Table Disservice (e.g., banning iPads and Kindles in coffee shops?)

New York Times website ^ | February 11, 2011 | Virginia Hefferman

[mewzilla]

Since we were discussing Borders, I thought you might find this of interest. From ...

Borders, RIP?

[SunkenCiv]

As martin noted, there are places which offer time-limited web access for a modest cost. There are also places like the burger chains which do that, or offer it for free, with cheaper coffee and a full menu. It’s not as if anyone (in, say, France, in an open-air café) never spent the morning reading their entire newspaper while nursing a single cup of coffee. Or in a diner where their single cup of coffee was freshened up by a helpful waitress.

The real thing at work here is that there are alternatives now which didn’t exist before, and it’s become more difficult to sell a $4 cup of coffee and $3 bagel. Throw in gratis web access (which plenty of these java places do) and fairly small numbers of tables, and it’s obvious that, since their floor space hasn’t changed, and their prices have gone up, that their margins have declined due to rising costs, and cutting free web access — which is their prerogative — is the one place they can easily cut their costs. It also helps (they think) with turnover.

What they’re about to find out is, there won’t be any more customers than before, and in fact there will be fewer.

[Celtic Conservative]

Wow , you've just described the entire plotline of "you've got mail"

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