Someone's leaving money on the table, but it's not a tip.
I went to a nearby café this morning, and found another 'sorry, we cannot accomodate laptops' sign. This is the second time recently, and both times it has surprised me, as both places were relatively empty when I encountered the ban. I've been in two parties that would've collectively spent about $30-40 recently were it not for blanket bans that were in effect despite the establishment being less than half full. Money is being left on the table, but it's not from us and it's not a tip.
I can understand the desire to limit laptop users in cafés, and posted about some of the tricky nuances and details back when I was freelancing in '05 and /06. Laptop users tend to occupy more seats than they need, tend to stay a long time without purchasing as much as other customers, and can be a powerful deterrent if *all* the seats are full. They can also require (slightly) more service, if they want outlets or help getting onto a wireless network.
What surprises me isn't even the ban, but the blanket nature of them. Laptop users are still customers, are still paying some money. Until the place actually fills, or unless the place is actually full, they're desirable. You want your café to be as full as possible without deterring customers from coming, because it shows how good your place is and contributes to the community that a good café is probably trying to establish. A ban hurts the bottom line by turning away customers up until the point at which the occupancy would've turned away other customers.
I can understand the desire for a clear and easily enforced policy, too. "None, ever" or "none at these times" are clear policies, and leave little room for argument. But it seems to me that there are equally clear policies that address what the ban is about. "Laptop users must buy $x per y unit of time" is one that I've seen. It's harder to enforce, but sets the tone and is transparent to the customer. "Laptops only in this area" I haven't seen, which surprises me. "No laptops if there are fewer than x seats free" is probably too hard to enforce since it can change over time.
So I'm just surprised to find this. I'd prefer to say something about it to the establishment rather than passively whining on the internet, but I'm not sure how to do so. A conversation with the barista is unlikely to seem friendly and unlikely to get to the right person, since they probably aren't making the policy. An email? A letter?
I can understand the desire to limit laptop users in cafés, and posted about some of the tricky nuances and details back when I was freelancing in '05 and /06. Laptop users tend to occupy more seats than they need, tend to stay a long time without purchasing as much as other customers, and can be a powerful deterrent if *all* the seats are full. They can also require (slightly) more service, if they want outlets or help getting onto a wireless network.
What surprises me isn't even the ban, but the blanket nature of them. Laptop users are still customers, are still paying some money. Until the place actually fills, or unless the place is actually full, they're desirable. You want your café to be as full as possible without deterring customers from coming, because it shows how good your place is and contributes to the community that a good café is probably trying to establish. A ban hurts the bottom line by turning away customers up until the point at which the occupancy would've turned away other customers.
I can understand the desire for a clear and easily enforced policy, too. "None, ever" or "none at these times" are clear policies, and leave little room for argument. But it seems to me that there are equally clear policies that address what the ban is about. "Laptop users must buy $x per y unit of time" is one that I've seen. It's harder to enforce, but sets the tone and is transparent to the customer. "Laptops only in this area" I haven't seen, which surprises me. "No laptops if there are fewer than x seats free" is probably too hard to enforce since it can change over time.
So I'm just surprised to find this. I'd prefer to say something about it to the establishment rather than passively whining on the internet, but I'm not sure how to do so. A conversation with the barista is unlikely to seem friendly and unlikely to get to the right person, since they probably aren't making the policy. An email? A letter?