Is Starbucks' decision to reverse its free restroom use policy, justified?

Debate at the Young Writers' Club that led the teens to explore social aspects, government's responsibility to provide public restrooms, challenges that private businesses face and so on.

Should a cafe allow the public to walk in to their establishment simply to use the restroom for free? Does that account for the cafe to become a free access restroom facility or is it good for business? A whiff of coffee might just tempt some of those to buy at least a takeaway cup?

The teens at the Young Writers’ Club were given news articles on this recent policy change adopted by Starbucks. Starbucks had adopted a free access to restroom policy back in 2018. It chose to reverse it back recently. Every Starbucks cafe will have a set of established customer rules on display. Anyone violating the same would be asked to leave. Employees have the permission to involve the law enforcement if necessary. Starbucks is striving to revive margins and make their cafes a third place after home and work for people to meet over coffee. Could maintaining a certain feel and ambience to the place be factor in play?

Debate: Is the decision to reverse its free restroom policy, justified?

While allowing free access may enhance the prospect of the person deciding to buy coffee or something to eat, it comes with it’s own set of challenges.

• Employees have a tough time- cleaning up after and managing unruly people. In addition, people engaging in discrimination, harassment, smoking, and panhandling need to be handled.
• Treating employees with respect and not expecting them to clean up after people who don't even buy anything is unfair. That works against employee motivation.
• A highly likely scenario- long queues of non-paying customers- that doesn't work well for the company's margins nor for the ambience of the place.
• Right to access restroom- is it the private businesses' responsibility to provide access? Free access could result in all sorts of people queuing up for the restroom. The spokesperson’s statement also supports the point of view that there is an inherent objective to provide a fine coffee experience. This could be disturbed if there are people walking in and out simply to use the restrooms.

he points listed in favor of reversal set in motion interesting conversations within the group that led us to discover a lot of differences in the way we live across the globe.

“People coming in is good as everyone is a potential customer. Anyone who comes in need of the restroom, might get tempted to takeaway a coffee or a quick bite. Allowing people to come in is a good step towards raising sales rather than keeping them out simply because they don’t have a craving for coffee but have the need to use the restroom instead.”

“While that certainly seems like a policy that could work, the question remains why not use a free access restroom if one doesn’t want to buy something?”

“By allowing people who aren’t going to buy something, the brand image of Starbucks as a luxury coffee could get tarnished.”

“Starbucks coffee isn’t luxury coffee in the U.S. People buy coffees everyday. They either choose to sit there and enjoy a coffee or pick up a takeaway before, during or after work. It is a common culture and could explain the presence of several outlets in the vicinity of one another.”

Specific prices of coffees in the U.S and India were discussed and it came to light that the product in question is priced very differently according to the country it is being served in. Further more, it was interesting to explore how people live differently across the globe. While in the U.S it is perhaps common for people to pick up coffee outside regularly, in India, coffee is made at home or in small tea/coffee shops and an outing to a cafe is a one off activity to meet people. Exceptions might be people who like working in cafes and using the free wifi for a cup of coffee. There is no restriction to how long a person can sit in a cafe as long as they have bought something. That seems about fair.

Public restrooms are not easily available everywhere forcing people to use those of private businesses. That raises the questions whose responsibility is to provide a public good such as public restrooms? Is it fair to private businesses to incur extra costs to maintain hygiene in their restrooms? Why do people rely on restrooms in private businesses? Is it because there is a dearth of useable public restrooms?

Whether the reversal in policy will help Starbucks or not, is something only time can tell. But it is certain that debates on this subject will put the need for useable public bathrooms in the spotlight across geographies.

Previously published on Musings from the Young Writers’ Club. This is a Talking Circles publication that brings forth a synopsis of our discussions every week as well as showcases the best of writing from the teen members of the club every quarter.