Every Cup Tells a Story.......

Canada is moving towards a minimum "living" wage of $15.00 per hour.  Ontario has raised their minimum wage to $14/hour from $11.40/hour.  It has been criticized for being too much of a raise too quickly and causing difficulty for small businesses.  It may be too onerous for some small businesses and may result in a few lay offs, however, unemployment is also at the lowest point in over 40 years, so those displaced are likely to find other jobs quickly.  There is only one "big business" that is leading the charge against this and making their employees pay for this action and that is Tim Horton's. 

Tim Horton's head office would like us to believe that they, as a corporate entity, has nothing to do with this and actions in retaliation are done by individual franchisees.  Don't be fooled by this.  For every dollar spent at a Tim's location, about $.20 goes to Tim Horton's corporation.  There is no room for individual franchisees to have any say in what happens at the corporate level.   There corporate headquarters dictate almost all of their decisions.  

I am glad that this has happened.  It has made me remember why I don't like Tim Horton's.  I know.  Saying you don't like Tim Horton's in Canada is like saying you don't like apple pie and ice cream in the US.  They have really clever marketers and have been able to equate themselves with being Canadian.   It makes who don't like Tim's feel like we are not patriotic.  I love Canada, and because I love Canada, I feel I should let Canadians know what they are supporting.  

Here is my list of reasons I don't like Tim's.

1.  The company is not Canadian.  It was sold to American interests in 1995.  23 years ago.  Yet, the advertising is focused on being as Canadian as maple syrup.  Hypocrites. They brain wash into supporting this "Canadian" institution when it is not Canadian and all the millions in profits goes to the US.

2.  The service is terrible.  I believed in their hype that "every cup tells a story" in that most meaningful moments in our life happened while sharing a cup of coffee until I received deplorable customer service.  I wanted the franchise owner and the corporation to hear my story, but, I soon found out they didn't care less.  They have so many customers, they didn't care to lose my business, that is when I looked into their corporate climate.  I found that they devote no training to customer service and their training mostly operates on being faster and more efficient.  I started to reflect upon other times I had been served, and it was pretty much across the board awful.  

3.  They don't support Canadian farmers for their products.

4.  They are not very "green".  One of the few fast food giants that don't have recyclable or compostable cups.  

5.  The food is not very good.  They keep coming up with new products and again, the advertising make you want to try the food or you feel like you are missing out on a cultural phenomenon.  It is almost always disappointing, but, it doesn't matter because in a month or so that product will be gone and replaced with something else you will try.  

6.  The coffee is actually lousy.  There I said it and it is true.  The coffee is not rich and it has no finish.  

7.  They lie to us.  They say one thing one month such as "simply uncomplicated lattes" and the next month they will be pitching "mocha peppermint lattes".  

8.  They have no rewards program.  I know that doesn't seem like much but other chains have promotions like buy 6 cups of coffee and get your next one free.  Starbucks send me an email on my birthday and give me a free beverage.  Tim's does nothing.  That is because they really don't care about their customers.

9.  Remember ten years ago, you could walk in a Tim's and see writing on the pot like "9:21".  They told us their coffee was "always fresh" and if it was 20 minutes old, it would be thrown out.  Well, they quietly stopped doing that.  Also, their food is usually frozen.  

10.  They really don't care about customer service.  I know I've said that before, but I want to remind you of some of their epic moments.  Remember, they fired an employee for giving a toddler a free timbit.  Remember, they wouldn't let a child use their phone to call 911 when he was having an asthma attack.  Remember, in this century, they kicked a gay couple out of their restaurant.  

11.  For some reason, if you buy their Keurig pods at a Safeway or Sobey's, the purchase does not give your Airmiles.  I found this out when I was using the coupon for spending $100 and getting 100 airmiles.  I didn't get the airmiles and found out then that Tim's products are excluded from airmiles. I know this is a small thing, but I think is indicative of their corporate values.  

It is interesting to me that only Tim's seem to be outwardly taking action against the rise in minimum wage.  Surely, other chains and big businesses will also be affected.  Or maybe, other corporations have employee engagement as part of their corporate values.  Perhaps, they have already rewarded loyal employees with raises and other incentives.  Perhaps, this is why Tim's is successful.  Perhaps they treat their employees as well as they treat their customers.  Perhaps, every cup really does tell a story and it is a story of corporate greed.