Starbucks Appreciation Day – Buy Coffee, Say “Thanks”

Today (2/14/12) the pro-gun blogging community encourages you to support the ‘buycott’ (opposite of boycott) of Starbucks coffee.

Long story short: California open carry advocates legally carried handguns into a Starbucks last year which upset the anti-gunners.  The Brady Campaign started a petition to convince businesses to ban guns in their stores.  While some other corporations capitulated, Starbucks chose to not alienate part of their customer base stating, in essence, in the states where it is legal to carry a firearm, Starbucks does not make policy to discriminate against people that follow the law.  The anti-gunners were then even more upset that Starbucks did not cave to their demands and announced a boycott scheduled for today, Valentine’s Day 2012.

NGVAC, the group calling for the boycott claims 14 million people in their ‘network’ but only had (as of 1/29) 132 people attending.  They have since hidden the number attending out of shame.  While on the other hand the grass roots only ‘Starbucks Appreciation Day’ Facebook page currently has over 22,500 people listed as attending.

To be clear, Starbucks have not said that they are pro-gun.  However, they have rebuked the efforts of the civilian disarmament / anti-civil rights activists to force them into social activism and released a statement saying:

“Starbucks does not have a corporate policy regarding customers and weapons; we defer to federal, state and local laws and regulations regarding this issue.”

For that we thank them and show our appreciation today and will continue to do so for as long as that stance remains.

Helpful tips for showing appreciation:

• Be polite and friendly. Smile.
• Do state why today’s purchase is important to you.
• If possible, ask for a manager on duty and thank them for the company’s stance.
• Do not make this a wide-eyed, convert-the-masses sermon on the evils of Liberalism, Anti-gunners, etc.  We are making friends here.
• If someone asks if you are carrying a (concealed) firearm just smile and reply with something like, “That’s what great about concealed carry, folks just don’t know.” or “I’m just here to buy coffee.”
• Thank them again and tip your barista.
• Contact Starbucks corporate and thank them directly

[h/t and thanks to Sebastian, Joe Huffman, SayUncle, DOOT, Tom, and all those that helped move this forward]

Update: I have since gone to two separate Starbucks and received positive feedback from the employees.  Each time, I had with me an abbreviated print version of this posting (I did not include the Helpful Tips section) so that they could have a brief explanation of why we are supporting them.  At one location the conversation went like this:

Me: Did you you know today is Starbucks Appreciation Day?

Barista [slightly puzzled]: No…

Me [handing him the print out]: Yeah, I found this on the internet and wanted to show my support and say “Thanks.”

Barista [after a quick scan]: So you’re here to spend money because another group called for a boycott?

Me: Well, yes.  There’s tens of thousands of people doing the same today.

Barista: That’s awesome!  Can I keep this [paper] to show my manager?

Me: Absolutely, that’s why I brought it.

Barista: Cool! [offers high five]

Me: *high five*