starbucks & fair trade

I'm a lil biased here so I won't opinionate (yet), but I just wanted to say the challenge is in its 3rd MONTH, not year ;) Feel free to email or comment on my blog if you have any q's -- and especially if you find out anything different! I'd love to be proven wrong and learn that Starbucks actually IS doing more for fair trade....

your ears must've been itching when we were talking about you :D

At the end of the day, people can bitch about fairtrade all they like, but in all honesty, our CAFE practices are a better deal. Fairtrade price is $1.26 per unroasted pound. But then Transfair take their cut. And as for environmentally friendly? Farmers are almost encouraged to rape the land so in five years time, they can't grow anything, so can't make any money. But using our CAFE practices, they have to look after the land, they have strict controls on chemicals they can use, they have strict social conditions to meet, and while not all our coffee is sourced like that (not sure where the 50% came from, last thing I read at work said it's somewhere in the high sixties), we're on our way, and these things can't happen overnight, it really does take more than just, turning round to a farmer and saying, "Right, you're going to stick to this now." That's not a fair way of doing it. These people need help to get up to that standard, otherwise our coffee would suddenly stop coming, and we'd have to wait a few years before these farmers can provide to us. http://www.scscertified.com/csrpurchasing/starbucks.html (That's a lot to achieve overnight)

Dude, TransFair doesn't even certify coffee farms -- That's FLO. Farmers get paid $1.26 an lb for green coffee. The only place where TransFair comes in is with US companies, which have to pay a fee of 5 to 10 cents an lb of green coffee to TransFair. TransFair gets NO MONEY from coffee farms -- only US coffee companies.

And about CAFE practices -- I guess you're unwilling to believe that only about 15% of Starbucks coffee actually meets CAFE practices right now. But perhaps you'd be willing to believe Cindy, who actually works in the CSR dept. of Starbucks? Try emailing her -- She's really nice. And she'll tell you that CAFE practices only debuted last year -- Before, it was called the Preferred Supplier Program or something like that, which was a pilot program, which led to CAFE practices. Since it's new, stats for CAFE specifically isn't avaliable (so I guess technically, it's like 0%), but about 15% met the PSP guidelines, and the program didn't change all that much between PSP and CAFE. So I'm giving Starbucks the benefit of the doubt by saying 15% meets CAFE practices. The target's 50% by 2007.

If you're still doubtful, read this letter in the Seattle Times written by Sandra Taylor, senior VP of CSR at Starbucks: "It is our goal to purchase the majority of our coffee under C.A.F.E. Practices by 2007."

And while Starbucks would like you to think that CAFE does more for coffee farmers than fair trade certification, almost all of CAFE practices are just "recommendations," not requirements. Compare that to the tough environmental standards REQUIRED for fair trade certification. In fact, the 16-page FLO document (PDF) ends with 4 pages of prohibited pesticides. Same kind of thing goes for living wages and collective bargaining and other important issues.

Meaning -- I think that CAFE practices could do good for the farmers, and I'm glad that Starbucks is at least taking steps toward these goals. But I'm really peeved at the misinformation that Starbucks spreads, both to consumers AND its own employees.

If I remember correctly SBUX is sourcing Fair Trade coffee to many of the business alliances, licensed concepts, and other places where Starbucks coffee is served (but not regular stores). That would make Fair Trade a very popular coffee. As far as why only one bag of beans is called Fair Trade, I think it has to do with certifications, etc, where those beans have a sort of stamp of approval.

We just got a new fair trade coffee. Every couple of months Starbucks out another memo or two about their practices and how their CAFE practices are continuely improving. I think as long as the company continues to stick to it, all is good.

Also I think its interesting, most people didn't know what Fair Trade was till Starbucks was brought into it, and now Starbucks is becoming one of the leaders in providing Fair Trade to markets that normally wouldn't have known a damn thing about it.

I rather agree with the blog. I do think that Starbucks is doing more than it has to, doing more than is required, and that's why they're not evil and I'm okay working there more than, say, Wal-Mart or Exxon.

I also agree that they could do more. They're HUGE. They can throw their weight around and people would pay attention. I also think they can do more with fair wages, though. I wish they would do more or have more hard, clear proof about the entirety of their operation than a few stories or vague statements, nice though they are.

However, I also blame consumers. I hardly sell any organic, shade-grown, fair trade, etc. coffees at our store. Cafe Estima is pretty good, and I like the Serena Organic. I recommend them if people ask but they all end up wanting Sumatra or Italian Roast or something else. Starbucks would meet the demand if it existed.

blah blah fair trade
yes starbucks could do more
yes fair trade is great
yes when i get my markouts to give to people i love, i generally get organic or fair trade

but come on people, don't act all high and mighty because the barista is not overwhelmingly joyous to brew you a french press for a tall coffee during a morning rush, and then complain about how long it took.

...

on another note, i do feel sort of betrayed by starbucks. i was traiend to tell customers that even our non-certified coffees are pretty much fair trade. "it just costs a lot and takes a lot of time to actually certify a farm, so they aren't certified yet".

but yeah. that is bullcrap and i think they would get more respect if they just told us the truth so we weren't spreading misinformation.

i applaud & agree with most of this blog. i work for sbucks because i can do so without feeling like a terrible human being -- "the mermaid" truly *does* do a lot of good on a large scale with corporate practices as well as on a smaller, individual scale with solo store & even simply partner initiatives. starbucks has a lot of wonderful, generous people working for them & i am honestly proud of the good that my store & district bring to our community.

at the same time, it can't be denied that sbucks is a little sketch about their ecofriendliness. again -- we do a *lot* of things right -- but are definitely a little shady when it comes to being totally upfront about our fair trade/organic standards. i for one have had a tough time sorting out fact from fiction in this vein since being hired in july. as claireh notes, we are trained to believe (not to lie to customers -- trained to truly *believe*) that all of our coffee is organic & fair trade though it may not be certified as such. which simply isn't entirely true & i'm not sure what to do with that.

as far as the actual details of the "starbucks challenge," well, i think the larger point is just to spread awareness & get corporate's attention...so it works. but yes, any properly trained & enthusiastic barista should know to offer the french pressed cup of coffee, & if s/he does not it is more a mark on their personal training than sbucks policy. & yes, it's going to take about 5 minutes to put together & i don't think that's a fair place for complaint (FP produces far superior coffee anyhow).

more to say probably but this is quite long enough & i need to actually visit the world today. :-)