Image via Starbucks
Yesterday marked the Seattle launch of Starbucks’ long-promised collaboration with Postmates, the store- and restaurant-delivery outfit. I read about it while standing in a forever-line at Starbucks, from which people were openly firing up their Starbucks mobile apps, then sidling over to the pick-up counter for their drinks. Grrrrr.
Being a two-Starbucks-a-day coffee abuser—what can I say, I like their mocha—I decided at that moment to get my second drink delivered.
I asked my Starbucks cashier and she’d never heard of delivery. I asked my barista and he hadn’t either. I got to my office and found a colleague whose iPhone (no delivery for Android users yet) had a Starbucks app, and there was the glorious evidence: a“DELIVERY” button.
8:30am: Wrapping one’s head around the site’s unabridged excess takes a moment. Lots. Of. Buttons. Immediate sympathy for Starbucks cashiers. “Decaf” you specify under “Shots,” which may not be so intuitive a person would figure it out right away, before coffee. (I of course had no trouble with this.)
8:40am: Order placed. Missed “continue” button after punching in order, noting GPS marker was in the right place; later discovered I needed to input address. Uh…right. Asked someone our address. (Seattle Met just moved.) Input address. Notified that order was accepted. [Note that this step may not be this hard for everyone.]
8:48am: Discovered you can track progress of your order. “Pickup: 4 minutes,” my colleague’s phone told me. Next update: Buttons to “Call or Text [name of delivery driver].” (I’m protecting his identity because….)
9:09am:…my phone rang. “Hi! This is [name of delivery driver] from Postmates and I’m…uh…not there yet.” Right you are, [name of delivery driver]! He was on Union, should’ve been on Olive. I gave him the correct corner. My colleague watched in amusement as her phone showed him circling the block—a lot.
9:10am: Starbucks has said they’re launching with a one-hour delivery window, but that most orders will arrive within 30 minutes. This was the 30-minute mark. Our new offices are downtown, at the nexus of so many Starbucks locations it would be actively difficult to throw a rock from our office’s new windows (that is, you know, if they opened) without hitting one. Note to self: Maybe delivery makes most sense where Starbucks locations don’t outnumber parking places. Initial delivery neighborhoods, besides downtown: South Lake Union, Capitol Hill, Madison Park and SoDo.
9:11am: Hopes for hot coffee sinking.
9:18am: [Name of delivery driver] arrives! Flicker of guilt for not leaving tip with receptionist (though I needn’t have worried…a tip opp arrives within minutes on the app).
9:18am and 4 seconds: First sip. HOT! Not kidding. Don’t get it. Tiny bit mollified about delivery cost, which at $5.99 was considerably more than the cost of the coffee, and that’s not even including the tip…but sheesh. Next time I’m ordering 8 drinks (the delivery maximum), or I’m unaccountably in Madison Park locked in a basement, I’ll consider the $6 delivery. Meantime…
9:18 and 10 seconds:…if I’m waiting either way? Think I’d rather do it upright and mobile.
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