The High Cost Of Free WiFi
This is a guest post by Dorothy Stewart. Learn more about how you can guest post for Daily Shot Of Coffee here.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. And while hoards of people are squatting at coffee shops around the country, others are being deprived of the coffee house experience. What is the coffee house experience? It’s a chance to connect with other harried moms after dropping the kids off at school, it’s a break in the work day that allows you a place to recharge for 30 minutes before heading back to the rock quarry. It might even be a nice place for a first date or an interview with a potential employer.
And, in the good old days, coffee shops were for – well, coffee. Good coffee. They also provided a great place to write poetry, read the newspaper (remember those) and chill out. Not anymore.
At one time, “laptoppers” in coffee houses were the minority. And they had manners. They realized when they’d overstayed their welcome and like a well-mannered houseguest, they would gather their belongings and leave. Especially if they saw people looking all around for tables to – you guessed it – have a cup of coffee. Oh, wait. That would mean they actually saw other people in the coffee shop, which would require at least an occasional glance up from your computer!
When Lawrence Ferlinghetti and other beat poets dominated San Francisco’s North Beach coffee houses, you didn’t see them toting laptops under their arms, or encroaching on the entire table. They sat and sipped and chatted and read and people watched. They connected with people.
And since Starbucks and many other coffee shops have instituted free wireless it has become a “free for all.” All being the “me, me, me” folks who sit for hours on end nursing one cup of coffee while others wait in the wings praying that they might find even a chair in the corner to enjoy their expensive drinks in comfort.
Yes, free WIFI has its perks (pun intended) but for the majority of those languishing on their laptops, I say – get an office.
Dorothy Stewart is a freelance writer and coffee lover who resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. She blogs at http://perkdup.blogspot.com
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Photo by Joel Washing
Category: Coffee Thoughts
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Mike Crimmins is the highly caffeinated blogger behind Daily Shot Of Coffee. Besides drinking way too much coffee, he's obsessed with the Yankees and getting dirty on his mountain bike.Subscribe
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I like the fact the coffee shops have free wireless, and once in a while I go in, buy coffee and do some work. I think I should have to buy one menu item per hour because it costs money for these places to stay open. I never really stay longer than an hour, but it just seems appropriate be a decent customer.
I think that’s the key. Some people use appropriately but at too many coffee shops that I’ve been to it’s being abused.
free as in you paid for it free.
i agree with Rose. as long as a wifier pays for something, i have no
issue with them using their e-devices at the shops i go to or
frequent. and really i have seen maybe half of them interacting
and being social. it seems balanced here.
maybe you live in a very rude wifier area?
they disrespect.
That’s a good question. I’ve noticed “rude wifi use” all over though in both medium and large sized cities.
I put sipping one cup of coffee for several while using WiFi unacceptable social behavior. I would say using free WiFi during a break or lunch hour is fair. However, I believe the author was mainly referring to those persons – and the numbers are huge – who sit for hours on end, basically telecommuting or using coffee houses as office space. WiFi is an expensive customer convenience that is causing some coffee houses in the San Francisco Bay Area to either discontinue offering it free or limiting the time one person can use it or in some cases, discontinuing WiFi altogether, because clients who wish to purchase pastry, sandwich, or salad AND coffee, while using WiFi, can’t find a place to sit for 30 minutes because the place is packed with 4 hour, one cup of coffee, free WiFi “customers”.
I agree, those aren’t really “customers” that are helping out the coffee shop owner or the other patrons.
I am sooo guilty. I’ve stayed for quite a while in some places. BUUUTT, I do purchase (coffee, breakfast & lunch, and when it qualifies – sometimes dinner) – that was a time when my pc was all screwed up and I didn’t have Internet…ok, that’s true, but I still do it sometimes
*JustForAChangeofScenery* AND I BUY!
I see on Foursquare that you’re always going to Tres Amici and it reminded me of the blogger group that I’m a part of. It meets there once a month and it’s beginning to be a big group. They stay open late for us and I always make sure to buy a coffee and dinner there. However, there’s some people that bring their own water and snacks in, and I just have to shake my head.
Perhaps, your group might consider an occasional “goodwill gesture”. Once a month, your blogging group could collect $1.00 from each participant as a “tip” to the on-duty barrister or manager who stays late to accommodate your schedule. I’m sure he or she would really appreciate the display of gratitude. After all, the establishment is providing a rent-free space for your regular meetings and by your own observation, some people in your group bring water and snacks purchased at establishments that most likely don’t provide WiFi. I.e., Walgreen’s or some other retailer with less hospitable accommodations for meetings.
I think that’s more than fair and a good idea. I might have to carefully bring it up.
Very true, here in Studio City, CA the local Starbucks was a squatting spot for the same folks everyday as they would not leave for hours on end as they stay glued to their laptops by their side sucking up all the WiFi… I even gave them nicknames as I chill out sipping my “cup-o-joe” and people watching looking out for celebs.
Well, just recently they remodeled and purposely eliminated comfortable seating along with taking away a number of seating inside and outside, thus cutting the actual sitting places in half.
“Get em in, get em out”
Good in a way, but bad because I can never find a seat there now and just pass on by to Pete’s Coffee down the street where the hot afternoon sun is a direct hit and un-escape-able. Btw, never bring my laptop…
It’s like a no win for anyone. I can understand all sides, but if they are just there working, I’m sure there’s a library near by!