The reasonable accommodation is offering non-dairy options at all even if it's slightly more.
this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2024
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Before everyone gets down on non-dairy milk drinkers, remember that the government subsidizes the hell out of dairy milk production to make it cheaper in the first place.
They subsidize soy, oats, and almonds too.
Is that accurate?
I used to buy a lot of soy milk since I'm lactose intolerant and it was cheaper than milk a decade ago. But now it's nearly the same price or double for the same brand. And now I'm wondering if it's a Soy conspiracy.
Soy is heavily subsidized. It's the main crop in most Midwestern states, even more than corn.
80℅ of the world's soy market is animal feed.
Most farming is subsidized, the debate then is which one is subsidized more. A bit of a specious argument at the end of the day.
It's a capitalist conspiracy.
More to the relevant point, those alt milks are still cheaper to produce and Starbucks has the scale to do so. You know what it takes to make oatmilk? Oats, sugar, water, small amount of oil. Almond milk? Replace oat with almond, except you can use more of the material.
Yep. I would LOVE to be able to consume dairy without shitting my guts out, but as that's not an option I get to either pay extra or go without.
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I'm severely lactose intolerant, so you know what I do? I DON'T FUCKING DRINK LATTES. A restaurant is under no obligation to give me a non-dairy substitute at no cost. If you want what a restaurant sells, buy it. If you don't like what they sell or think it's too expensive, fucking don't and get on with your life.
According to the Americans with disabilities act, they apparently are under obligation to do it.
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That's such a sad point of view about what you think you deserve. You should treat yourself better.
Lol wut. Why is a restaurant obligated to give you special treatment or free things? If you are allergic to peanuts are they obligated to fry their fries in a separate oil just for you??
Allergens actually do have some regulations, but I'm not sure how they work.
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I've been getting Lactaid ads alllllll over the Internet since reading that article.
Guess there is a new advertiser site that needs blocking ..
Use firefox and ublock origin, and all that ends. I haven't seen an ad in a decade.
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I don't think that this will mean that all non-dairy creamers would have to be given for free.
It would only mean that one non-dairy creamer would be. Oat, almond, soy milk are probably the more expensive types of non-dairy creamers.
They already offer a dairy free option: black coffee. I'm not sure that would solve the problem.
Brewed coffee and espresso are not the same beverage and cannot be substituted for one another.
Most of Starbucks drinks are primarily milk with 2-3 espresso shots. By weight, they sell milk with coffee flavor.
I used to drink brewed coffee, now I effectively drink Americanos (at home I use a areopress). And anyone who stays at my place, that's what they're getting, and I've never had a complaint. In fact it's usually compliments. So I'm not sure I agree.
However, I think I wasn't clear about my point. I'm just saying they already provide a non dairy alternative so providing a single one for free either doesn't meet the desires of this lawsuit, or the lawsuit will fail because it already exists.
I absolutely agree that Starbucks is mostly milk. So maybe you're right and that will make the difference.
Who is actually doing the suing here? If it's the ADA themselves then this is a mockery and it makes the ADA look like a joke. I'm lactose intolerant. Being lactose intolerant it is not medically necessary to not drink milk. I can drink milk. I can eat cheese, yogurt, etc. If I think about it, I take a little pill that has lactase in it to help. If I don't then I get diarrhea and then I move on with my life. Not to mention, nobody is forcing you to go to Starbucks. If you don't want to drink milk and you don't want to pay extra, then don't go to Starbucks. I know that's a hard concept for some to understand but you have free will. You can break free from the clutches of capitalism. I absolutely hate Starbucks and haven't been to one since 2012 and even I think this lawsuit is frivolous.
Edit: after reading your comments I see everyone's point. With that being said, wouldn't pizza places that charge more for gluten-free crust fall under the same category?
That's not how the ADA works. You could say the same for wheelchair ramps, but ultimately it's on the store owner to reasonably provide accomodations to people who want to use their services. It's not on the disabled person to pick and select who will accommodate them or not. It's why businesses are required to reserve a portion of their parking lot to those with handicap placards. It shouldn't be up to each disabled person to figure out which business they can go to.
What Starbucks is doing would be akin to Walmart charging an extra buck for you to use one of their mobility scooters or an extra $5 if you require the assistance from an employee because you can't reach something.
I don't know the ins and outs of the ADA, but I disagree with your analogy. What Starbucks is doing is akin to Walmart charging a different price for milk and oat milk, which I don't think anyone would say is not allowed. It's not like there's a sheet of lactose you have to walk through to get into a Starbucks or anything, there's just things on the menu that people with some food allergies can't order.
Lactose intolerance is not a disability.
You cant sue Five Guys because you have a peanut allergy and they didn’t provide you a safe peanut free environment.
You can’t sue McDonald’s because they don’t have a non dairy cheese replacement for your cheeseburger.
Lactose intolerance, along with all other food allergies and intolerances, is a medical condition which is protected under the ADA. You don't have to accomodate it, but if you do, you cannot charge extra for it.
Five Guys has peanut allergy signs on the doors. They are safe.
McDonald's hamburgers are cheaper than their cheeseburgers. They are safe.
A Starbucks latte is offered with dairy or a non-dairy creamers, and they charged more for the latter, violating the ADA rights of every lactose intolerant customer that purchased a non-dairy latte.
But a latte is a dairy based product, the non dairy cheaper alternative would be coffee. As the non dairy cheaper alternative of a cheeseburger is to remove the cheese.
ADA doesn't care about cheaper, watching the movie with no dialogue is cheaper than giving a closed captioning box to deaf people, but theaters still have to do it. The standard is undue burden. Starbucks is going to have a hard time claiming it's going to bankrupt them if they can't charge extra for oat milk.
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While I understand and agree with a lot of what you say, the idea that you can just go somewhere else doesn't fly. The same argument can be used to justify shops without handicapped accessible doorways, or restaurants where smoking is allowed. After all, you can just go somewhere else....
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What about the extra charge for gluten free buns? Or vegan chese? Or impossible burgers? If I can't ride my bike up big hills can i get an e-bike for the same price? If I'm very tall can i get an airplane seat upgrade for free?
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The plaintiffs say in the lawsuit that lactose intolerance is a disability listed under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the surcharges violate that act.
Is it though? I mean don't get me wrong, it sucks that people who are lactose intolerant have to pay more, but is it really a disability?
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Can’t believe so many people here are arguing in Starbucks favour here.
Sad state of affairs that people go out to defend them for such a simple easy thing to change.
Can’t believe so many people here are arguing in Starbucks favour here.
I think it is the principle that a business should be able to charge to recoup their costs. Milk alternatives are undoubtedly more expensive for Starbucks, based not only on the quantity of purchasing, but the additional refrigerated space required, and the additional man-hours necessary to stock and use alternatives.
Sad state of affairs that people go out to defend them for such a simple easy thing to change.
It's simple and easy because you're not the business owner who has to comply. Please understand that if Starbucks needs to comply under the ADA, then so does every other coffee shop, restaurant , and drink stand. This either ends in a loss for the Plaintiffs or an increase in all drinks to the most expensive milk alternative price.
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I agree with you, but the alternative (in their mind) would probably be to raise the price of everything to compensate.
Not like Starbucks customers care how much they're paying though! Lol
Yeah it's amazing. Starbucks could just accept a 500% profit on every coffee sold instead of 600%. Their markup is insane, even including retail overhead.
But then their C-Suite would be marginally less rich...and their line would go up at a smaller angle...
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