The Starbuck Stops Here
Zecharya is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
I believe it is a normal human character trait to judge the world around us. It's part of growing up and being able to draw conclusions and make decisions that further our advancment in the world. Sometimes, perhaps more often than not, we judge unfavorably criticizing subjectively that which is around us. I myself take part in this judgement process and was recently enlightend to how having such an atitude could ultimately ruin one's chances of gaining an oppurtunity or ultimately achieving real success.
In a recent article in "The Motley Fool I read about oppurtunities in new markets emerging in china, and companies that would be worhtwhile investing in. One such market is coffee and the company in question was Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX). The first thing that came to mind upon seeing how this might be an oppurtunity for worthy investors was "forget it, I wouldn't put a penny into it". Now for the longest time I have taken issue with Starbucks, which is, how can a middle class american making a modest income justify spending $3.50 on a "cup o' jo"? I love coffe just about as much as anyone else but I couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money on something that could easily be attained for as little as $1!
Well as it happens I took my family out this past weekend and while on the road for what must have been a twenty minute drive we must have seen at least 6 Starbucks shops. "I must be missing something" I said to myself, "what is it that Starbucks is giving it's customers that I've been missing?" As this train of thought was develpoing and preparing to leave the station I came accross an interview done by CNN with Starbucks C.E.O. Howard Schultz. During the interview Mr schultz when on to accurately describe what he sees as a goverment that is failing it's people. "The government has lost touch with the people of it's country, starbucks won't wait for the government to spur the economy we'll do it ourselves". Upon hearing Mr Schultz's words I realized that although our leaders aren't leading properly, there are still people among us willing to.
U.S. President Harry truman a great american leader of yesteryear popularized the phrase "the buck stops here", which he used to take responsibility for the happenings that took place during his time in office. Starbucks offers a pleasant ambience good music wifi internet and comfortable accomoations to anyone walking through their doors whether they buy coffee or not. they have also provided thousands of jobs for hardworking people across the globe. Starbucks has done a great job and i'm sure will continue to do a great job providing americans with a great product lead by great people who care about this great country. In retrospect $3.50 isn't all that much when you consider the entire picture of what Starbucks is offering. Whether one should invest in this company is entirely up to them, however when investing one should want to know who runs the company how they run it and where the company is going. Mr Schultz and Starbucks as a whole have essentially told the world "the Starbuck stops here".
Have a great and successful day.
Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Starbucks. The Motley Fool owns shares of Starbucks. talmidchacham has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
