I freely admit, I have never been a Starbucks fan. Their coffee was greatly overpriced. I can’t see paying four bucks for a regular cup of coffee or more for a latte. I just never could see the fascination of paying so much for a cup of coffee which, to me, was no better than the coffee I would get for a buck at McDonalds. I honestly mean that. In fact, I prefer McDonald’s coffee to Starbucks.

I am not at all surprised to learn Starbucks is in great financial difficulty. They built a store on virtually every corner. There are two Starbucks stores that are easily within walking distance of each other not far from where I live. I am not business guru. But, even I could recognize this constant store building, within eyeshot of each other, spelled disaster. They are closing over 600 stores nationwide. Can anyone honestly say they are surprised by this news? Starbucks upper management is to blame in my not so expert opinion. They should have recognized they were stretching their capital very thin with the building of so many blasted stores. Plus, you have to read the tea leaves to maintain your business. Surely they could see the economy on a downswing two years ago. The CFO needs to go…yesterday. This miscalculation has to be laid at his or her feet. Sure, he didn’t know gas prices were going escalate 100% at the pump. But, you have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best in the business world. If you don’t, you go the way of K-Mart (called Sears Essentials in my area), TWA and other companies of yesterday.

Starbucks is not on the verge of extinction like the companies mentioned. But, they are in deep trouble. They need to forget the idiotic “stand downs” of all employees during working hours they had earlier this year. Instead, Starbucks needs to take a good look at the people who gave the go ahead on the constant building of new stores.

I won’t miss Starbucks even if they do go the way of the dinosaur. I can count on two fingers the number of times I have visited their establishments. I wasn’t impressed. I’ll just stick to the Mickey D’s java.