Let’s start with the problem.
According to The Plastic Pollution Coalition (January 3, 2017) – “It’s National Drinking Straw Day! Each day, more than 500 million plastic straws are used and discarded in the U.S. alone. Plastic straws consistently make the top ten list of items found, according to Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup data. In the last three years, plastic straws have climbed the list to the Number 5 spot.”
In response to this growing problem, in January California made it illegal to give customers plastic straws unless they expressly request one.
Another way some restaurants have tried to to fix this problem has been to replace plastic straws with paper straws.
Or then there is the tasty fix to the problem, the cookie straw.
But there is another way to approach problem solving, and that is to design out the problem instead of trying to fix it.
Recently a barista at Starbucks accidentally gave me a lid on my water cup that I wasn’t expecting.
I had heard that Starbucks was planning to reduce their use of the iconic green plastic straw, but I kind of assumed that meant they were shifting to paper straws like some other quick serve restaurants, but that is not what they have in mind at all.
Starbucks is instead planning to eliminate the plastic straw.
Instead of focusing on the straw they instead chose to focus on the lid and design it in a way that a straw isn’t even necessary.
So, next time you’re wrestling with a problem and trying to solve it, look at it in a slightly different way just for fun, try asking yourself how you could design the product, service, or experience (or all three) in order to design out the problem.
You may or may not get to a more viable, desirable, and feasible solution than trying to fix the problem.
But, looking at the problem from a range of different perspectives is always worth the effort.
Keep innovating!
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The new Starbucks train café is one of the smallest the company has ever designed, and they have managed to include space for 50 people, baristas, a pastry case, standing bar, and a lounge area, all tastefully assembled into a two level train car.
It’s incredibly important for companies like Starbucks that sell daily indulgences to be in the places where people are looking to enjoy that little treat, and with the level of quality increasing (at least in the coffee experience) at competitors like Dunkin Donuts, McCafe, Caribou Coffee, and others, Starbucks has to do everything they can to reinforce their premium image and customer loyalty.
In a continuing series of articles exposing the gradual degradation of our food supply, I’d like to highlight what used to be called Philadelphia Cream Cheese, but now you will notice that the logo has dropped the cream cheese phrase from the logo.
Well, Kraft might say because they are trying to extend the brand into new areas, but I would also say that, hopefully, legally now (or soon) they can no longer call it cream cheese because really it is no longer cream cheese, but is now instead is a cream cheese spread.
Sometimes it is better to be late than never. Starbucks recently announced a new line of energy drinks – Starbucks Refreshers. There are two flavors Cool Lime and Very Berry Hibiscus and instead of copying other energy drinks, and use the same active ingredients as the usual suspects, they instead decided to use something uniquely Starbucks – green coffee extract.
If you missed How Leading Organizations Manage Their Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing Efforts – Part One, you can 
I came across a queue reduction application for the iPhone and iPod Touch four years ago that was intriguing. At the time it looked like the application wasn’t quite finished or certified for use yet by Apple and Starbucks, but from what I gathered at the time it was meant to work something like this:
I’ve been meaning to write this post for some time, and am finally getting around to it, so hear goes…
For those of you not familiar with the