Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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Mobile order mystery (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by teet_teet
Hi all— does anyone know why customers keep saying “I placed my mobile order to pick up inside” or “to pick up in drive thru.” From our end, it makes no difference. Does it change what their wait time is? This leads to my next question...
Mobile order has become something our high volume store can hardly handle at times. We don’t have enough machines or people to fill the orders during peak some days and people have gotten wise to placing their order and then pulling immediately into the drive thru to pick it up. If it’s underneath 40 other orders, we have to jump through hoops to fill it before they get to the window and it’s become a chronic issue. This causes other people who ordered first to have to wait. What are y’all doing to deter this behavior without incident? We’ve tried asking nicely but most customers simply don’t care and it’s beginning to cause too much strain on our store.
Mobile order has become something our high volume store can hardly handle at times. We don’t have enough machines or people to fill the orders during peak some days and people have gotten wise to placing their order and then pulling immediately into the drive thru to pick it up. If it’s underneath 40 other orders, we have to jump through hoops to fill it before they get to the window and it’s become a chronic issue. This causes other people who ordered first to have to wait. What are y’all doing to deter this behavior without incident? We’ve tried asking nicely but most customers simply don’t care and it’s beginning to cause too much strain on our store.
galaxyd1ngo 11 points 2y ago
So I’m petty but also easily overwhelmed in this situation when I’m mobile/cafe bar. But I am very consistent on making drinks in the order they come in. Make them wait.
edit: Hi sorry my comment posted 4 times??? lmao
edit: Hi sorry my comment posted 4 times??? lmao
USplendid 5 points 2y ago
I agree that you make them wait. Their individual window time may turn out to be terrible, but then you are able to get everyone else behind them out exceptionally quickly. It averages out.
LucyInTheSkyWith____ 1 points 2y ago
I’m a customer who used to be a barrista. I know what I’m getting into when I place a mobile order. I know I paid faster to get my drink but I also understand you can’t drop everything for me. I’ll wait my turn, it’s only fair
galaxyd1ngo 1 points 2y ago
I appreciate you
Acceptable_Emu 7 points 2y ago
People think it’ll come faster if they mobile order it or it may be easier for them to mobile instead of listing their modifications (sometimes it’s easier to see what they want). It’s super frustrating though. If I’m on cafe/mobile bar and I’m no where close to a mobile in drive I’ll give the drink to the drive bar partner for them to make and tell them their in line. I’ll do the same if I’m on drive and the mobile isn’t ready - I’ll make it myself just to help with times and keep everything smooth.
People are saying they ordered for cafe or drive thru because it asks them in the app how they want to pick up but they never changed anything on our end so it doesn’t matter but customers won’t know that
People are saying they ordered for cafe or drive thru because it asks them in the app how they want to pick up but they never changed anything on our end so it doesn’t matter but customers won’t know that
teet_teet [OP] 3 points 2y ago
We also do that, however it used to be 1-2 rude people who came right away. Now it’s dozens of regulars. They can tell it causes us strain and they don’t care because they don’t want their drink sitting there. It pisses me off. If they come into the cafe early they get it whenever we get to it. Most of them know better.
Acceptable_Emu 2 points 2y ago
Yeah we got a lot of rude customers like that too and we just make them wait at that point or if they have a lot of drinks or it’s gonna be a bit before we can get to their drink we move them forward and someone takes their drinks out to them so it doesn’t mess with times but don’t get me wrong I hate when people mobile and then come right away
galaxyd1ngo 5 points 2y ago
So I’m petty but also easily overwhelmed in this situation when I’m mobile/cafe bar. But I am very consistent on making drinks in the order they come in. Make them wait. I don’t give a fuck that’s what happens when you place your mobile while in line
teet_teet [OP] 4 points 2y ago
Yes I do that if they’re in cafe but in DT I can’t make them wait. That’s our primary issue. I HATE that Starbucks keeps promoting mobile order and pay and they refuse to give us the tools, labor, and BODIES to do it. We have a STELLAR team. Like— we are so badass other stores used to come watch us to learn how to get better and evolve. We also can’t crank the drinks out on just two machines and they refuse to give us another. We also keep having machines break down, which CRIPPLES us. We just lock the lobby and have mobile turned off because it’s not worth the trauma and poor customer experience. Me sending someone to cafe bar is a personal conflict and it makes me have EXTREME guilt when I have to do it.
galaxyd1ngo 5 points 2y ago
So I’m petty but also easily overwhelmed in this situation when I’m mobile/cafe bar. But I am very consistent on making drinks in the order they come in. Make them wait. I don’t give a fuck that’s what happens when you place your mobile while in line
galaxyd1ngo 4 points 2y ago
So I’m petty but also easily overwhelmed in this situation when I’m mobile/cafe bar. But I am very consistent on making drinks in the order they come in. Make them wait. I don’t give a fuck that’s what happens when you place your mobile while in line
abelinkin84 3 points 2y ago
Perhaps make a suggestion to add a queue number and "now serving" number to the app along with an eta? Idk how Starbucks systems work, like is time recorded from order placed to order handed off? If so, then the app could average out the time each order takes to give a somewhat accurate eta to the customer.
