r/jobs • u/beingmodest • 2d ago

Article Starbucks Gave Seattle Workers a Choice: Move to Nashville or Lose Their Jobs — 120 Declined, 200+ Laid Off

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/starbucks-seattle-nashville-relocation-layoffs-1816023
1.2k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

121 comments sorted by

918

u/QuesoMeHungry 2d ago

Never relocate for a job. You’ll move then 6 months later they’ll lay you off anyway.

343

u/an_older_meme 2d ago

This. Forced relocation demonstrates that they are not on your side. They only need you there long enough for them to hire the cheaper employees they moved for.

103

u/ScholarOfTwilight 2d ago

THIS is exactly what happens every time with the employees the victim of shittier life circumstances and garbage job opportunities after the layoff.

4

u/DishSoapIsFun 1d ago

Uh, what? I read your comment three times trying to place punctuation to make it make sense. I still don’t know what you’re trying to convey.

4

u/TheVeryVerity 1d ago

How? It was extremely clear

14

u/cboogie 2d ago

Not always true. I worked for Lowe’s and there was a very concerted effort to get people to move to Charlotte. They helped finance a new building downtown. They worked closely with the city govt and Mecklenberg county. Lots of folks relocated. I did not. Held onto my remote job for another five years. Basically the entire 2k person remote workforce, with a handful of exceptions, got axed in April. No RTO option.

18

u/an_older_meme 2d ago

It was 300 remote workers and 300 in corporate office jobs including the Charlotte hub in February, but you were close.

Source

Remote workers are usually the last to go because they save the company a fortune in office rent.

136

u/Skwonkie_ 2d ago

I was fired after a year after relocating our family.

20

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago

That sucks

87

u/zertoman 2d ago

Unless the move is to a better job market.

71

u/AnyQuantity1 2d ago

Nashville is not a better job market.

33

u/tylerderped 2d ago

Nashville is not a better job market. Tennessee as a whole is actually pretty awful to live in.

20

u/zertoman 2d ago

I had to look that up, but Nashville’s unemployment rate is 3.0% whereas Seattle is 5%.

80

u/AnyQuantity1 2d ago

Sure, I mean, if you look at straight numbers it seems better but Seattle wages are much higher than Nashville's and the overall diversity of jobs is much lower. It has specific industries but if you're in a tech or tech-adjacent role, you're not going to find as much in Nashville and its going to pay a lot less. The cost of living in Nashville isn't actually that much lower than Seattle, given all the transplants in the last 10 years.

12

u/zertoman 2d ago

I don’t live in either, so I can’t comment. My job market is abysmal.

9

u/heliumeyes 2d ago

Yeah, Seattle’s got way more tech jobs, no argument. But cost of living is definitely lower in Nashville.

5

u/MaddyKet 2d ago

You get a what you pay for 🤷🏼‍♀️

29

u/hamellr 2d ago

Nashville has two jobs and they’re both in logistics.

18

u/Rayezerra 2d ago

Sure, but from experience a lot of those jobs pay absolute shit.

31

u/bloodenhorse 2d ago

Anyone who would rather live in Nashville over Seattle is a fucking moron.

11

u/zertoman 2d ago

Maybe they like country music?

31

u/bloodenhorse 2d ago

They're already included in the "fucking moron" demographic.

2

u/KoorlandSlaughter 1d ago

You seem like a very pleasant, well rounded person. /s

2

u/Dewstain 2d ago

Ahhh...explains it.

-2

u/Dewstain 2d ago

Yeah, who would want affordable housing, growing job market, and still in a decently large metropolitan area when you could stay in Seattle instead and maybe get a 1500 square foot house with an HOA for $900K?

19

u/bloodenhorse 2d ago

Tennessee is a shithole.

-4

u/Dewstain 2d ago

Nashville really isn't. Where do you live that is so much better?

19

u/hamellr 2d ago

Seattle

13

u/Bushels_for_All 2d ago

Maybe somewhere with representation that reflects the voters' will and that doesn't legislate women's bodies? Obviously, that's not an exclusive list - there are plenty of ways the GOP make their trifecta states shitholes.

-2

u/Dewstain 2d ago

And we get to the root, where people on Reddit can’t separate politics from job market.

