Starbucks Will Ask For Customer Donations to Stimulate Job Growth
Starbucks is hoping its customers will be willing to pay at least $5 more when they stop in for their morning cup of Joe. Starting November 1, Starbucks will begin asking customers for donations of $5 or more to stimulate job growth through its “Jobs for USA” program.
Starbucks says 100 percent of the donations will go toward loans for firms and organizations that can add jobs or stem job losses.
Starbucks officials won't say how much money they're hoping to raise, but it could be a lot because millions of people get their morning jolt at nearly 7,000 company-owned stores every day.
This is Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's latest effort to address the nation’s economic woes. In August, he sent a memo out to more than 200,000 Starbucks employees urging them to do what they can to help business thrive.
He also asked fellow CEOs to stop contributing to political campaigns until the nation’s leaders reached a long-term economic solution. Then he hosted a national telephone forum, bought full-page ads in two major newspapers and started a website, Upwardspiral2011.org.
Schultz says he feels a personal responsibility to do something to help stimulate the economy. He says Starbucks is setting an example for others, by hiring about 200 people a day in its efforts to remodel thousands of stores and add about 200 more locations in the next year.
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