Remember GOOD sheets at Starbucks? Before I talk about the GOOD Sheets, I have talk about the background story to them. The background story to Starbucks launching them is as follows:
In March 2008, Starbucks launched My Starbucks Idea. I wrote a previous blog entry talking about some of the problems that My Starbucks Idea has had. One distinct past problem (long since fixed) was that when someone signed into MyStarbucksIdea.com, he or she would be directed to “top all time” ideas. This was the design and programing of My Starbucks Idea for at least about the first seven or eight months of its existence.
The problem with this, though not inherently obvious, is that the “top all time ideas” page is, even today, the most stagnant My Starbucks Idea page. As a result, people would log in, and consistently see a thread called “Great Conversations at Starbucks.” In addition, this thread is incredibly innocuous and not prone to controversy. Easy to vote up “Great Conversations.” Even today, as I write this, Great Conversations is still the top all-time My Starbucks Idea thread. During this era where “top all time ideas” was the default landing page for My Starbucks Idea participants as they logged in, there was no way to vote a thread down. What this added up to was that “Great Conversations” sat at the top of the heap, easily gathering a lot of points. It’s probably the best example that I can think of to say that point totals does not necessarily correlate with what people really value at Starbucks.
Nonetheless, based on the great success of “Great Conversations” Starbucks launched GOOD sheets in their stores to inspire conversations. I do not remember the total number of issues published. I stopped picking them up towards their end. GOOD sheets were free, and generally located near the beverage pick up area of the bar, as I recall. The GOOD sheets came, and went, never to be heard of again. Does anyone else here remember them?
As I look back on the issues touched upon in GOOD sheets, no doubt that nearly a year to a year and a half later, these topics are still very relevant conversation points. Definitely health care has not faded away as hot topic since the September 2008 GOOD sheets. In hindsight, I liked the GOOD sheets. Though I never sparked conversation with strangers about gasoline prices, they always gave me something interesting to read as I waited for a beverage to be made, or even – gasp – a fresh quarter-batch of the bold pick of the day to brew. I give them two thumbs up.
My Starbucks Idea officially announced the GOOD sheets in their blogs on September 11, 2008. Here is the link to that announcement:
My Starbucks Idea also posted a related thread asking what kind of conversations people wanted to have at Starbucks:
Following the launch of GOOD sheets, people came on to My Starbucks Idea to both complain that the topics were too highly politicized for Starbucks, and to praise Starbucks for bring great topics into the stores. The response on My Starbucks Idea was definitely a mixed-bag of response, though in my own recollection of the threads, it appeared to me that more people liked GOOD sheets than not.
Once again, thank you to Larry Aldrich of Seattle Custom Framing for his assistance in the photography of the GOOD sheet images.
And now, the real question is, what kind of “Great Conversations” do you want to see at Starbucks?
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I do miss the GOOD sheets! I know there is a magazine version, but I do think it added something extra to the third place. I liked that it was just there, to be picked up, rather than promoted as an agenda. You could agree to disagree or have a good laugh at the writing. I particularly remember the GOOD sheet on the presidential election. It didn’t matter who you aligned with, but the issue sparked discourse, which was the point. Wonder why Sbux has done away with them.
I think there were a total of 11 GOOD sheets? I liked them. I had conversations with many customers surrounding them. I feel they were rather balanced for the most part. I do miss them. And they’re recyclable, so even the LEED certified stores could have them.
What is a “good sheet”?
Melody, I totally LOVED the GOOD Sheets, sad to admit but mostly for their artistic design. I wish they would come back but understand there was some controversy.
On another topic– I won one of the first gift cards you gave away from your blog months ago (a Pike Place one which I cherish– thank you!) and just realized yesterday, when I got my coupon in the mail for a FREE Perfect Oatmeal, that it’s since become a Gold Card of sorts 🙂
Thanks! Melody
Steve, Didn’t you read what Melody wrote?? The ‘good’ sheets are what the pictures are of at the bottom of the blog entry. They haven’t been in Starbucks for about a year now.
I never saw the ‘GOOD sheets’ in my store but this was apparently at a very difficult time in my life….my dad had just died and tho I was still at Sbux everyday, or nearly, I think I was oblivious to what was around me. (except when PPR first came out and I tasted THAT….)
Actually, I don’t even know for sure…did they have them in all areas? I’ll ask at my store today if they had them then.
They didn’t have them in store at first. I asked where they were and the barista had no clue what I was talking about. Once they finally came in, they put them at the condiment center. Still, the baristas had no clue what they were about.
I thought the GOOD sheets were great! Created a lot of conversations about important issues among coworkers and got people to think about the facts and not just political opinion.
Melody: thanks for the visually annotated history of GOOD sheets! As someone who has long been interested in conversation and community at Starbucks, I’d been wondering whatever came of that great idea. All the positive comments here and on the Starbucks blog suggest that many people liked the GOOD sheets, but I have never seen a reference to anyone starting a conversation about one (with the exception of Clark Kent’s report [above] of conversations among Starbucks partners).
You asked “what kind of “Great Conversations” do you want to see at Starbucks?” I would rephrase this slightly to ask “what kind of conversations do you want to have at Starbucks?” … and then, taking a cue from Gandhi, invite people to be the conversationalists they want to see at Starbucks 🙂
I did NOT like the Good sheets. Not very many customers looked at it, and it was a lot of waste, in my opinion. We would throw a lot of them away. I found it very ironic that a paper which discussed environmental responsibility was printing on all those papers. Call me mean, but that’s just what I think. 🙂
P.S. I love the GOOD youtube channel. Their videos are very funny and educational! I totally recommend those!
