A popular "green" trend at the Starbucks coffee chain is coming to an end because of the Wuhan coronavirus (CoVid-19) crisis.
According to reports, Starbucks customers are no longer allowed to bring in their own personal coffee cups to use for consuming their favorite brews because potential coronavirus germs could lurk and spread to others.
"We are pausing the use of personal cups and 'for here' ware in our stores," announced company executive vice president Rossann Williams, adding that the chain will still honor its 10-cent discount policy for customers who show up with reusable cups.
As of 2018, about 1.3 percent of Starbucks customers in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa brought in their own reusable cups to take advantage of the policy, which makes its grossly overpriced burnt coffee a tad bit less expensive.
The stated purpose of the ban is to ensure the "health and well-being" of all Starbucks customers, even though these same customers are still being exposed to homeless people and other vagrants who use Starbucks stores as shelter and drug-injection sites.
Starbucks says that it's "optimistic this will be a temporary situation" regarding reusable cups, and that eventually customers will once again be able to bring in their questionably sanitized mugs for more "green" caffeine fixes.
Listen here as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, asks the question, will the upcoming presidential election be canceled due to the Wuhan coronavirus (CoVid-19)?
Starbucks issues "restricted" business-related air travel policies, as well as "increased cleaning and sanitizing" at all stores
As for corporate air travel, Williams further indicated that Starbucks has "restricted" where its executives are allowed to go at least through the end of March. The company has also "modified or postponed" meetings at both its U.S. and Canadian offices.
At its thousands of individual storefronts, Starbucks has also implemented "increased cleaning and sanitizing for all company-operated stores to help prevent the spread of all germs, adding paid time for our partners supporting this work."
Such policies piggyback off of ones that were already implemented at Starbucks stores throughout China, which have been dealing with a far more extreme situation over there as authorities prohibit travel in many areas and implement forced quarantines.
According to company data, the U.S. currently has the most licensed and company-operated Starbucks locations, followed by China where roughly half of them remain closed due to the Wuhan coronavirus (CoVid-19).
Starbucks anticipates 50 percent sales drop in China due to coronavirus
With the closure of half of its Chinese locations, Starbucks is expecting a corresponding 50 percent drop in sales.
In February alone, Starbucks China saw a whopping 78 percent decline in sales compared to the same time last year. This is due not just to mass store closures but also reduced hours of operation and an overall decline in customer traffic.
Starbucks has since adjusted its performance outlook to shave off nearly half a billion dollars in revenues from the Chinese market. Many of the company's Chinese stores will also remain closed for the foreseeable future.
"We remain confident in the strength of the Starbucks brand and the long-term profitability and growth potential of our business in China," wrote Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson and CFO Patrick Grismer in a letter, adding that these financial impacts are "temporary," and the overall outlook is "encouraging."
Keep in mind that there was once a time when bringing reusable food and beverage containers to public restaurants and coffee houses as substitutes for throwaway wear was illegal due to generalized public health risks. But thanks to "global warming" and "climate change," public safety has gone out the window – until coronavirus, that is.
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