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| - At the time I wrote my original review, Caribou was forcing people to enter in a code for the free Internet every 1.5 hours. The charging bothered me on two levels. One, it wasn't really "free" Internet. It was Internet that required purchases at specifically timed intervals.
Where those not using wi-fi were able to "sit there for hours and talk without being interrupted or otherwise bothered," Internet users at Caribou didn't have that pleasure. Sure, they might get up and purchase a $1.50 worth of Caribou products every 1.5 hours, but there was nobody holding them to that. I'm guessing if somebody interrupted one of their discussions to ask them to purchase something, they would have found it to be a little odd, a little rude, and a little uncalled for.
In other words, we're all big enough to make those purchases on our own. We don't need a timer running by our side. Thus, there should be no separation between Internet-users and those just whiling away the hours in discussion.
Secondly, the 1.5 hours system never really worked. At each Caribou, the workers would just hand you a stack of tickets with the codes. They all seemed to find the mandatory purchase thing to be silly, and acted accordingly. This was the way it was at all of the Caribou locations I visited.
Thankfully, Caribou has since done away with the mandatory purchase thing for Internet users. With truly "free" wi-fi being offered near-everywhere nowadays, charging just doesn't make sense; especially for a business that thrives on computer users visiting their stores.
I'll continue to visit the many neighborhood Caribou locations. Sure, it's corporate whore coffee, but the employees are pleasant, the chai rocks and the locations are bright and airy; always conducive to writing, reading and good conversation.
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