Gave me something to read while waiting in the long line of the morning rush
I remember those, but most of us would just read a little of it while waiting for our drinks, I never saw many people take one.
I have to admit I missed this whole thing. I never even noticed this publication when I was in the stores. It must not have been that publicized. Either that or my local store did not have them? Where they in every store? It sounds like somewhat of a good idea for conversation starters. I wonder if there is a way to bring this idea back but in a different way.
Thanks for the share Melody. The framing of the pictures was awesome. And fun to relive something like this even if I had to do it vicariously. 🙂
Jason Coffee
http://coffeecupnews.org
I agree with Camspi, it would’ve been nice if we’d been able to control how many we got. They were awesome, and we had quite a few customers that loved them, but we ended up throwing away SO many!
I remember these. It was something nice to read while I waited for my drink. Think I kept one or two issues.
along the lines of conversation in Starbucks….. I’ve never been at a loss for words, same with the baristas at my regular store. I’ve met quite a few people this way…just by talking about …anything…at Sbux. That’s the ‘community’ part, to me, within the store, at least.
Off-topic, but I though the following article would be of interest to you (hope I got the HTML syntax right):
Now at Starbucks: A Rebound
It includes an interesting analysis of the new “non-Starbucks” Starbucks stores.
Starbucks continues to try to find a way to become a serious third place, but this is the second go around of a publication based conversation starter. In 1999, Starbucks teamed up with Time, Inc. to provide Joe magazine, a quarterly publication. I think it was priced at $3, but I’m not positive. All those metallic stands near the registers with the angled shelves that don’t seem quite right for pounds of coffee? Those were the original displays for Joe. Which, by the way, didn’t last an entire year if my memory serves me right.
With the proliferation of laptops and handheld devices that can access the internet, it’s easy for customers to access content that can do the same thing that the GOOD sheets were supposed to do. Plus, there’s a link to GOOD online at the WiFi sign-in screen so they can save a few trees and generate the same conversations.
Hi Chris W!
I know which angled metal things you’re talking about. I’ve heard about Joe, but it came and went so fast that it’s not really even a memory for me. It’s more of a legend that gets orally passed on from Starbuckian to Starbuckian.
I remember one time reading an interview with Howard Schultz – Wish I could remember what interview it was – and in it he mentions that he keeps a stack of Joe Magazines in his office as a powerful reminder that not everything will be hitting a homerun, and just a reminder of the mistake!
Wouldn’t I just love to sneak into his office and get my hands on a Joe magazine. (Putting aside the numerous crimes involved w/that idea!) Otherwise, I think they’re impossible to find now. I look periodically on ebay but with no luck.
GOOD Sheets where great. The only problem I had was finding them in NY! They either didn’t stock enough, or they were that popular. They never sparked conversation with strangers in Starbucks, but they did back at the office when we returned.
It was definitely a great initiative and they seemed to be pretty objective.
Melody,
I kept a few copies for a while, but I don’t think I’ve still got them. I was a store manager at the time, and we discarded cases full of them, pretty sure the actual number sold I could count on my fingers.
I hope that Starbucks can eventually find a way to regularly generate conversations, and reinforce the concept of the Third Place, now that I’m a former partner, that’s why I keep coming back.
Wow I don’t really remember the Good sheets but I absolutely love your site! This has got to be one of the best Starbucks sites i’ve ever seen, thanks so much for this Melody!
I must admit that I never noticed the Good papers, so everything in this post is news to me. I like the idea of sparking conversation in stores, but these flyers seem a bit forced. I think that communal tables, coffee cuppings, musical performances, and other in-store features/events would go farther toward community involvement and conversation — and we have seen some of these in action, at least at the 15th Ave/Roy Street Coffee & Tea stores.
I asked at my store about the GOOD sheets…we never had them, for sure. (in either of the 2 stores in my area within 1mi. of each other). So, maybe they were random or regional.
I need to be more aware of my surroundings. I’m so over focused on GO IN GET COFFEE GO! I miss a lot of things unless I’m specifically looking for something (beans or timblers)
I like the idea of the Good Sheet – I just don’t feel I’d strike up conversation with it to strangers or baristas. I would should I see one read it while I wait for my coffee 🙂 Strikes me as a lighter version of a coffee table book 😉
Just on a hunch, that MAYBE it would be a collectible someday, I have saved the first “Good Sheet”. After the first one came out I never bothered to collect anymore… I kinda-sorta forgot about them…in fact I really don’t even remember them after that first one. Does anyone REALLY know why they were discontinued? They came and went sooo fast….
I know this thread started out focusing on the GOOD sheets, but given the references to Joe Magazine in some of the comments, I wanted to share a passage in Bryant Simon’s book, “Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks” in which he references Joe Magazine (p. 111), and notes that its tagline was “Life is interesting. Discuss”.
Interesting.
FYI, if anyone wants the full set, GOOD has started selling them on their back issues store: http://shop.good.is/product/good-sheets
[…] Good “curates and promotes” its content on the Starbucks wifi welcome page, and in 2008, they did a series of Good Sheets in collaboration with the company. These sets of infographic heavy cards, designed to spark informed conversation in the cafes, were distributed at Starbucks locations every month, covering topics like “Carbon Emissions, Education, the high price of gasoline, and the importance of making your voice count by voting.” StarbucksMelody has a good recap post on the project. […]