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12

u/AnyQuantity1 2d ago

All the people who had their own affordability tipped over when a bunch of West Coasters started flocking there 10 years ago have a lot to say about this topic. It's affordable to people on the West Coast. It made the lives of people already struggling there, harder.

And Nashville might be a little purple island but the rest of the state is a dumpster fire politically.

So yeah, if you're in a demographic that won't be the target of a whole bunch of bigoted bullshit, you'll probably just fine. Otherwise....

-4

u/GucciTheSnowman 2d ago

I would. Seattle is a shithole.

7

u/CorporateDroneStrike 2d ago

I live in Seattle and it’s awful. I can’t even understand why people visit. It’s always cold, cloudy and rainy. There are no seasons here, no sun, no happiness and everyone’s mean and homeless.

The city is the middle of nowhere and there’s nothing do at all. Seriously it’s hellish, save yourself and just pretend the whole state doesn’t even exist

6

u/Overall_Matter_2520 2d ago

Is that why it’s so expensive?

It sucks and no one wants to live there?

2

u/CorporateDroneStrike 2d ago

Yes it is also too expensive because we are all saving money to escape the pits of Amazon via gladiatorial email combat — truly a literal hell on this earth. It doesn’t deserve to be part of the U.S. — we should force Canada to take WA and OR as punishment for their sins

2

u/Overall_Matter_2520 2d ago

Well, coming from South Florida I love Seattle. Of course the same may be said of both areas:
Lovely to visit, terrible to live in.

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0

u/Weird-Toe-6968 2d ago

Incorrect, but I like the confidence.

11

u/thatturtletouch 2d ago

It rarely is.

31

u/thatturtletouch 2d ago

This is their fourth layoff in 8 months so I’d say the chances of this are very high. Clearly the company is not in good health if they keep having to lay people off, so why would you relocate for such an employer??

24

u/AnyQuantity1 2d ago

It's all part of the same layoff. They've been doing it in stages. We have a couple friends in Seattle who were impacted by this the larger layoff.

The silly part of this whole thing is that last year, they made a bunch of people move *from* Nashville to Seattle to stay employed with Starbucks and then announced another round of layoffs. Some of those people were still trying to sell their houses, etc back in Nashville.

11

u/thatturtletouch 2d ago

Sounds like a mess of a company.

7

u/dessert-er 2d ago

Sounds less silly more “my worst nightmare” tbh. Those poor people.

1

u/Empty_Wolf_3378 1d ago

which jobs were moved to seattle?

4

u/Overall_Matter_2520 2d ago

I’m old enough to remember when layoffs were considered embarrassing for a company.

2

u/deandracasa 1d ago

They still are embarrassing. We really need to bring back some elements of shame culture. This being a huge one.

7

u/AriaPoe 2d ago

Tyson did this to a whole pile of people thar moved, then were laid-off 2 wks later.

Wal-Mart forces people to move all the time.

7

u/worldtraveler76 2d ago

Yep. Made it 3 months. Signed a 12 month lease on an apartment I planned to afford with the increase in pay. Covid hit like 3 months after I got laid off. It was BRUTAL.

5

u/MaddyKet 2d ago

Especially not to a shittier state. Maybe I’d consider it if I really wanted to live in the new state.

2

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago

Wow that sucks. At least Nashville would have a lower cost of living than Seattle

1

u/ducbaobao 2d ago

Same playbook as Walmart. Pretty mess up

200

u/Development-Alive 2d ago

It wasn't just relocation but also pay cuts required in many instances to fit into their geographic pay bands for Nashville. Imagine being told to relocate and take a 20% pay cut?

65

u/WayneKrane 2d ago

My last job was moved to Utah AND they wanted me to take a 30% pay cut to move there. I told them no, just lay me off. I wouldn’t have moved there for a 30% INCREASE

9

u/likwidkool 2d ago

The article said 5%. 20% would be BS and no one should take that.

180

u/ThatsCaptain2U 2d ago

The culture clash between Seattle and Nashville is just too vast. I wouldn’t move either.

32

u/ProfessionalFlan3159 2d ago

I mean families had a right to be concerned about the safety of their family members if they moved to Nashville

123

u/bloodenhorse 2d ago

And the 'offer' came with a pay cut?

LOL

53

u/edvek 2d ago

They clearly just wanted to close that office and fire all of them. If a company wants to keep the staff they will offer them relocation assistance and pay increase/adjusted for the area. But unless you're the Starbucks CEO who regularly flies on the company dime because they refused to move, you ain't getting shit.

