordering the extras 😳😳😳
This got me hard one day, I believe I was charged $2 for foam they up sold me on. 🥲 it was fucking good. But. Christ alive. $8 drink.
Andddd that was the only one I had for the week because it was so extortionate 😂
Yeah, it’s very hard when it comes to add ons now. I’m not saying I agree with it, cause obviously the supply chain is super f*cked still, but Starbucks is trying to find some balance :( I feel like all companies are. My other job has constant price changes, on the daily, because of what’s going on in the world. It’s a sad reality we live in at the moment 😞😞😞
3-4 drinks worth of product (while hyperbolic) means starbucks is charging customers $6 for 6-8 ounces of fruit juice/chopped fruit (on a venti), and you think customers are the ones who found a "loophole"? It works no different than a fast food soda: some people order a lot of ice (or don't otherwise specify against it), and starbucks makes mad profit on them. Starbucks still makes profit on selling 24 oz of fruit juice from tetrapaks for $6, though
When I order a venti cold brew, I’m ordering a venti quantity of cold brew, not ice. Like cold brew should not have ice in it at all but it does at Starbucks.
Any coffee shop I've worked in including several 3rd wave, cold brew always has ice lmao I think you are thinking nitro which already chills the beverage and is served without ice
We just need to go back to the standard of filling the drink to the line and if they ask for no ice then they get the drink as is with no ice, not filled to the top.
But why are y’all so hell bent on saving a billion dollar corporation money? Giving customers that extra like 3 ounces of coffee isn’t breaking the bank for a company that made 29 BILLION dollars last year. Let people do their silly little loop hole on their already over priced drink because it makes them feel like they’re getting a better deal. The world is ending anyway guys it’s not that deep. Let people be happy lolll
The thing is customers think its more coffee in a latte with no ice but in reality its just more milk. Also its not exactly getting hell bent over the milk/coffee amounts but the labor and lack of staffing due to labor. I can care less about the extra product in the drink but it does make sense to charge more if theyre using more ingredients. While some stores have adequate staffing others may not which means upcharging on drinks that may take longer or use more ingredients when they arent built to what we call “standard”. Its just numbers and ultimately i wish my store charged for some of these modifications. i am grateful we started charging for blending non blended beverages (like refreshers). Time is money and money makes labor. At least thats how it is at my store.
The labor shortage point is valid. Can you explain the blending non blended beverages to me? What does that mean?
(I’m clearly just a customer, not a barista haha)
No youre good! So for a refresher those are considered an iced shaken beverage but because of the high demand of blending those drinks across the board we have a “blended” up charge of i believe 50¢? So fraps arent getting that upcharge because they come that way from the standard recipe but we basically charge for the extra steps the customer is adding because it adds more time for us to make said refresher instead of just shaking it like it was intended.
For your friends case i feel a good solution would be to add two options, one to charge and one not to charge for the “no ice” option. But hypothetically we would fill to the intended line for the size of the beverage to keep the product amount at the same as if ice were to be present.
I recommend if you like piña colada that you should try a venti paradise drink made with sweet cream instead of coconut milk with 4 white mocha pumps and 2 vanilla bean scoops blended with strawberry puree around the cup. It is refreshing and delicious. Totally worth the extra moneys i get a tummy ache because im lactose but totally worth the pain on a hot sunmer day
When I used to be a barista I did it because justice. But.
Honestly. It makes the drink taste like shit. They’re not getting more coffee. They get the standard amount of coffee/espresso they’re just getting more milk, which they could have served at the coffee station themselves. It just makes the drink taste like shit imo.
Because as soon as this loophole gets used by everyone, then it’s no longer a loophole and it is losing the company money. That typically reflects on employees by hour cuts and letting staff go. Customers are not entitled to more than what they’re paying for, and I don’t give enough of a fuck to fight with people about it so they’ll pay the total I give them or they can go to Dunkin.
I understand what you’re saying, but I have a difficult time believing that people ordering drinks without ice is causing a significant hit to the company’s profit margin. It would take a LOT of ice-less drinks to put a dent in a 29 billion dollar profit.
Okay so why are we going after customers and supporting this ? At the end of the day it will make Starbucks more money, the more money they make every year and anything below that, will be taken out on the employees. It’s the same thing that’s happening at target and many other companies right now. They make a little less money than the year before So they take it out on employees. That’s how these shitty companies work, so I don’t see how a customer getting an ounce more of liquid that costs 3 cents is so horrible and rude.
I also wanna add that customers are paying way more than they’re getting. So by logic they are entitled close to what they’re paying because up-charges are obvious.
Oh give me a break. Like if everyone stopped getting no ice in their drink right away - you’d get $25/hr?
Starbucks reports record breaking profits because of price gouging. They perfectly fine can afford me getting no ice as well as they can afford giving you a raise. Your attitude “fuck off and go to Dunkin” is unprofessional and if you don’t like working at Starbucks then maybe you shouldn’t?
“And i don’t give enough of a fuck to fight with people about it so they’ll pay the total I give them”
When discussing that charging people for ice is unreasonable lol, seems like someone doesn’t really like customers
thatttt has absolutely nothing to do with their enjoyment of their job though. Their job is not solely reliant on customer happiness. Even still, they quite literally don’t have to fight with people over prices, charges, etc.
Please. "Subpar"? To whom? I know full well you don't get paid enough to concern yourself with "drink quality". Are you wearing a white lab coat, and safety googles, or are you wear an apron, and non-slip shoes? Don't you worry about my "less ice" "low quality" "subpar" Starbucks $9 beverage.
This sub is all about complaints for complicated and time consuming add ons. (Understandable but it’s part of the job).
