Starbucks going completely cashless? No. The viral claim is misleading
A social media post claiming that Starbucks has decided to go cashless is going viral on social media. this has stirred up many to voice against Starbucks. People also started using 'Boycott Starbucks' after the post went viral.
However, Fact Crescendo found the claim to be misleading. This same claim was found to be viral few years ago. Starbucks also clarified that it is not going completely cashless across the globe.
What's the claim?
A social media user shared a screenshot of a tweet which mentioned that Starbucks is going cashless from 1 October 2024 and will be accepting card, contactless and Starbucks reward payments. Below you can see the post.
Fact Check-
First, we checked the credibility of the screenshot of the viral tweet. We found that the tweet came from a parody account and not the real account of Starbucks Canada. We also found many tweets from this account saying, 'Only black people can use our bathrooms, we are no longer serving customers who are Russian, baristas will be working from home etc.'
We found a tweet from Starbucks UK's official account from 2022. The tweet clarified that Starbucks had no plans to go cashless across the UK stores. It further reads, "We operate alongside various licensee business partners in the UK, so this may vary from store to store and the majority of our stores continue to offer cash payment options."
Further, we found out about the various payment options available at Starbucks outlets on their website. As per the information, Starbucks payment mode includes, Starbucks Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Credit/Debit Cards and Cash as well.
Telegraph and Argus in August 2022 reported that Starbucks had no plans to go cashless in the UK stores ending all the speculations and rumors. Starbuck works with various licensee business partners who can opt any payment methods which varies from stores to stores. But, majority of the stores continue to offer cash payments to the customers.
Conclusion:
Fact Crescendo found the claim to be misleading. Starbucks is not going cashless from October 2024. The viral post Starbucks is not going cashless from October 2024. The viral pot came from a parody account of Starbucks Canada.t came from a parody account of Starbucks Canada.