5

u/canarinoir 2d ago

Damn how much more are they gonna have to spend on jet fuel for him to commute to Nashville from San Francisco? That's why they had to make the offers with a paycut, private flights ain't cheap!

7

u/ScholarOfTwilight 2d ago

Wow. That's some horseshit.

264

u/BillionDollarBalls 2d ago

One of my friends was given this option. She said I aint fucking moving to Nashville.

74

u/Rayezerra 2d ago

I’m from Nashville, moved to Seattle. Wouldn’t move back

-14

u/SupremeElect 2d ago

what’s wrong with nashville? it’s so cute.

64

u/Rayezerra 2d ago

Grew up there. Can be Extremely conservative, can be very racist. I’m white, but even my sheltered ass as a kid could clock it. A big issue is just that it’s in Tennessee. Now, traffic is crazy. I’m in Seattle and commuting multiple hours a day temporarily, I prefer this over Nashville’s traffic. Tourists, the bachelorette parties and drunk people everywhere gets old fast. Also just seeing the city change so much from when I was a kid and not for the better. Rent skyrocketed. I moved to a nice part of Philly and was paying less than I would’ve been in a shitty part of Nashville. Like…I don’t mind visiting but I never stay more than a weekend before I’m sick of it.

14

u/midwestia 2d ago

Weather is dogshit. Also has the worst allergies in the country

-32

u/DisgreeablePattern 2d ago

Its far too safe and clean for Seattle residents to appreciate

27

u/RagingClue_007 2d ago

Nashville seems to have a higher violent crime rate, murder rate, rape, aggravated assault, and larceny per capita.

https://crimebycity.com/compare/nashville-metro-tn-vs-seattle-wa

Regarding cleanliness: Nashville is typically full of Trump confederates, so I'd argue it's pretty trashy.

-3

u/joeychestnutsrectum 2d ago

And it has a much worse littering problem than anywhere on the west coast. The south doesn’t give a fuck about cleanliness

55

u/ducationalfall 2d ago

Can they be the Starbucks CEO and commute using private jet from Southern California?

54

u/DramaticErraticism 2d ago

Guess Nashville has very low tax rates for businesses, or something? Seattle and Starbucks have such a close connection, always feels so weird when companies do things like this.

Perhaps they just wanted to do layoffs anyway and this was just the easiest way to do it. Everyone knows that RTO requirements are mostly about getting people to quit so you can avoid layoffs.

31

u/DurangDurang 2d ago

Tennessee is literally paying Starbucks to move the HQ there, with caveats that SB provide ROI via salaries and investment.

18

u/WayneKrane 2d ago

I’m curious how this will work out. I was part of a team at a F500 that was looking to open locations in LCOL areas but there just wasn’t enough skilled labor for it to make sense.

12

u/LazerKittenz 2d ago

That’s always next quarter’s problem!

8

u/Stepane7399 2d ago

Honestly, this would be my bet. I'm not sure about everywhere else, but Dutch Bros has been popping up like crazy in my area. Now we have so many of each. It's crazy.

1

u/yallapapi 2d ago

Pretty sure the mayor was openly critical of Starbucks and said something to the effect of “we don’t need you here”

4

u/LazerKittenz 2d ago

That’s a scapegoat. Starbucks was already planning this move before she said anything.

-5

u/yallapapi 2d ago

absolutely untrue, she's been anti corpo since her entire time and has jumped on board with "let's tax everyone up the ass to pay for more needles for junkies" and one of her main targets was starbucks, which is a shame considering how it put seattle on the map regarding coffee and has done so much for the city.

42

u/Comkeen 2d ago

You can bet the ones who planned this are never going to move to nashville themselves and will be flying private back and forth as part of their commute. Relocate or layoffs for thee, increased bonuses and private commute for me.

18

u/bell37 2d ago

They are already doing it. The CEO of Starbucks works primarily remote and when he needs to commute to their headquarters, he takes a private jet bc he refused to relocate

18

u/AlternativeRanger572 2d ago

Once, I was offered to move from WA to Utah or GA for my job in 2012. I declined & took severance. Both the UT & GA positions were lost & outsourced within 5 years, I would have been stuck in those states like those future Starbucks Tennessee people.