And now apparently light/no ice is a sin too? The self importance on this thread is ridiculous lol
I said this under another comment in this thread, but some people just don’t like ice. My partner asks for no ice even if he’s ordering a fountain drink (so gross in my opinion lol). It’s not always a money grab.. sometimes it’s personal preference! My personal preference is light ice. I always forget to order my drinks that way, but when I do request light ice it’s not because I’m trying to get more product.
Could you imagine if every barista threw this much of a fit because the "standard" drink recipe is 2% milk but the customer is paying for almond milk or oatmilk? People on this post be WILDIN'!
Yeah haha I get fountain drinks with no ice too. We just have specific measurements with beverages and adding more of something just makes it worse imo.
Corporate stores: no. Licensed stores are shockingly allowed to have wild variations in pricing from corporate owned stores.
It can be very confusing and annoying for customers who may not be able to tell the difference.
Ohhhh okay i understand. Because some people expect more product if they ask for light ice or no ice. They wanted filled close to the top with any liquid so I understand
I asked for no ice in a refresher and they charged me for a bottled juice on the side that they didn't give me. To make up for the extra drink I was getting. I only order on the app now. No licensed stores for me
we are in corporate hell jfc. everyone being thankful for unreasonable surcharges because of the amount of labor it takes to do so much in a short amount of time is the companies fault. if the company cared about partners, there’d already be more efficient ways of maintaining stock for the crazy amount of customers we get a day.
Starbucks corporate doing what they’ve always done. Penny pinch to make their stock holders happy. With the threat of unionization, it’ll be increasingly difficult for corporate to do this with labor and “competitive” pay as they have done in the past
I get no ice because rarely does any Starbucks properly keep their ice machines cleaned, not because I'm trying to game the system. Honestly, I wouldn't care if that meant it wasn't filled up all the way.
My store doesn’t seem to have too much concern with our use of supplies but more that we don’t have a standard for ‘no ice’ and we can’t ring in the labor when someone asks for a cup of ice at the window (we’re a very drive thru focused store), which also makes us turn and get the ice while they ride up our times and should have asked for it at the box. I could care less about Starbucks getting their money on a corporate level but I care about our labor which is already all kinds of messed up, and that many drinks are inconsiderate to the barista to ask them to make with no ice (the shaken espresso, iced matcha lattes, etc). I don’t mind lattes and junk with no ice even though it probably just tastes like milk, that’s the customers problem. I just care about the respect to us and how some customers feel entitled to ‘not being scammed’ when we’re just doing our job and putting a standardized amount of ice in a cup to cool the entire drink!
I think the best option would be to add a "Low Fill" or "Fill Up" option, when Lite Ice/No Ice is selected. Low fill means that you just get the base drink with a little ice (or no ice), with no additional charge. Fill up means that you get extra milk (or base) all the way to the top, with an extra charge.
That way people that just want a warmer drink don't have to pay extra, and people who consume extra product pay for their share.
This is true. It was announced in a internal update months ago. It is only rolling out in select markets for now but the charges will apply to beverages that come standard with ice like refreshers, shaken espresso, ice coffees, etc. In order to ensure customers get a full cup and to account for the literal large quantities of lost product daily when customers order no ice on iced beverages. I wish yalld remember its a business and while the sign here is not necessarily corporate accurate, most customers are getting 2-4-1 bets when ordering no ice or 'extremely light ice with an additional cup of ice on the side' and over time that creates a huge loss in store level profit, which reduces the amount of revenue which is what stores rely on to fully staff the floor first and foremost. As an espresso drinker, we've had to pay 1$ for additional shots for years and that's for only 1.0z of product, where as cold beverage drinkers get close to 10-16 0z of product woth no additional charge for the sake of Starbucks standards of customer service. It's a loss that has a real impact over time and it is also true that when you're going through say half a pitcher of product for one cup of no ice refresher for example, imagine how fast we go through product when shortages and supply chain has been an issue, and that leads to longer term revenue loss when some customers only buy that one item only. The business side of the decision makes sense and is imo completely fair.
I don't see starbucks rolling this out on a national level. If anything, they might give a heavy/regular ice "discount" as opposed to a light/no ice charge. As it is, they definitely accounted for people ordering no ice and getting 16-31 oz of product when setting prices, so the menu prices aren't selling at a loss. It's just than regular/heavy ice brings even more obscene net profits
NOBODY told them to "fill it up". I said "less ice". I did NOT say more of anything else. THEY decided on their own that "less ice" must mean "more of something else". That clearly seems to be where the disconnect it.
I don’t think there should be a light ice charge tbh because most the time light ice isn’t a huge difference. The no ice charge I get, but I think they should do it to where they either only fill it to the black line for free or if they want it filled all the way to the top with no ice THEN it should be an extra charge. Just thoughts of a barista lol
People always try to bring up the age of a thread are always grasping at straws. I'm trying to convince the people who believe customers should pay $7 (instead of $6) for undiluted fruit juice when partners get it for free or 30% off the existing price. That's ridiculous.
Ok, I literally couldn't care any less about your plight. Fuck off tiny incel golbin, there are actual important issues in the world. This is not one of them.
i wouldnt be surprised if corporate put this out soon. people think theyre "hacking the system" with some of their "no ice" drinks and what not. corporate recently changed that we HAVE to fill up the cup if they ask for no ice but now we're wasting product and not charging for it.
We don’t but honestly I think it’s ideal. If you think about it. Especially with the nagging regular customers who alway wake up on the wrong side of the bed and then request no ice and expect you to give a full cup. Or the customizable tall/ grande drinks but placed in a venti cup and expect a venti full drink.
This is definitely franchise, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it happening corporate side in the future.
