Coffee shop owners in New York are no longer welcoming those looking for a WiFi connection. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, some small coffee shop owners are cracking down on people who come into their businesses, buy one cup of coffee and surf the web for hours.
In an attempt to weather the current economic storm, coffee shop owners are placing restrictions on laptop use--even going so far as to place locks on electric outlets. For instance, Naidres, a small coffee shop in Brooklyn, is placing restrictions on web browsing use to prevent those folks from occupying seats that could be occupied by lunch patrons. The coffee shop even went so far as to cover up some of the electricity outlets, which the owner justified as a "cost-cutting measure" to curb electricity use. However, this phenomenon seems to be relegated to smaller shops. Larger chains such as Starbucks and Borders books, which both charge for WiFi use, don't plan to change their laptop use policy.
For more:
- check out the Wall Street Journal article
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