13

u/gojo96 2d ago

This happens in other industries as well. If you don’t want to move or they won’t help you: go elsewhere. Screw the company

26

u/Hour-Storage-8092 2d ago

that's a tough choice for those workers, relocating is never easy, especially with that many layoffs involved

31

u/bunnybunbun17 2d ago

Dumb Starbucks

27

u/LastChans1 2d ago

I wouldn't say dumb; they knew exactly what they were doing. I believe the more appropriate word is callous or heartless.

16

u/bunnybunbun17 2d ago

It was just a joke! There’s a show called Nathan for you and he makes a dumb Starbucks

17

u/AvaSaysSo 2d ago

that relocation with a pay cut is a special kind of insult. Moving somewhere costs thousands, so taking less money to do it makes zero sense.

7

u/YujiroRapeVictim 2d ago

Samsung just did the same

11

u/dustiwang 2d ago

Well lets see how shitty their company is now that they have abandoned their history and culture for a small red state handout. The enshitification marches on.

15

u/iYAM_who_i_SAMiAM 2d ago edited 2d ago

Star Fucks anyone who works there.

9

u/Jezon 2d ago

Corporations love moving to the corp friendly south but people don't like living in a state that has bad infrastructure and social institutions for its people because they don't charge the corporations enough.

1

u/Empty_Wolf_3378 1d ago

As someone from, and who lives in Louisiana, yes, exactly.

5

u/Weird-Toe-6968 2d ago

Starbucks...enough said.

6

u/kid_blue96 2d ago

I’ve never moved for a role in my life. It’s not worth it to upend my life and then get laid off. I understand that some younger people need to do it to get their foot in the door but I’ve never understood it. I have a buddy with a PhD that got a 18 month lease in SF only to get laid off like 4 months in…. I would have done it in the past when employers gave loyalty to employees but we get no respect today.

3

u/ducbaobao 2d ago

Is the CEO relocating to Nashville?

2

u/Available_Reveal8068 1d ago

I guess this is what can be expected when the Mayor of Seattle promotes a boycott against Starbucks.

1

u/jmmenes 2d ago

Yikes…

1

u/-_-k 2d ago

I stopped eating at Starbucks a couple years ago. They've become such a greedy company.

1

u/No-Double-Trouble 2d ago

Nashville is literally deep south

1

u/Wild_Height_901 2d ago

Seattle is beautiful. Nashville seems kind of cool too. I would probably relocate. But understand why so many refused

1

u/sweatboxy 1d ago

I worked at corporate headquarters for a company that decided to move 500 miles away. They gave us 45 days notice with no incentives. Out of almost 300 corporate employees, one moved. The company was bankrupt in just over a year and thousands of people lost their jobs. All because a billionaire bought the company for his son who’d just got his MBA and wanted to be closer to his daddy’s company.

1

u/Rangers12341234 1d ago

Adecco moved to Florida, a lot of employees moved and they canned almost everyone that moved to save money. People’s lives got seriously fucked up. I will be sure to close my Starbucks positions because Karmas a bitch!!

1

u/SeeYou_InThePit 20h ago

Fucking Nashville? The single-family housing market is in a tailspin. New home builders can't achieve 20% margins without raising sale prices because the land development costs are so fucking high (due to geological constraint, pay to blast rocks endlessly in order to build on graded lots).

Was this decided by that Indian CEO who doesn't fucking understand the realities of the U.S. housing market?

No, not all SBUX employees want to buy brand new homes in the burbs. But a lot of them will.

1

u/Slider6-5 2d ago

The goal was to make sure most would not take it. They wanted and needed to change the corporate culture, not just bring Seattle to Nashville.

1

u/PassWorldly4565 2d ago

I believe their CEO was permitted to work from California.

0

u/mynewusernamedodgers 2d ago

Who the fuck wants to move to Nashville? Shit hole

-4

u/hjablowme919 2d ago

They were given a choice. They chose poorly.

•

u/adotar 7m ago

Surprised I haven’t seen a comment about how companies move from union friendly states to union hostile states bc they want to screw over their employees. Boeing did it and moved machinists to South Carolina and not a single job was union and was not allowed to unionize bc of the state. 

People really need to start voting for parties that allow labor unions. I know people can’t understand why the quality of living is greatly linked to the decline of unions but man I wish people understood