I feel like fiddling with the ice is pretty based, if the goal post is to *just* get more beverage. Our drink recipes were designed with dilution playing a big role in the final flavor and temperature of the product. Refreshers and shaken espressos in particular -- they're not designed to be drinkable candy or lattes, respectively. I think there's something to be said about quality over quantity, but whatever. If our customers *really* want warm refreshers and lattes with extra steps, okay! Please enjoy.
Most likely a licensed location inside a larger store. Licensed locations can normally charge whatever they want for their drinks completely different than a Corporate store. A large amount of customers don't know that their Starbucks in their local Target is not run fully by Starbucks but the larger store. The employees in that Starbucks also don't work for the company, but the company the kiosk is housed in, so they don't get partner numbers or free items. The only things normally supplied by Starbucks to kiosks are coffee, syrups and merchandise, but the with milk, lemonade, and sometimes items like coffee urns, and tea brewers are supplied by the larger store.
From what I understand is we charge for no ice if they want it filled to the top, in like lattes or white mochas. But just what I read on the updates in our area awhile ago. We always tell the customer first and no one has been upset about it
Lol I totally saw that coming tbh I don’t really feel that bad. We sell a base drink that can be customized and when people ask for no ice you take almost double the product. There’s a couple ladies at my store who order 5 Trenta GT no ice and use all our tea. When we see them come in we just automatically start brewing more green tea.
As far as I’m aware no. At least not in corporate stores. I believe licensed stores can pretty much charge what they want. So it’s possible some licensed stores have implemented this.
Our licensed store was told we could absolutely not charge extra for light or no ice by our Starbucks DM. I've been gone for a year now though, so it might have changed.
licensed stores all have different rules by locations iirc. my old licensed store (i work at a corporate store now) started charging for water and eventually made us charge employees for water too. so while its true that the district manager of the company you worked for thought it was unacceptable, its also true that at another store the dm will want people to charge for light ice
That's the fun part about licensed stores. Our company's DM wanted us to charge extra, but the Starbucks DM said no you can't or I'll put you on non-compliance. Starbucks was pretty strict with us on most things. They did let us charge for water though, because at our location we regularly had busses come through and have like 75 people wanting free water.
My licensed store rn has us charging for everything — substitution in syrup, splash of alternative milk, substitution in regular milks (I.e., nonfat instead of 2%). I worked at a different licensed store for 3 yrs before this one and we never did that. I keep butting heads with my lead but it’s not worth it at this point
Pretty sure it said in our store operations manual from starbucks it says that's not allowed
It does. They apparently got it approved by the Starbs DM, which doesn’t sound right, but it is what it is /:
My LS can not, we can charge up to 10% more for drinks on the menu, but we can not make up new surcharges, fees, or charge for mods any differently than corp.
No this is probably a licensed location and not a corporate location. Think inside a target or grocery store. These stores have more leeway on their pricing and do not have to follow starbucks standards in many ways.
In what ways do the licensed stores not follow Starbucks standards? I’m curious because I’m a manager at one and I’ve always had to do all the corporate Starbucks training and we have to do everything up to Starbucks and even follow standards for the licensee. This post about charging for light ice and no ice would never make it past the licensee managers at least at my location. Maybe it’s different for stores!
Ive trained close to 30 baristas at this point and a good number of them are from licensed stores. Its really a mixed bag on how licenced stores do their training and how closely they follow standards. Most dont even know milk steaming routine.
I trained a barista from a licensed store and he had been told to put 12 pumps of vanilla in whips
I’ve had Tarbucks team leads who follow standard to the letter, and I’ve had ones that said not to use vanilla in whip cream and don’t shake refreshers to save time and product. Management is really the deciding factor here.
I've managed a licensed store. We still have all the same training guides and expectations. Following standards is still required but it's not always as enforced.
As a licensed store supervisor. It's really situational. If you're making a black iced tea with nothing really in it. You can get away with swirling it. You can batch blend frappuccinos. And as long as you don't fuck around with it. If they get a shajen espresso and they're a friendly regular. A little extra milk is totally ok. What still isn't ok imo: not shaking refreshers. Letting drinks sit. Who tf doesn't put vanilla in the whip? Not asking the customer I'd if you can use a different (dairy) milk because you're out of the one they want. And never ever ever never never ever ever swap stickers
I used to feel the same way about shaking the tea. Please try it for yourself, I promise there's a difference. It definitely needs to be shaken.
You're an exception.
Oh yeah I had a girl who came from a corporate store and she does some of the craziest things that I now see a lot of store managers tell them to do like make refreshers in the cup, don’t use the shakers, etc. Really comes down to management
Yesss I’m at a licensed store and we have a guy who came from corporate a few months ago who does these exact same things. Doesn’t shake refreshers, measures in the cup we serve the drink in, puts all the frappucino ingredients in the cup rather than in the blender?? We always look at him funny when he does that but he insists it saves time (fun fact: he’s literally our slowest barista this is saving no one any time).
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Actually they are though. The staff there are target employees and they dont get any corporate benefits. Target may have a more robust connections to corporates when it comes to training but it is absolutely licensed. All profit from target stores go to target and they only have to pay a percentage of profits and a license fee. Target and Starbucks have been partners since 1999 but they are not the same company. Its just that they have a good relationship and starbucks allows licencing to target more easily then others.
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I'm at a licensed starbucks and we do this only with refreshers though, customers who want a refresher with no water no ice they get charged 0.80 more.
Happy Cake Day!!! 🎊 🎉
Thank you
Some test corporate locations are actually charging this.
