Starbucks Computer Glitch Disrupts Stores In Bay Area, Throughout U.S. And Canada
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Starbucks locations in the Bay Area and throughout the United States and Canada were impacted by a computer glitch that lasted for several hours on Friday.
Point of sale terminals were not working at thousands of stores coast to coast and north of the border starting in the late afternoon. The coffee giant announced late Friday night that the outage has been resolved.
The closest Starbucks location to the CBS San Francisco newsroom near Pacific and Battery closed early due to the glitch. KPIX 5's Ken Bastida said he was at the Starbucks location when the outage happened and received a free drink.
Other locations gave away drinks for free, with many customers taking to Twitter to post locations and their drinks.
A reporter from CBS affiliate KIRO-TV in Seattle found customers who took advantage of the outage.
CNNMoney reported that the outage was not a case of hacking. "The point of sale cash registers are down in the U.S. and Canada. It is not a hack. It happened during a typical daily menu refresh on the system," Starbucks spokesperson Jim Olson said.