Source: I'm a programmer and this is 100% achievable.
Source: I'm a programmer and this is 100% achievable.
USplendid 3 points 2y ago
The unfortunate truth is that many (if not most) locations do not have a real-time mobile order tablet that lets us navigate those orders.
So wait times are completely arbitrary and 100% automatically-generated guesses. The truth is that, as a customer, you pretty much have to be familiar enough with which location you’re placing your order at to know if wait times are typically accurate or not.
I agree that there NEEDS to be a better way. As it sets unfair expectations for both the customer and the baristas.
So wait times are completely arbitrary and 100% automatically-generated guesses. The truth is that, as a customer, you pretty much have to be familiar enough with which location you’re placing your order at to know if wait times are typically accurate or not.
I agree that there NEEDS to be a better way. As it sets unfair expectations for both the customer and the baristas.
abelinkin84 2 points 2y ago
Ahhh. Well, fortunately I'm one of the customers that don't mind waiting. I know you guys are always swamped and it's not your fault.
teet_teet [OP] 1 points 2y ago
We do have a tablet and use it as best we can but once we start to lose control of the situation we can no longer spend the time scrolling through it.
You can check items off as you make them and it tells the customer they’re ready. When they pick it up, you check that off and it prompts us to tip them. If we don’t do it soon it enough, it doesn’t prompt them to tip us at all. That’s a problem for me. It also gives them an inaccurate notice of when things are ready because we can’t keep it up all peak. It’s a good tool, but Starbucks doesn’t give us the labor to have someone taking care of it. So not only does it effect customer experience, it causes us strain and costs us our wages.
You can check items off as you make them and it tells the customer they’re ready. When they pick it up, you check that off and it prompts us to tip them. If we don’t do it soon it enough, it doesn’t prompt them to tip us at all. That’s a problem for me. It also gives them an inaccurate notice of when things are ready because we can’t keep it up all peak. It’s a good tool, but Starbucks doesn’t give us the labor to have someone taking care of it. So not only does it effect customer experience, it causes us strain and costs us our wages.
galaxyd1ngo 2 points 2y ago
Starbucks does not record when a mobile order is picked up
teet_teet [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Our tablet system allows us to indicate both of those things but when we’re underwater we can’t tend to it.
abelinkin84 1 points 2y ago
What I meant was order completed. It was just an idea.
maddyevans 2 points 2y ago
At my store when people place mobile order a minute before or as they’re going through the drive thru we let them know at the window that they need to place it in advance or order with us when they arrive. We have them park at the front of the store and wait for someone to bring their order out. This saves our DT times, we don’t have to pull 20 stickers to find their order, and they learn their lesson since they have to wait out front for their order anyways.
teet_teet [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Ok thank you. This is the exact idea I had! I want to start incorporating this. The hard part is, we are so short staffed we generally don’t have someone to run it out. I also fantasize about making them wait longer to they stop doing it.
maddyevans 1 points 2y ago
We were incredibly short staffed and had just opened when we were dealing with all those customers who would place their order of 12 items and come through a minute after. It took a lot of time to train them and u can have your window person dto while your dto person runs it outside. We wait till we have time since they were so rude about ordering we feel like they shouldn’t be prioritized over other mobile orders.
teet_teet [OP] 2 points 2y ago
That’s exactly what we do. I had this exact idea a few weeks ago but we haven’t really had the staff to run it out, as our DT window person rings register 2 when a customer comes in so it is a problem sometimes. But we make them wait. A lady did it yesterday AND after I told her it wasn’t ready she said “it’s ok it’ll be done when I get there” and then placed two more items while in line. I asked her to pull to the front door and she didn’t she pulled to the side door which is WAY further to walk. So I let her marinate.
vlara2016 2 points 2y ago
The app gives the option for pickup in store or drive thru when places a mobile
teet_teet [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Right, but why does that matter? It doesn’t tell us anything from our end. I’m trying to figure out why it asks them that.
astivana 3 points 2y ago
I think it’s data-gathering for making a change that will make it matter.
teet_teet [OP] 3 points 2y ago
Hopefully they’ll learn to gather data by being present in stores and witnessing what’s happening right now. It’s a shit show most days that result in us locking the lobby. It’s out of control.
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