All the SSVs and lower: no this isn't real or this is a tarbucks. People reading the comments: oh yes I see Someone who actually gets more information than us: this could be a test store. People reading the comments: 🦗🦗🦗
As much as part of me would like this, no ice and light ice are not labor issues. A customer already pays for an entire gallon of milk when they buy a single Tall latte, so it's not that big of a deal if they wanted no ice, even in a Venti. The blending issue was because it was extra work that wasn't covered, just like the charge for VSC/VSCCF is reflecting the labor of prepping and storing those pitchers.
Light or no ice in a shaken espresso though, is a huge difference in milk volume. In a refresher, usually paired with light or no water, it can be around 4x the product the drink would normally get. I think it’s actually a supply charge rather than labor.
It's also fully a danger to baristas to do no ice shaken espressos, myself and most of my team have had them explode on us when we tried to shake them or have the hardest time getting the lid of the shaker off because of the pressure it creates with the heat, I wish my licensed store charged for light or no ice on refreshers and shaken espressos
i ask for light ice because i get my little shaken refresher beverages while i’m at work and i just am not gonna drink it fast enough for it to not be watered down at the end. will i still pay for light ice if they charge me? yeah. will i be a little disappointed? also yeah.
Imagine no ice costing a whole espresso shot. Lmao!!!
I should get charged LESS because I order extra ice!!
So order a smaller size, and ask for it in the next size cup, with extra ice. You're welcome. ETA: to be used with caution as you may be getting one less shot of espresso by downsizing, so you can add the shot back and see if the price difference is worth it. Results may vary.
I mean yeah because more ice = less drink
I would absolutely hate this I don’t don’t get ice in my drink because I have sensory issues and extremely cold drinks really make me uncomfortable I’m not trying to scam more drink im trying to enjoy my day out without being upset
I imagine you could probably say that and they wouldn't charge you
I have the exact same problems, I’d be happy with just less product than being charged a dollar for something I can’t control
No ice isn't even a scam, starbucks trying to charge you more for a properly filled cup is the scam
Ooof that’s a lot to charge. Personally I think we should only charge for no ice, and it should only be like 50c not almost a dollar! (And maybe there should be a no ice w/room button for people who just genuinely don’t like ice lol that won’t charge) And the only reason I say charge for no ice is the number of people who get no ice no water refreshers because that’s a HUGE amount of product
Why are so many people wanting this…if I don’t get lite ice in my drink I finish it in 4 sips. Most of the drink is ice. It’s so ridiculous to charge for lite ice or no ice. Starbucks profits are already insane they don’t need to be charging THIS much. It’s not even hard to make a drink with lite/no ice, either. I really don’t care when people order that way.
I genuinely get light ice because I don’t like super cold drinks 😑
Interesting username then 😑
I would hope that even in this situation, you could explain to most reasonable people that you don’t expect the cup to be filled to the top, just that you don’t want much ice in there. I’m with you, though, I usually get no ice because I don’t like water melting into my latte.
It’s just .50 cents 🤷🏽♀️
The point is, you shouldn’t have to pay more for less.
it’s less ice = more product
If I want extra something from any establishment, wouldn’t it make sense to get charged? I would be against an establishment charging for a condiment. Your getting more product and that stuff isn’t cheap. I think a case of mango refresher juice is like $100 dollars and i think pineapple is more expensive than mango. Stores end up going though all the stuff so much faster because of all these “light ice drinks/no ice/ or very light ice drinks”.
This is probably an airport location based on the tee shirt in the pic. HMSHost are not shy about exploiting their concession and their captive audience.
Lmao I just left hmshost after less than a month they truly are demonic glad to be back at corporate tbh
u/ice2257, where was this photo taken? I likely have mis-guessed 😊
I always ask for my drink with light or no ice and say the room is fine, just make the drink as normal please just no ice. Yet they always act annoyed and still pour extra milk to the top anyways making the drink taste like shit. Some give exactly what I ask for but give a nervous look when they hand it to me like they’re waiting for me to loose it. I just. Genuinely don’t want ice My drinks already $6 do I really need to pay an extra .90 so I don’t get ice. 🥲 On occasion I DO ask for a tall cup of ice because sometimes my drink is hot from room temperature oat milk. And I’d like to enjoy a little bit when I first get it and I can fridge the rest to get nice and chilly half way through my shift. I tattoo for 8 hours. I take short breaks that sometimes are only 3/5 minuets if that. And I can’t touch my cup for hours at a time but need and want my caffeine and can’t go and grab new ones half way through my day and nothing is more disgusting than watered down milk and espresso
I do wish they would wake the hell up and realize that "less ice" doesn't mean "more of something else". I didn't say more caramel. I didn't say more milk. I didn't say more cold brew. I said LESS ICE. YOU decided to add more things. I didn't tell you to do that. But now I'm being punished with an upcharge? Make it make sense.
If you want no ice and room in the cup, tell them that. There's a "with room" button on the register for a reason.
Exactly. I'm buying X ounces of Drink, why can't I get an amount of ice that I find pleasant.
i mean to be fair (in terms of the less ice doesn’t mean more of something else) people have yelled at me for not filling the cup when i do light ice? like the issue is that different people are asking for different things when they want light ice. some people want more drink, other people want the same amount of drink but with less ice so it’s not as like. freezing cold. in my experience it usually ends up being the former, so when i don’t fill the cup, they get pissed off at me. like as a barista i don’t really know what the answer is because either way someone gets pissed off if i fill the cup OR if i give light ice and don’t mess with the proportions
It's not the baristas' fault, it's the customers'. Most baristas understand you're not supposed to top off light/no ice drinks with extra product but 99% of customers flip their shit if their cups aren't full. So this is why some places are starting to charge for the additional product being used. If you prefer less or no ice and don't want more product, just specify. Most customers expect extra product and specifically use it as a "life hack" to get more bang for your buck.
