Starbucks

Raised as a usability problem by 22 people on Hacker News over 18 years (2009–2026), in 18 threads.

People raised many different problems with Starbucks, but no single problem has yet been raised by 3 people in 3 different months and threads.

Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.

The newest 22 complaints

Store info fails to load or update, flaky and extremely slow on mobile2026-06-10
Pickup instructions failed: store doors locked, so user had to rejoin drive-thru queue2025-12-23
Hard to skip the tip; must figure out how to decline, slowing drive-through payment2024-06-02
Tip screen gives no instructions, tiny arrows, and faded unlabeled enter button2024-02-23
Staff must memorize button locations and hunt and peck to operate the register at speed2023-03-23
Simplified workflows become a pain for experienced staff and show less information2023-03-23
Tipping electronically requires digging through three menu levels, so many users never find it2022-12-04
Consent is opt-out, pushing people into accepting cookies by default2021-09-13
Fake processing delay and spinner forces wait when declining cookies2021-09-12
Artificial multi-second delay before the page responds unless the user clicks agree2021-09-12
Deleting an account requires contacting support, adding friction as a dark pattern2021-06-09
Cart items fail to add, orders fail to submit, and store selection gets forgotten2019-02-17
App crashes mid-order, loses progress, and user must check history to see if payment went through2017-07-13
Group orders take about 20 minutes because search is imprecise and customizing drinks is cumbersome2017-07-13
Card payment terminals are very slow to process transactions2017-05-26
Wi-Fi becomes unusable at peak hours because others stream videos2015-06-25
Hard to get online because WiFi requires logging in through phone2013-04-28
Phone screen timed out in line and barcode wouldn't scan at low brightness2012-10-05
Payment machines are confusing to use, and adding new ones does not fix it2012-08-08
Typing in password each time and long delay to open the app make paying a hassle2010-11-05
Wi-Fi approval screen takes up to 30 minutes to reach2010-10-09
Size names all sound alike, so people can't remember which one means medium2009-08-03