Starbucks Software Glitch Leads to Free Coffee
A software glitch caused some issues for Starbucks yesterday. Reports say a software update caused registers at some U.S. and Canadian locations to go offline, forcing Starbucks to give away free coffee. Madeleine Lowenborg-Frick, a Starbucks spokeswoman, said most stores were back online as of late Tuesday night. She also stated the glitch was due to a problem during a routine software update and unrelated to the "WannaCry" ransomware attack. Starbucks didn't announce how many stores were affected by software glitch.
Total Retail's Take: Last weekend's "WannaCry" ransomware attack has retailers on edge — and rightfully so. It affected more than 300,000 computers around the world. Starbucks confidently stated that the glitch was due to a software update and not something related to the ransomware attack. In addition, Starbucks turned a potential crisis into a PR win by giving free coffee to customers after its POS system went down. The brand received tons of praise on social media from new and loyal customers. All in all, there's no use in crying over spilled coffee.