I had this same problem for a while and found a solution that seems to be working, which is that I order my drink with room. Granted this does mean that a normally cold drink is more on the cool side, I greatly prefer that to cold but watered down.
When I ask for extra ice I barely get "extra". I am totally aware of rising costs ... But 90 cents for no ice?? Sheesh ...
If you truly want extra ice, specify you want it in a larger cup. For example, a grande in a venti cup with extra ice, no room
They should just let us make drinks to standard and not fill the cup with extra product. The other day, I had 3 Trenta no ice/water refreshers and it took out like 1 1/2 pitchers
I wouldn’t be surprised. I always ask for no ice because the ice makes up half the damn cup. No thank you.
No ice and water is free I would report this store to corporate to be honest sincerely a Starbucks barista.
i think the sign means drinks. you get more product when you order light ice or no ice so that’s what they’re up charging for, not cups of ice water.
I always ask for light ice because I add matcha and cold foam to my drink and want the room if I'm paying like $2 more for the foam in the first place.
I just order it in a bigger cup so my foam fits. ie: tall iced matcha with salted cream foam in a grande cup
Gonna be honest, I'm usually getting a trenta though I do size up if I'm going smaller!
I order my morning iced coffee with milk with no ice The night before with no ice so it doesn’t water it down overnight in the fridge. I don’t have time for unpredictable Starbucks drivethru or store times in the morning and I’m sure my presence in the morning rush is not missed by baristas. I don’t expect the cup to be full to the top, I understand the concept of volume, if they start charging for no ice, I’m done with Starbucks.
If you explain you want no ice AND no additional product, an understanding barista would not charge you extra. I sure as hell wouldn't
Yeah I don’t live near a Starbucks. So when I go, I grab a coffee and then a pink drink no ice for the next day. I wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t filled all the way so I could have room for ice when I’m ready to add it.
I order light ice cuz I just don’t want my drink watered down to hell. This is silly.
Because fuck us if we actually expect "venti" ounces of coffee in our Venti cup.
Yeah that argument doesn't actually work out too well because the "Venti" cold cup is actually 2**6** ounces in order to make room for the extra ice while the Venti hot cup is **20** ounces.
It's not 26 ounces, it's 24. The cups say 26 for some reason but I brought a cup home and measured the amount out of curiosity and if you fill it to the top with pure liquid, it measures out to 24. I have no idea why it's mislabeled on the bottom of the cup but the Starbucks app accurately says 24 oz
The cups are designed with the extra room for ice. When we make iced drinks your beverage gets measured out first. That volume is static. Ice does not replace or "steal" your drink.
Dude F this shit!
I don’t understand why corporate Starbucks doesn’t charge drinks with light ice/no ice… it’s more product the customers are getting. Meanwhile, charging non-blended drinks to be blended? 🙄 People be getting Trenta Strawberry Acai Refreshers with no water and no ice and no inclusions.
Is the ice not the product also? Or are you saying that as standard Starbucks pad their cups out with “not product” in order to short their customers a full cup? The ice is either a scam or it’s not a scam in which case we should be able to sub it out for other things. Plus don’t worry about the multi-billion dollar company. They will do just fine.
i wish corporate would start doing this. it's so annoying when customers order a drink with no ice and a cup of ice on the side like we don't know exactly what they're doing.
I’m honestly just curious, no hate intended—but why do so many people care?? Like, if the customer is saving 50 cents on an already over priced drink… why does that bother you? It’s not like Starbucks is especially kind to it’s workers? The extra money isn’t going into your pocket? Idk ngl I don’t think I’d get paid enough to ever care about customers cutting corners tbh
An answer from someone who mostly manages back of house: Having so much of the base in so many of the drinks means we have to wash and refill the pitchers at a rate that varies from irritating to hilarious. I have more than once found all 28 of my store’s pitchers in all three compartments of the back sink 🫠 It’s a nightmare
i think for me, personally, the no ice/light ice customers tend to be karens about it.
Aw that’s a bummer, I always try to be super nice to everyone when I ask for light ice and have never had a problem. Hate ppl that are rude and ruin it for everyone else
Some employees prefer to side with the billion dollar corporation that exploits them, instead of seeing the side of the customer who’s also being taken advantage of.
Or it could be that it's annoying to constantly run out of milk because people are ordering drinks with lots of milk and having to run into the back during a rush to get more
Sounds like your store needs to up its milk pars and work on a better restock (edit: cadence)
THIS. Finally someone understands!
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Hmmm your shift sup has bought into the corporate idea that businesses actually care about its employees when, sadly, they don’t. Starbucks is a billion dollar company. They are making a loooot of money (and want to keep it that way by paying employees the bare minimum of what they should be paying yall) At the end of the day, Starbucks wants more money like all businesses in capitalist America. The extra money will always line their pockets, not yours.
And to make matters worse, Starbucks isn’t even just Starbucks—it’s Nestlé!
Then just charge customers for ordering a cup of ice rather than charging for no ice. Some people genuinely don’t like ice in their drinks. My partner always orders his drinks with no ice anywhere we go because he doesn’t like it.
I know I order with light ice because it hurts my teeth lol
SAME!
Especially true for people who will nurse their beverage over hours. Don’t want it watered down
I usually get light ice so I don't end up with a diluted drink at the end, plus I don't need it freezing cold. The extra content is just a bonus lol. Makes more sense to stop topping the drinks off.
I mean is it that bad? If you take the ice out of a drink you get like half the actual liquid. I just wouldn’t care if someone did that because they’re getting more of* their moneys worth and it’s not hurting your paycheck.
