The freeloader problem

Posted by Marshall on May 26, 2006 | Link It

Seth Godin asks if there’s anything wrong with buying your food at McDonald’s but eating it at StarBucks (because the line at Starbucks would be too long).  But it takes longer to go out to the twin arches to get the meal and bring it back to big Coffee Cup lounge than if the someone just waits on line.

The problem is not what Seth makes out of it - it’s more likely the selections for anything but coffee, tea and pasteries is so narrow at Starbucks that someone will even go to McDonalds rather than eat at Starbucks if they’re that hungry.

So what’s wrong with that?



3 Responses

These are the current comments for "The freeloader problem"

Anonymous
05/26/06 @ 5:54 pm

I believe you accidentally misinterpreted what Seth meant about the long Starbucks line.

He said that people leave Starbucks if the line is long or there are no tables. The guy didn’t go to McD’s because the Starbucks line was long, he went to McD’s first then brought it to Starbucks because he prefers the atmosphere. Seth was saying that since people leave if there are no tables, and this guy is taking up a table, Starbucks is losing customers while this guy gives them nothing. Thus the “freeloader” term.



05/26/06 @ 8:42 pm

I think it is certainly a problem that there are freeloaders like this.

However, if I was a Starbucks exec and I saw that photo, here’s the conclusion I would draw:

“We need to start selling sandwiches.”



05/26/06 @ 10:23 pm

I’m a huge believer in permission marketing as taught by Seth Godin, and in author Jeffrey Gitomer’s strategy of giving away your expertise before expecting people to become customers.  Both strategies have helped me build successful businesses. B…



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