Starbucks Anti-Police Incident Backlash? Starbucks Uses Delivery Service to Educate Customers Not to Judge Others

Starbucks Delivery Controversy: Customer Displeased with Unsolicited Messages

On February 25th, a netizen posted on social media about ordering delivery from a Beijing Starbucks. When the order arrived, they found messages written on the bag: "Don't judge others hastily; you never know what others are going through" and "Tolerance, kindness, and generosity are worthy of your excellence." The netizen said the messages felt uncomfortable—as if they were being lectured.

They noted they had been perfectly polite throughout the ordering process, and when the delivery call came they answered promptly and asked the courier to leave the order in the delivery locker. On seeing the messages, they first assumed the order had gone to the wrong person—but after checking the order details and phone number, confirmed it was indeed theirs.

The netizen also pointed out that this didn't look like something a courier would add later: the pen strokes and handwriting resembled the type Starbucks uses to write on cups. So they called the store to ask. The store's response: "We write messages on all delivery bags. These are positive messages, meant as blessings, not attacks."

Later, the netizen said that in handling the incident, the store, the delivery platform, and Starbucks headquarters all characterized the messages as blessings while offering apologies. After about 1-2 hours of back-and-forth among the three parties, the resolution was to redeliver the order—this time on a completely clean bag—with no refund provided.

Employees from the store saw the post and asked the netizen to delete it, saying they would make corrections. The netizen did not delete it, and asked why Starbucks would alter packaging without notifying customers, and why the store would dispatch deliveries without reviewing what was written on them.

Company Response and Public Reaction

After the incident spread, other media contacted the store too. The staff member who answered said: "The company is still handling this matter. We were all temporarily called in to help. People from our store have gone to the company to cooperate with the investigation. All involved employees will face consequences." Starbucks customer service added: "We are very sorry the customer had a negative experience. The original intention of the messages was to send blessings to customers and create more connection with them."

In other words, Starbucks admitted the "inspirational quotes" were theirs. Whether the wording actually reads as a blessing is another matter—the poster and many netizens disagreed. Interpretations of text vary, and the intent may have been positive; but given Starbucks' history of recent public controversies, handing customers double-edged "inspirational quotes" while the last storm hadn't even settled was always going to raise the pressure of public criticism.

Image Credits and Additional Information

Image source: Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Internet

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