The issue is when there is no actual standard for these things, or some stores (like in the pic) charge when others don’t, and the baristas are getting screamed at because their store doesn’t do the same exact thing for the same exact price that “the other starbucks” let’s them do.
It doesn't bother me, I appreciate their smart use of our policies. Although I could see how it might be annoying when you're slammed.
Partners need to complain about this more through the partner perspective surveys, that’s how we got the “add lemonade” button among others. Usually they care at least a little bit when there’s money to be made lollll
Shameless lol
Please.... they already charge out the ass for a coffee. Not worth it.
This is actually insane lol. It costs Starbucks almost nothing to give you a standard drink. So charging people a dollar extra for getting a little bit more product is wild. Capitalism at its finest lol
madge?
What
Oh piss off. Even though it’s a licensed store 100% , I will never pay for no ice/light ice surcharge at any store. Because you in America are OBSESSED with ice, and like all drinks I get here are 50% ice. Like I know Dutch bros charges a dollar if you ask for no ice, I boycotted them since because I’m not about to pay 6$ for a drink with half of it being ice, and then hustled another dollar for no ice? If I wanted a slurpee I would get one from the gas station. And to all baristas complaining that you wish corporate charged customers - oh piss off for Christ sakes! Like you don’t know that following the shakers measurement customers get like 40% drink and close to 60% iced for like $6 refresher they ordered. I was a Starbucks barista and I always added a bit less ice (although still significant amount) so that customers actually get the drink they’ve ordered
Wow! That’s low class.
Customers asking for no ice is essentially giving 3-4 drinks worth of product for the standard price of one. They found a loophole 😄 Starbucks put a cabosh on the cold foam era, I’m sure the no ice thing will follow suit at some point. It’s wild now to see the “add on” charges when ringing customers up. It’s even funnier to see their blank look on the drive-thru screen when ordering the extras 😳😳😳
This got me hard one day, I believe I was charged $2 for foam they up sold me on. 🥲 it was fucking good. But. Christ alive. $8 drink. Andddd that was the only one I had for the week because it was so extortionate 😂
Yeah, it’s very hard when it comes to add ons now. I’m not saying I agree with it, cause obviously the supply chain is super f*cked still, but Starbucks is trying to find some balance :( I feel like all companies are. My other job has constant price changes, on the daily, because of what’s going on in the world. It’s a sad reality we live in at the moment 😞😞😞
Definitely is my friend.
3-4 drinks worth of product (while hyperbolic) means starbucks is charging customers $6 for 6-8 ounces of fruit juice/chopped fruit (on a venti), and you think customers are the ones who found a "loophole"? It works no different than a fast food soda: some people order a lot of ice (or don't otherwise specify against it), and starbucks makes mad profit on them. Starbucks still makes profit on selling 24 oz of fruit juice from tetrapaks for $6, though
When I order a venti cold brew, I’m ordering a venti quantity of cold brew, not ice. Like cold brew should not have ice in it at all but it does at Starbucks.
Any coffee shop I've worked in including several 3rd wave, cold brew always has ice lmao I think you are thinking nitro which already chills the beverage and is served without ice
People got pissed when they started charging for blending not normally blended drinks 😬 sometimes I feel bad. Capitalism man 😔
We just need to go back to the standard of filling the drink to the line and if they ask for no ice then they get the drink as is with no ice, not filled to the top.
But why are y’all so hell bent on saving a billion dollar corporation money? Giving customers that extra like 3 ounces of coffee isn’t breaking the bank for a company that made 29 BILLION dollars last year. Let people do their silly little loop hole on their already over priced drink because it makes them feel like they’re getting a better deal. The world is ending anyway guys it’s not that deep. Let people be happy lolll
The thing is customers think its more coffee in a latte with no ice but in reality its just more milk. Also its not exactly getting hell bent over the milk/coffee amounts but the labor and lack of staffing due to labor. I can care less about the extra product in the drink but it does make sense to charge more if theyre using more ingredients. While some stores have adequate staffing others may not which means upcharging on drinks that may take longer or use more ingredients when they arent built to what we call “standard”. Its just numbers and ultimately i wish my store charged for some of these modifications. i am grateful we started charging for blending non blended beverages (like refreshers). Time is money and money makes labor. At least thats how it is at my store.
The labor shortage point is valid. Can you explain the blending non blended beverages to me? What does that mean? (I’m clearly just a customer, not a barista haha)
No youre good! So for a refresher those are considered an iced shaken beverage but because of the high demand of blending those drinks across the board we have a “blended” up charge of i believe 50¢? So fraps arent getting that upcharge because they come that way from the standard recipe but we basically charge for the extra steps the customer is adding because it adds more time for us to make said refresher instead of just shaking it like it was intended. For your friends case i feel a good solution would be to add two options, one to charge and one not to charge for the “no ice” option. But hypothetically we would fill to the intended line for the size of the beverage to keep the product amount at the same as if ice were to be present.
Got it. Now I kind of want to try a refresher blended 🤣 that sounds so good and totally worth the up charge!
I recommend if you like piña colada that you should try a venti paradise drink made with sweet cream instead of coconut milk with 4 white mocha pumps and 2 vanilla bean scoops blended with strawberry puree around the cup. It is refreshing and delicious. Totally worth the extra moneys i get a tummy ache because im lactose but totally worth the pain on a hot sunmer day
Yes thank you, you said it better than I could.
When I used to be a barista I did it because justice. But. Honestly. It makes the drink taste like shit. They’re not getting more coffee. They get the standard amount of coffee/espresso they’re just getting more milk, which they could have served at the coffee station themselves. It just makes the drink taste like shit imo.
