Starbucks strikers spared you a sugar cookie latte coma

Red Cup Day hurts workers and your stomach. [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a holiday menu of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [Starbucks]( workers go on strike. - Target investors see [shares spike](. - Zillow and the CPI are [not alike](. - We need [more EVs]( on the turnpike. The Red Cup Rebellion Calling the shots. Photographer: Bloomberg Excuse me for my bluntness, but I have to ask: If you live in New York City and you are a Starbucks regular, what is wrong with you?? Are you [having trouble]( finding a [bathroom](? Do their [cake pops]( have you in a chokehold? I’m telling you, there are [PLENTY]( of other coffee shops with [superior beans]( and [olive oil cakes](. Plus, those stores don’t [sue their workers]( when they disagree with them. There’s no reason for you to have to get your overpriced cup of caffeine from one of the roughly 350 Starbucks locations in this godforsaken city! Today is the coffee chain’s Red Cup Day, a promotion that lets patrons snag a free reusable cup after ordering any of their “holiday drinks.” (I put that in air quotes because, really, these are just desserts you can sip through a straw — the [iced sugar cookie latte]( literally has sprinkles on top.) Last year, Red Cup Day was the [most profitable]( sales day of all time for Starbucks, even though workers went [on strike]( at more than 100 stores. This year, Starbucks Workers United is at it again. But will their strike make a dent in profits? Beth Kowitt [isn’t holding her breath](. For years now, Starbucks workers across the country have “been locked in a bitter battle with management” over their efforts to organize, she writes. The union is “calling the action its biggest strike ever” and wants customers to get in on the boycott. Based on a quick perusal of TikTok, some people are taking it seriously: “Make sure you set your alarms extra early so that you have time to MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN CUP OF COFFEE AT HOME,” one user [said](. “No holiday menu. No cookie crumble latte. No red cup is gonna get us to go inside that establishment,” another [announced](. But just as many Starbies diehards appear to be [completely oblivious]( about the strike. So while the messaging of the [#RedCupRebellion]( is strong, it might not be as strong as the company’s loyalty program, which accounts for nearly 60% of its US sales. “Even consumers who have the best of intentions rarely follow through when they find themselves at the register,” Beth says. Consider the principles behind Red Cup Day. On the Starbucks [website](, it’s marketed as a “green” event: “Using a personal reusable cup is a great way to help Starbucks [reduce waste by 50 percent by 2030](,” they write. But what they don’t tell you is that the baristas are not even serving the drinks in these reusable cups! Instead, they pour your handcrafted holiday heart attack into a paper cup and hand you an empty plastic one on the side. Also, all reusable cups have a “breakeven point,” as David Fickling [has explained](. So unless everyone is using their free cup 30+ times, it’s not helping the environment at all. You’d hope that customers would realize this, but what can I say? People will go [absolutely feral]( for [free stuff](. Oh, Target Keeping on the boycott theme … remember when Target unironically made [a shirt]( that said live laugh lesbian on it? The queers immediately saw it for what it was: [high camp](. “I won’t sleep until I have it,” [@reeganmfabian]( wrote on TikTok. The [phrase]( now has over 63 million views on the social media platform. At this point, I think it’s a cultural artifact worthy of being placed in the American Museum of Natural History: Sadly, not everyone agreed. The MAGA people absolutely [lost their minds]( over Target’s Pride collection, some even violently threatened employees. This prompted the retailer [to pull]( some of the merchandise from their stores, upsetting even more patrons. It represents just one of many instances where Target has “struggled to translate its strategic strengths into superior performance,” Andrea Felsted [writes](. And yet not all hope is lost: Yesterday, Target shares rose the most since 2019 after posting third-quarter earnings on Wednesday that [exceeded Wall Street’s estimates](. “The coming holiday season will be the real test of whether the chain has finally moved past its trouble,” Andrea writes. Meanwhile, Target’s biggest competitor — Walmart — is feeling the holiday pressure as well. Today, its stock [fell the most]( in more than a year as the retailer’s CFO expressed concern about shoppers’ ability to spend. But while Walmart generates almost 60% of its sales from grocery items, Target “relies much more on goods that consumers feel are nice to have rather than must have,” Andrea explains. I don’t know about you, but this [festive nutcracker]( looks like a must-have to me. Read [the whole thing](. Telltale Charts Here’s a mystery for you: How come the US Labor Department’s CPI estimate of rent inflation is more than twice what Zillow is reporting? Justin Fox [says]( it’s because CPI rent reflects everybody’s rents, while Zillow measures asking rents on available properties. In March 2022, those asking rents were up by 16%, but CPI shelter inflation was only 5%, since plenty of folks were still on leases that predated the big price bumps. “Now we’re seeing the flip side,” Justin writes, where CPI rent stays elevated but on-the-market rental prices have calmed down. “The good news is that CPI rents and market rents will converge eventually. The bad news is that it may take a while,” he notes. People love to wax poetic about how electric vehicles are THE FUTURE. But how many people do you know own one? Can you count them on one hand? Two hands? Chances are, it wouldn’t take all your fingers and toes to get there. At this point, all of the EV diehards own vehicles — but that’s a pretty small pool of customers. David Fickling [says]( “the mainstream consumers that auto companies are depending on next are still being held back by a toxic combination of doubts about price, range and charging infrastructure.” Because of those concerns, “there’s barely a corner of the nascent electric vehicle industry that’s not struggling right now,” he writes. Further Reading Free read: Xi [makes up]( with Biden. Now what about Trump? — Minxin Pei Generic drug manufacturers have a [bankruptcy]( problem. — Bloomberg’s editorial board Xi’s officials are [lying flat]( when the economy needs them to act. — Shuli Ren The [game of cricket]( is facing a climate-change crisis. — Adam Minter Just because [international law]( is hard to enforce doesn’t mean it’s worthless. — Andreas Kluth The Arab states should deliver [a clear message]( to Israel. — Bobby Ghosh How to [prevent disaster]( in the world's most important financial market. — Bill Dudley A [restaurant showdown]( for the ages in a tiny town in Spain. — Howard Chua-Eoan ICYMI George “[Sephora](” Santos [will not run]( for reelection. Oreos [behind glass](? Shoppers would prefer [to pass](. Lina Khan has [a warning]( for the world of private equity. Amazon could [sell you a car]( in 2024. Kickers TMZ is Hollywood’s [Grim Reaper](. If you [had a baby]( who was born in 2023 … The McDonald's [salad burger]( is a scam. Robert Pattinson [designed]( an ear-shaped sofa. Disney delivers a [Frozen]( movie nobody asked for. Harry’s [hair]( is not [As It Was](. (h/t Andrea Felsted and Christine Vanden Byllaardt) Notes: Please send [Hot Cocoa Oreos]( and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads](, [TikTok](, [Twitter](, [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. 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