Capitalist bastards

I have a long running debate with a friend of mine¹. Starbucks, everyone's favourite coffee shop, have several lines of coffee available in the shop. However, only one of them is fairtrade. Similarly, fairtrade coffee is available for no extra cost, but you have to ask. Now, are Starbucks doing enough considering the considerable power they wield over the world's coffee market?

I have always argued no. Although making fairtrade available is a good thing, many coffee chains (AMT, Coffee Republic) offer only fairtrade coffee. You might argue that people should make up their own minds and choose their own morals, but I usually argue that it's the luxury of the Western world that allows us that freedom, and many people are not so lucky. Companies should consider their responsibilities. Also, most people aren't that switched on. It's one thing to say you'll buy fairtrade and another thing altogether to remember to.

However, having had a "behind the scenes" look (woo, I'm a barista) I am changing my mind. Two things spring to mind - Many coffee shops are changing to fairtrade to try to attract customers, but there simply isn't another chain the size of Starbucks, and there may not be the supplies immediately available without huge amounts of groundwork and masses of investment. Secondly, Starbucks (to the best of my knowledge) don't recycle a damn thing. Perhaps they should sort that out before anything else.

1. Can you really ever be "friends" with a scot?