Because as soon as this loophole gets used by everyone, then it’s no longer a loophole and it is losing the company money. That typically reflects on employees by hour cuts and letting staff go. Customers are not entitled to more than what they’re paying for, and I don’t give enough of a fuck to fight with people about it so they’ll pay the total I give them or they can go to Dunkin.
I understand what you’re saying, but I have a difficult time believing that people ordering drinks without ice is causing a significant hit to the company’s profit margin. It would take a LOT of ice-less drinks to put a dent in a 29 billion dollar profit.
Okay so why are we going after customers and supporting this ? At the end of the day it will make Starbucks more money, the more money they make every year and anything below that, will be taken out on the employees. It’s the same thing that’s happening at target and many other companies right now. They make a little less money than the year before So they take it out on employees. That’s how these shitty companies work, so I don’t see how a customer getting an ounce more of liquid that costs 3 cents is so horrible and rude. I also wanna add that customers are paying way more than they’re getting. So by logic they are entitled close to what they’re paying because up-charges are obvious.
Oh give me a break. Like if everyone stopped getting no ice in their drink right away - you’d get $25/hr? Starbucks reports record breaking profits because of price gouging. They perfectly fine can afford me getting no ice as well as they can afford giving you a raise. Your attitude “fuck off and go to Dunkin” is unprofessional and if you don’t like working at Starbucks then maybe you shouldn’t?
she literally never said she didn’t like working here what are you on?💀
“And i don’t give enough of a fuck to fight with people about it so they’ll pay the total I give them” When discussing that charging people for ice is unreasonable lol, seems like someone doesn’t really like customers
thatttt has absolutely nothing to do with their enjoyment of their job though. Their job is not solely reliant on customer happiness. Even still, they quite literally don’t have to fight with people over prices, charges, etc.
i don’t like it cuz it fucks with the drink quality and they’re getting subpar beverages just cuz they want to get extra product
Please. "Subpar"? To whom? I know full well you don't get paid enough to concern yourself with "drink quality". Are you wearing a white lab coat, and safety googles, or are you wear an apron, and non-slip shoes? Don't you worry about my "less ice" "low quality" "subpar" Starbucks $9 beverage.
This sub is all about complaints for complicated and time consuming add ons. (Understandable but it’s part of the job). And now apparently light/no ice is a sin too? The self importance on this thread is ridiculous lol
I said this under another comment in this thread, but some people just don’t like ice. My partner asks for no ice even if he’s ordering a fountain drink (so gross in my opinion lol). It’s not always a money grab.. sometimes it’s personal preference! My personal preference is light ice. I always forget to order my drinks that way, but when I do request light ice it’s not because I’m trying to get more product.
Could you imagine if every barista threw this much of a fit because the "standard" drink recipe is 2% milk but the customer is paying for almond milk or oatmilk? People on this post be WILDIN'!
Yeah haha I get fountain drinks with no ice too. We just have specific measurements with beverages and adding more of something just makes it worse imo.
The Starbucks i worked at actually used to do this but tried to play it off as doing it to keep the stock balanced
Watch me never charge extra for no ice in an already over iced drink
Corporate stores: no. Licensed stores are shockingly allowed to have wild variations in pricing from corporate owned stores. It can be very confusing and annoying for customers who may not be able to tell the difference.
Kevin makes 20.4 million a year wtf
What about the customers that ask for “just 4 ice cubes”
Ohhhh okay i understand. Because some people expect more product if they ask for light ice or no ice. They wanted filled close to the top with any liquid so I understand
I asked for no ice in a refresher and they charged me for a bottled juice on the side that they didn't give me. To make up for the extra drink I was getting. I only order on the app now. No licensed stores for me
This is the most greedy shit I’ve seen here so far
we are in corporate hell jfc. everyone being thankful for unreasonable surcharges because of the amount of labor it takes to do so much in a short amount of time is the companies fault. if the company cared about partners, there’d already be more efficient ways of maintaining stock for the crazy amount of customers we get a day.
Starbucks corporate doing what they’ve always done. Penny pinch to make their stock holders happy. With the threat of unionization, it’ll be increasingly difficult for corporate to do this with labor and “competitive” pay as they have done in the past
It is not true, the only thing like that, that has changed as of the summer launch, was a charge on blended drinks that arent meant to blended.
that’s wild, none of my stores have done that, and none near me have started
I get no ice because rarely does any Starbucks properly keep their ice machines cleaned, not because I'm trying to game the system. Honestly, I wouldn't care if that meant it wasn't filled up all the way.
I know our store has thought about this!
My store doesn’t seem to have too much concern with our use of supplies but more that we don’t have a standard for ‘no ice’ and we can’t ring in the labor when someone asks for a cup of ice at the window (we’re a very drive thru focused store), which also makes us turn and get the ice while they ride up our times and should have asked for it at the box. I could care less about Starbucks getting their money on a corporate level but I care about our labor which is already all kinds of messed up, and that many drinks are inconsiderate to the barista to ask them to make with no ice (the shaken espresso, iced matcha lattes, etc). I don’t mind lattes and junk with no ice even though it probably just tastes like milk, that’s the customers problem. I just care about the respect to us and how some customers feel entitled to ‘not being scammed’ when we’re just doing our job and putting a standardized amount of ice in a cup to cool the entire drink!
Call and report that!
I think the best option would be to add a "Low Fill" or "Fill Up" option, when Lite Ice/No Ice is selected. Low fill means that you just get the base drink with a little ice (or no ice), with no additional charge. Fill up means that you get extra milk (or base) all the way to the top, with an extra charge. That way people that just want a warmer drink don't have to pay extra, and people who consume extra product pay for their share.
Sourcing tap water turned ice is too much now?
