I think an enforced, strict 60 minute rule is a bit stupid, but they are businesses, and ultimately they wouldn't be continuing to enforce these rules and block

I think an enforced, strict 60 minute rule is a bit stupid, but they are businesses, and ultimately they wouldn't be continuing to enforce these rules and block the power outlets if it wasn't working to achieve what the business owner wanted - i.e. less of the laptop users who generally use more resources than they end up paying for via purchases of coffee and whatnot. I do think there is a balance somewhere and it takes both the business and the customer to work together to achieve...consider the POV of someone who has to deal with the subset of particularly bad laptop users (e.g. my earlier comment on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=749680 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=749680)...but I do wish more people would understand the economics of running a coffee shop. Starbucks by virtue of being a well-known international chain of coffee shops (and therefore a coffee shop where you know there is some sort of known baseline of drink quality, the menu is more or less the same, and you probably have some sort of drink you order frequently in the right words, etc.) has such an easier time of bringing in customers that indie shops do not have. That same name doesn't just appeal to customers, it also appeals to everyone from lenders to management companies when first opening a business and then to suppliers when continuing to run the business. Starbucks has the resources needed, if the name alone isn't enough, to negotiate better leases and spaces, prices for supplies needed bought in massive bulk quantities...you get the idea. So it's nice Starbucks is reaching out to people like this during this time where many people are struggling, but so are many smaller independent coffee shops, and they don't have all those benefits Starbucks does - and just letting people do whatever they want on the wifi is not (usually) the answer. It's also one thing to restrict wifi to 60 minutes for all customers, and it's another to feel entitled to use free wifi and lots of power for hours on end after buying a small coffee. Both are frustrating. I don't know. I guess it's really up to the owner to figure out what works. As a laptop owner, it never makes me happy to see those types of restrictions, but as someone who has run these businesses before, I'm not happy to see the small but annoying percentage of laptop users who have entitlement issues.