Switched

He actually isn't. He's hinting at Starbucks, but he doesn't show the whole word. Publishing trick - create the feel of a name brand (in this case, the eponymous coffee shop) without literally saying it. The picture doesn't actually say "Starbucks"...it could say "Starbear" for all we know.

THANK GOODNESS!! I hope they ALL start doing that! I like to stop in my local PANERA for a quick cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll on the way to work, and there is usually not a vacant seat in the place, due to these Wi-Fi welchers! You'd think they'd feel stupid sitting alone at a table for four without a beverage in sight! At least group together at a single table - leaving room for the paying customers!

Starbucks now requires you purchase a $5.00 gift card and it allows you two hours for free wi fi a day. You can use the gift card to purchase your coffee.

Starbucks doesn't provide free wi-fi anyway.

Exactly how much do you think the mark-up on a bottle of water or a fountain soda is? Do you think that after the cost of rent, electricity, payroll, product, product shipping charges, and shrink, that a coffee shop is making money off of that dollar twenty-nine?
Now add-in additional electricity for computers, paying for wireless service and factor in how many legitimate customers are driven away by the fact that they can't get tables to sit at because the whole coffee shop is full of free-loaders, do you think that this is a profitable business?
Ooooh people may buy a soda or a water, WHOOOPEEE! That really covers the cost of operating a coffee shop. Try owning your own business and see if you continue feeling the same way.

1st, had to reply "not sure" to their poll. are people really not sure if they use a laptop in coffee houses?

I can see not wanting people to get a glass of water and camp out all day, but is a ban really needed?

I'm glad to see this happen. Next: the people who sit on the floor at Barnes and Noble reading a book rather than buy it. Whether they are reading for themselves or reading loudly to their child so we can all see that they are great parents, they invariably park themselves directly in front of the book I'm looking for. Bulletin: public libraries are free! Check the book out, take it home and stop being a nuisance to everyone else. It's common courtesy, one of the primary building blocks of a civilized society.

FUNNY! That is FUNNY! Know what's really funny? The fact that Dunkin' Donuts has monopolized the coffee market over Starbucks as long as Starbucks has been in business. The fact that Dunkin' Donuts' stock is growing steadily, even in this recession, while Starbucks is in the toilet is REALLY funny! So that must mean that by encouraging non-customers to come loiter in their store all day and take up space without generating revenue, while it has the supposed benefit of looking like it's busy, like what you claim to see, that all these free-loaders are not actually helping the company.
Maybe if you got up early enough to get coffee you would see the morning rush of hard-working people filed up at Dunkin' Donuts getting their coffee before most Starbucks customers (IE; unemployed free-loaders) even start their day.
Dunkin' Donuts is mobbed during the day because that's when most people are AT THEIR JOBS. For some reason lazy free-loaders without jobs gravitate towards Starbucks. Sorry if you mistook them for customers, just don't give them your spare change or trip on them on your way out.

It is the exact opposite in Washington DC. We have a Starbucks across the street from Dunkin Donuts..and the Starbucks is dead. DD has a huge line every morning.

Ryan,
You don't seem to know the stock market. Dunkin' Donuts is a privately held company (they don't have stock). Additionally, SBUX has beaten its 52 week high price for the past 4 weeks running. Its first quarter sales were better than expected and its outlook is improving.

Hello! It's a BUSINESS, they are there to make MONEY. Internet is a service that they provide to their CUSTOMERS, not unemployed losers. Starbucks is not a charity, people without jobs are not coffee-shop's problems. People who can't afford internet can just as easily go to THE LIBRARY, and if someone is so poor that they can't afford the internet service, they should really sell their laptop and use the FREE COMPUTER at THE LIBRARY.
Stupid Americans expect everything for free and feel entitle to things that they shouldn't. No one has the right to get mad that they're not permitted to take advantage of a service that a business provides to it's PAYING CUSTOMERS.
You stupid idiot, who do you think you are?

starbucks is not a living room.people can't find a seat to eat because some idiot is pretending like he is doing some important work that he should be doin at the office or at home.Some poeple are so obnoxious

nevermind you are an IDIOT, just because they are unemployed doesnt give them right to freeload on businesses that needs to make money. I agreee with Ryan they need customers too that can buy things so they can make profit and pay their electrib bills and employees salary so this freeloaders can use their free internet access. So what if these freeloaders will remember how they were treated by coffee shops for throwing them out, it only means they will gain customers that do pay. Go bak to school idiot.

Are you kidding me?! Business owners should be sensitive to customers/freeloaders right now because we are in an economic recession/depression right now?! Oh, that's right, these business owners(what in the world do you think they ACTUALLY OWN?!) should feel bad because even though they are probably in the midst of losing their coffee shops, restaurants, etc..., they should still feel lucky to have people that often just sit there for hours on end-without spending a dime, while as each hour continues to pass, their electric bill, WiFi bill, rent, etc, keeps getting charged to them every month, NO MATTER HOW BAD THE ECONOMY IS. People like you, should really consider all the variables in a situation before they make such stupid comments.
People who open businesses(spelling) rarely open them because they are indepently wealthy, and can afford to just go on and on every day without making a dime, while their customers get to enjoy themselves. They open a business to make money doing something they enjoy, rather than doing the 9 to 5 thing. And, MOST of the time, individual business owners are happy just to break even every month. So, any of you complainers out there, should really "Geta Grip" already. Joe B.

Nevermind, you're an idiot. Get a job and stop being a pathetic moocher.