Bitcoin at Starbucks (or anywhere)

[Tuxavant]

Today, I stopped by my local Starbucks for my regular Sunday morning coffee and pondered "When will I be able to do this with Bitcoins" and it struck me... There's only one simple thing keeping this from happening - The Barista's willingness to accept my Bitcoins, and pay my tab with their own Bernankies. How awesome would that be if everyone started doing this? How many service workers could instantly expand the currency's reach? Taxi drivers, waiters/waitresses, anyone working a cash register at any merchant. If you know someone in this type of position and they have been curious about Bitcoin - this could be their perfect way to start getting some.

[1714151150]

1714151150

[PrintCoins]

Today, I stopped by my local Starbucks for my regular Sunday morning coffee and pondered "When will I be able to do this with Bitcoins" and it struck me... There's only one simple thing keeping this from happening - The Barista's willingness to accept my Bitcoins, and pay my tab with their own Bernankies. How awesome would that be if everyone started doing this? How many service workers could instantly expand the currency's reach? Taxi drivers, waiters/waitresses, anyone working a cash register at any merchant. If you know someone in this type of position and they have been curious about Bitcoin - this could be their perfect way to start getting some.

Well, in that regard, if anyone at Starbucks (including customers) would swap currencies with you, it would be equivalent. This is different then the establishment actually taking bitcoins, which would mean no fiat involved. If before your transaction, mtgox funded your checking account, you could pay with your debt card.

Doing the two-step isn't paying for something with bitcoins. It is just two separate transactions.

But I do like the approach, I am just nit-picking semantics.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Actually, it's doing what bitcoins were meant to be used for--- as a tool for transferring value.

This is exactly what everyone should be doing, just like if someone handed you a rare coin or gold.

[bb113]

Now, I'm imagining some weird old guy who hangs out by the liquor store. His wife divorced him and family disowned him because all he would do was sit at the computer all day, neglecting his hygiene and obligations. Nowadays, he'll buy booze for the underagers but only if they pay him in bitcoins, then he uses his own cash to buy it. The whole time hes mumbling something about being rich one day.

[bb113]

Sorry for the downer

[mc_lovin]

If someone created a service where  you could purchase starbucks gift cards with bitcoin, this becomes possible.

[Piper67]

Actually, what we need is for someone like Paxum, bit-pay or even mtgox itself to make the process of conversion transparent, on demand and instantaneous.

For example, say I have 342.45 BTC in my mtgox account and I'm at Starbucks. I swipe my mtgox debit card, pay $24 USD (or whatever the bastards are charging for coffee these days) and it gets debited from my mtgox BTC account.

Replace mtgox with Paxum, who already have a MasterCard system in place, or bit-pay, who are the best at making things happen, and suddenly we can start living our lives in BTC instead of dollars, euros or pesos.

[steelhouse]

I think Peter Schiff in his radio show said they have a gold credit card that operates like above for people overseas.  Even with a paypal card it could work with a lot of scripts to automatically maintain a $20 balance on your paypal or debit card.

[a63ntsm1th]

What if someone were to create bitcoin ATMs?  Then I could just get some cash and go to starbucks!  Clearly this would be a challenge to implement but if you want bitcoin to compete with alternative payment systems, emphasizing its cashlike attributes could be successful.

[PrintCoins]

What if someone were to create bitcoin ATMs?  Then I could just get some cash and go to starbucks!  Clearly this would be a challenge to implement but if you want bitcoin to compete with alternative payment systems, emphasizing its cashlike attributes could be successful.

That would make it much easier. I think ATM seems like an odd name for it. It is more like a bitcoin exchange machine (BEM?). Put cash in, get bitcoins out. Put bitcoins in, get cash out. This could also just be two separate machines. 

[Killdozer]

You can already sort of have an ATM card that you fund with bitcoins. Of course now you must exchange them to libertyreserve or something like that, and load the card with that, but still, in that way you could actually spend your bitcoins with a card. Sort of.

[istar]

Allways ask if you can pay with Bitcoins.

[bitstarter]

I'm at one right now and I agree ! Ugggh

[zer0]

Buy starbucks gift cards with bitcoin problem solved.

Damn you Libertarians trying to replace your nation state currency with bitcoin, therefore angering the secret service who will no doubt work to destroy this . To me bitcoin is a way to anonymously transfer money, and an easy way for merchants to take payments online avoiding chargebacks, avoiding high priced and exclusive payment gateways, avoiding payment contracts where they dictate what you can and can't sell, and centralized bullshit like Liberty Reserve.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Someone tell me why there are About 1,450,000 results when you search Starbucks and Bitcoin (without quotes) on Google.

Also, did anyone else make this connection? Starbucks ~ Bitcoins

Looks to me like a marriage made in Coffee Heaven.

~Bruno~

[payb.tc]

Someone tell me why there are About 1,450,000 results when you search Starbucks and Bitcoin (without quotes) on Google.

because google is broken nowadays.

it's called fuzzy logic, or as my dad would say "artificial stupidity".

give me the old google where search queries were interpreted literally.

[Narydu]

Actually, what we need is for someone like Paxum, bit-pay or even mtgox itself to make the process of conversion transparent, on demand and instantaneous.

For example, say I have 342.45 BTC in my mtgox account and I'm at Starbucks. I swipe my mtgox debit card, pay $24 USD (or whatever the bastards are charging for coffee these days) and it gets debited from my mtgox BTC account.

Replace mtgox with Paxum, who already have a MasterCard system in place, or bit-pay, who are the best at making things happen, and suddenly we can start living our lives in BTC instead of dollars, euros or pesos.

Bit-pay presented such a service at CES, you pay in BTC and they get credited in cash at their account!

[a63ntsm1th]

What if someone were to create bitcoin ATMs?  Then I could just get some cash and go to starbucks!  Clearly this would be a challenge to implement but if you want bitcoin to compete with alternative payment systems, emphasizing its cashlike attributes could be successful.

That would make it much easier. I think ATM seems like an odd name for it. It is more like a bitcoin exchange machine (BEM?). Put cash in, get bitcoins out. Put bitcoins in, get cash out. This could also just be two separate machines. 

Actually given the nature of bitcoin, anyone could build an "automated physical exchange" or "APE"^TM as I like to refer to them. They could be squat and hairy.  Since anyone can connect to the network, you dont need permission to build a cashbox that runs a bitcoin client and dispenses cash when bitcoins are sent to a generated address. This convenience would definately be worth a fee.

Depositing might be more difficult. Not sure how that could work, since you would have to verify deposits before accepting them for bitcoins.

[Gabi]

Starbucks
coffee

does not compute 

[payb.tc]

maybe if starbucks doesn't want to play ball, try asking Tom n Toms