Christina, who does some work for Ideal Bite and who’s got some contacts within Starbucks, got replies — although not actual answers — to the 3 questions I asked about Starbucks’ policies regarding fair trade here.

Longtime readers of green LA girl have come across a lot of this Starbucks talk before, but we’ve got a lot of newbies plugging away at the Starbucks Challenge. Thus, I’m featuring one Q&A per post. Part 1 was here; part 2 here, and part 3 follows:

SIEL: When will the issues brought up by the Starbucks Challenge be resolved? Fair trade advocates are really getting tired of hearing one excuse after another. Starbucks says it’s unable to live up to its own promises anytime soon — which, in itself, is a lil difficult to believe, considering the resources at Starbucks’ disposal. It’s very easy for Starbucks to open multiple stores in a single day — why not move a little of that energy into meeting its fair trade promises? If Starbucks wanted, it could simply put up a sticker on each counter that says, “Want fair trade? Just ask!” or something to that effect, and solve its “break down in customer service more or less immediately. When will Starbucks put the necessary resources and efforts into meeting the Challenge?

STARBUCKS: The Challenge is not a Starbucks program. That said, Starbucks constantly looks for ways to exceed our customers’ expectations. In the spirit of Starbucks Legendary Service, we strive to give customers the option of enjoying a cup of any of our available coffees in our stores, including a cup of Café Estima (Fair Trade Certified™) coffee. There may be times when our store partners are unable to accommodate a specific customer’s request for a particular coffee because of, for example, the crush of business and the realities of our fast-paced retail environment, but that does not mean we are not committed to purchasing sustainable coffee in socially responsible ways. In that regard, our numbers above speak for themselves.

No, the Starbucks Challenge is not a Starbucks program. It’s an initiative that tests one of Starbucks’ policies which says customers can get a French-pressed cup of fair trade coffee at any of the Starbucks owned-and-operated stores.

When asked about fair trade issues, Starbucks says all customers need to do is ask for it — and they’ll receive a cup of fair trade coffee. In fact, Starbucks gets lots of green creds through this statement, and has put this promise of a fair trade cup on its press releases and website:

“Starbucks Fair Trade Certifiedâ„¢ blend is available by the cup and by the bag in whole bean and ground in company-operated stores in North America.”

Many news articles reporting on Starbucks will mention and laud this fair-trade-on-demand policy. However, it ain’t easy trying to get that fair trade cup. Starbucks itself admitted a “break down in customer service” and said it would work to fix it — but the break down remains broken. Latest stats: 44% success rate in getting a fair trade cup of coffee at Starbucks stores.

Starbucks’ statements about fair trade coffee just keep getting more contradictory. On the one hand, the mermaid says it’ll do more fair trade coffee if people ask for it. On the other hand, people can’t get fair trade coffee when they ask for it at Starbucks — to have Starbucks say “that does not mean we are not committed to purchasing sustainable coffee in socially responsible ways.” Does Starbucks want its customers to ask for what they want? Or does the mermaid want its customers to shut up and trust that Starbucks’ll “do the right thing”?

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