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Starbucks Issues Environmental Report, Opts To Exclude Mobile

Written by Evan Schuman
April 25th, 2011

Starbucks has just issued an extensive report detailing all of the things it has done to support the environment. But one of the key environmentally friendly moves the company has made—its mobile payment effort—is curiously missing. Hey, if you’re going to get down to talking about using special lightbulbs, you would think that the deadtree-saving nature of not having printed receipts for those thousands of mobile purchases would at least get a bullet or two.

Starbucks, by the way, does deserve kudos for the candid way it handled the report. On the top of a chart with its goals and progress, it chose to lead with an item where it missed its goal—more than 15 times over. Its first goal was “to reduce energy consumption by 25 percent in our company-owned stores by 2010” and the reality: “Our electricity use decreased by 1.6 percent in company-owned stories in 2010.” The chain gave that goal a “did not achieve” icon. (Presumably, the “we didn’t even come bloody close” icon was too large.)

Posted in In-Store, Mobile/Wireless/Contactless, Payment Systems
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