This is one of the reasons I signed up for a coworking space - it is so distracting having to mentally keep track of whether I’m spending the minimum amount. If I have a proper meal at the coffeeshop it easily costs more than one coffee an hour. But then after an hour nobody remembers I bought the big meal so I feel compelled to buy another drink (that I don’t want).
Then there’s a shift change and again I feel I need to prove I’m not a freeloader.
Coffee shops are fine for a change of scenery, but they get expensive fast if you're there all day. I also switched to a coworking space but mainly for these two reasons:
1. It’s much cheaper if you’re regularly working 8-hour days outside your apartment.
2. I hated having to pack up my stuff just to use the bathroom or step out for a call.
The ones near me are secure and have free (passable) coffee, which is all I really need.
I don't usually work from the coffee shops, but when I'm grateful enough to order some coffee (that amount I'd spend it anyway if I were somewhere else). Also coworking spaces are expensive for irregular visitors like me. In my city, even a day pass is 4-5 times the price of a cappuccino. So a couple of days of visit to a cafe is excellent for me.
This is the routine I perfected for myself as a nomad after a lot of trial and error:
- In the morning, I work at the Airbnb/hotel. I start the day without worries about packing/unpacking or preparations: a solid three to four hours of work. (Requirements: get a room with a workstation and a good chair. Tables are usually easy to find, but if the chair isn’t good enough, buy one.)
- Natural stop to have lunch, usually with a longer walk.
- Start work again around 2 PM at some coffee shop and order a coffee. Another three hours of solid work.
- Natural stop to use the bathroom (always a problem as a solo nomad, but not anymore), stretch my legs, and head to a different coffee shop.
- Final batch of work. Order something light to eat. No more caffeine. Another three hours of solid work.
In the end, I can get between nine and ten hours of solid work per day. I spend around three hours in one place, so I didn’t notice any uncomfortable looks.
I also don’t rely on power outlets or local Wi-Fi never. The laptop needs to last the entire time, but it’s easy because it’s only in the afternoon (around six hours, not the whole day). For Wi-Fi, I always get a good mobile package with unlimited data if possible. This makes it easy to sit anywhere, really.
My setup is usually my laptop, an iPad as a second screen, earbuds, and a mobile phone. It works like a charm.
So turning cafes into coworking spaces? They even use AirBnb as the base example, and we've seen how that's gone for cities around the world. This sounds tragic.
If you want people to just sit and eat - you're a restaurant.
If you want people to just order and leave - you're a food stall/truck.
Cafe's have always been the intermediate. A place to sit and read/discuss/write/work/hang out. While also occasionally going to the counter to buy small food or drinks.
If you're annoyed by this... don't run a cafe.
Simple & sane rules like "you have to order something to sit at a table" are hardly novel.
I’m now imagining an art installation-tables designed so you can set a cup of coffee on them but any attempt to use a laptop will cause it to continually tip and rock while typing.
We’ve weaponized furniture against the homeless, why not against the laptop class?
The analogy is just that, an analogy. The Airbnb case can be tragic for some cities but for specific reasons that aren't going to affect cafés. I for one haven't seen anyone staying overnight and sleeping in a café.
The project could be catastrophic for cafes for unforeseen reasons, but those are surely not going to be the same as for Airbnb. You'd have to come up with a plausible threat scenario, otherwise your extrapolation of the analogy has no substance.
Not sure if I'd pay EUR 12 for 3 hours wifi, but if it was, say, EUR 12 of store credit that you can draw down on for coffees etc while there (and the store keeps any unused portion) I might do that.
I try to buy one item an hour at a cafe, coffee or food. Sometimes that means too much caffeine. But I’ve not received any annoyed looks, at least that I’m aware of.
Amusingly, SF’s planning commission shut down a bustling cafe that did this. The approval was for a cafe not a coworking space. So in the end Workshop Cafe had to shut down and a bustling corner became a blighted empty spot for 5 years.