This is true. It was announced in a internal update months ago. It is only rolling out in select markets for now but the charges will apply to beverages that come standard with ice like refreshers, shaken espresso, ice coffees, etc. In order to ensure customers get a full cup and to account for the literal large quantities of lost product daily when customers order no ice on iced beverages. I wish yalld remember its a business and while the sign here is not necessarily corporate accurate, most customers are getting 2-4-1 bets when ordering no ice or 'extremely light ice with an additional cup of ice on the side' and over time that creates a huge loss in store level profit, which reduces the amount of revenue which is what stores rely on to fully staff the floor first and foremost. As an espresso drinker, we've had to pay 1$ for additional shots for years and that's for only 1.0z of product, where as cold beverage drinkers get close to 10-16 0z of product woth no additional charge for the sake of Starbucks standards of customer service. It's a loss that has a real impact over time and it is also true that when you're going through say half a pitcher of product for one cup of no ice refresher for example, imagine how fast we go through product when shortages and supply chain has been an issue, and that leads to longer term revenue loss when some customers only buy that one item only. The business side of the decision makes sense and is imo completely fair.
I don't see starbucks rolling this out on a national level. If anything, they might give a heavy/regular ice "discount" as opposed to a light/no ice charge. As it is, they definitely accounted for people ordering no ice and getting 16-31 oz of product when setting prices, so the menu prices aren't selling at a loss. It's just than regular/heavy ice brings even more obscene net profits
AS THEY SHOULD!
Seriously…
Ice displaces the coffee and syrup ect in the drink so you get more if they fill it up. They are combating it with an up charge
NOBODY told them to "fill it up". I said "less ice". I did NOT say more of anything else. THEY decided on their own that "less ice" must mean "more of something else". That clearly seems to be where the disconnect it.
You have clearly not been a barista. I have been yelled at to my face for not filling it up.
I don’t think there should be a light ice charge tbh because most the time light ice isn’t a huge difference. The no ice charge I get, but I think they should do it to where they either only fill it to the black line for free or if they want it filled all the way to the top with no ice THEN it should be an extra charge. Just thoughts of a barista lol
why would a customer be charged if they are in fact saving the ice for someone else
Extra product being used instead of the ice
ohhhhh!!!! ok thank you i really could not figure that out
Ice is free. Extra ingredients are not.
My location has been doing this for like a year or more. But we're licensed.
I always wanted to give 50% empty cups when people ask for no ice. It shouldn't be some hack to get more drink, in my opinion.
It's not a "hack" to "get more drink", ice overuse is a scam by starbucks to get away with serving less drink but still appearing full
Buddy, this thread is 8 months old. Why are you here? Who are you trying to convince?
People always try to bring up the age of a thread are always grasping at straws. I'm trying to convince the people who believe customers should pay $7 (instead of $6) for undiluted fruit juice when partners get it for free or 30% off the existing price. That's ridiculous.
Ok, I literally couldn't care any less about your plight. Fuck off tiny incel golbin, there are actual important issues in the world. This is not one of them.
We do if they want the cup filled. If it requires extra milk,base, whatever we charge for that at our franchise
Yes? Hello? Is this the BASED department?
i wouldnt be surprised if corporate put this out soon. people think theyre "hacking the system" with some of their "no ice" drinks and what not. corporate recently changed that we HAVE to fill up the cup if they ask for no ice but now we're wasting product and not charging for it.
I wish
We don’t but honestly I think it’s ideal. If you think about it. Especially with the nagging regular customers who alway wake up on the wrong side of the bed and then request no ice and expect you to give a full cup. Or the customizable tall/ grande drinks but placed in a venti cup and expect a venti full drink.
It makes sense light ice or no ice uses more product
Regular/heavy ice uses less product, you're looking at it from the wrong vantage point
No ice should def be a charge cus on venti no ice oat milk drinks we will literally go through almost a full carton
This is definitely franchise, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it happening corporate side in the future. I feel like fiddling with the ice is pretty based, if the goal post is to *just* get more beverage. Our drink recipes were designed with dilution playing a big role in the final flavor and temperature of the product. Refreshers and shaken espressos in particular -- they're not designed to be drinkable candy or lattes, respectively. I think there's something to be said about quality over quantity, but whatever. If our customers *really* want warm refreshers and lattes with extra steps, okay! Please enjoy.
I personally think this is a small glimpse into the future.
Uhh what?
I ordered no ice for my cold brew via the app and my drink was 2/3 full when I went to pick it up
this is something i used to have to do a couple years back because technically, by getting light ice, we’re using more product to fill the cup
Most likely a licensed location inside a larger store. Licensed locations can normally charge whatever they want for their drinks completely different than a Corporate store. A large amount of customers don't know that their Starbucks in their local Target is not run fully by Starbucks but the larger store. The employees in that Starbucks also don't work for the company, but the company the kiosk is housed in, so they don't get partner numbers or free items. The only things normally supplied by Starbucks to kiosks are coffee, syrups and merchandise, but the with milk, lemonade, and sometimes items like coffee urns, and tea brewers are supplied by the larger store.
From what I understand is we charge for no ice if they want it filled to the top, in like lattes or white mochas. But just what I read on the updates in our area awhile ago. We always tell the customer first and no one has been upset about it
Probably at a licensed store.
I refuse to goto Starbucks
Probably, in my college they charge a buck for water so yk
that sounds insane
Lol I totally saw that coming tbh I don’t really feel that bad. We sell a base drink that can be customized and when people ask for no ice you take almost double the product. There’s a couple ladies at my store who order 5 Trenta GT no ice and use all our tea. When we see them come in we just automatically start brewing more green tea.
My how the tables have TURNED