Starbucks Card

Actually, its not considered a profit until the money is redeemed for
merchandise. That's the way it works in my restaurant (a gift card
sale does not count as actual sales), and I am pretty sure it works
the same elsewhere.

I always prefer to use cash, less hassle, and widely accepted!

Good Day

Wow...at least this wasn't in Washington State! Whew!

>> While Starbuck Accounting Dept has already posted my card balance
to your "books" as a profit, no actual inventory has been released for
it. It's a win-win for you, boarding on a scam.

This is not true. A gift card, by law, needs to be recorded as a
liability. The cash that they receive may not be fulled "booked"
until the card is used. A public company may not, for example, sell
$100,000,000 in gift cards and call it $10M in revenue and (nearly)
$10M in profit until the card is actually used. Take a look at
Sarbannes-Oxley as well as certain elements of GAAP (Generally
Accepted Accounting Principals). Also, since Starbucks is a public
company, there are bound by additional SEC rules.

So, while I sympathize that there are Starbucks locations (I travel
often and know what you mean by airports) don't accept these gift
cards, don't base your argument on an incorrect understanding of
accounting or the law. I also sympathize about machines being down,
but as a frequent Starbucks customer, I know that if I have to pay
cash today, I can always use my gift card another day. No big deal.

Oops - looks like you missed this in your Starbucks Card agreement.
The critical word is 'participating'.

"If you are having problems with your machines, than you should have a
manual way to do the purchase or the beverage should be free."

Interesting policy. Maybe you should apply for a job at Starbucks
corporate, and bring up this idea during the interview.

I have had cards for several establishments, and many of these places
have at one time or another not been able to process the card. You
have lumped together oranges and apples, so there is no way to
determine the % of times this was caused by a computer problem.

You have a Starbucks card and you are complaining about the prices?
Those two seem incompatible. I just assumed anyone who went in there
had far more money than they needed.

Perhaps their "machines being down" is somehow (?) related to the
company's current financial woes? I don't know. But I sure would be
aggravated, as you seem to be, if this kept happening to me. I find
it to be rather suspicious that this problem is spread out over such a
wide area.