Ah, but perhaps they were just protecting the neighbors from the noise? Well, it was in the financial district. On the ground floor of a bank, which never had a problem with all this.
I have considered going the extreme other way and building a faraday cage around a cafe — no wifi, no cellular, just the people who are physically present in the cafe like it used to be.
I personally stopped going to my favourite cafe because all the tables were taken up by people using laptops, I think the value proposition is just not there. You are always going to be better off catering to people who are just dropping in for 5-10 minutes over someone who spends several hours and maybe buys 2 things and jeopardizes a table which could have been used by 10 people.
A much simpler option here (as many cafes near me have done) is simply put a sign up saying "no laptops". If someone is using one you tell them to leave.
> You are always going to be better off catering to people who are just dropping in for 5-10 minutes over someone who spends several hours and maybe buys 2 things and jeopardizes a table which could have been used by 10 people.
I assume there's a balance. Never run a coffee shop but it seems that a lot of the sales are takeout, so exactly what does and doesn't go on in your seating might well be a secondary concern. If you prioritise folks staying for 5-10 minutes you might just end up with a lot of empty tables.
I know I'm the complete majority here but I kinda don't go to cafes on my own - so the only chance I'm a customer at all (unless with company) is if I have to kill an hour waiting for something when I also have work to do.
It's unfortunate I have to completely stop going to some cafes with a no laptop policy for three times one hour per year.
I think both models work. As a cafe you just need to pick one or the other and not try to od both. The laptop cafe model probably works best with a "cover charge" to make up the shortfall.
Readit News
Then there’s a shift change and again I feel I need to prove I’m not a freeloader.
1. It’s much cheaper if you’re regularly working 8-hour days outside your apartment.
2. I hated having to pack up my stuff just to use the bathroom or step out for a call.
The ones near me are secure and have free (passable) coffee, which is all I really need.
- In the morning, I work at the Airbnb/hotel. I start the day without worries about packing/unpacking or preparations: a solid three to four hours of work. (Requirements: get a room with a workstation and a good chair. Tables are usually easy to find, but if the chair isn’t good enough, buy one.)
- Natural stop to have lunch, usually with a longer walk.
- Start work again around 2 PM at some coffee shop and order a coffee. Another three hours of solid work.
- Natural stop to use the bathroom (always a problem as a solo nomad, but not anymore), stretch my legs, and head to a different coffee shop.
- Final batch of work. Order something light to eat. No more caffeine. Another three hours of solid work.
In the end, I can get between nine and ten hours of solid work per day. I spend around three hours in one place, so I didn’t notice any uncomfortable looks.
I also don’t rely on power outlets or local Wi-Fi never. The laptop needs to last the entire time, but it’s easy because it’s only in the afternoon (around six hours, not the whole day). For Wi-Fi, I always get a good mobile package with unlimited data if possible. This makes it easy to sit anywhere, really.
My setup is usually my laptop, an iPad as a second screen, earbuds, and a mobile phone. It works like a charm.
If you want people to just sit and eat - you're a restaurant.
If you want people to just order and leave - you're a food stall/truck.
Cafe's have always been the intermediate. A place to sit and read/discuss/write/work/hang out. While also occasionally going to the counter to buy small food or drinks.
If you're annoyed by this... don't run a cafe.
Simple & sane rules like "you have to order something to sit at a table" are hardly novel.
We’ve weaponized furniture against the homeless, why not against the laptop class?
The project could be catastrophic for cafes for unforeseen reasons, but those are surely not going to be the same as for Airbnb. You'd have to come up with a plausible threat scenario, otherwise your extrapolation of the analogy has no substance.
You might be right. I read that as a minimum spend on wifi originally.
Later i’d just tip heavily up-front.
But then again I rarely work out at coffee shops or gas stations; usually only when stopping for a drink/meal anyway.
Ah, but perhaps they were just protecting the neighbors from the noise? Well, it was in the financial district. On the ground floor of a bank, which never had a problem with all this.
I personally stopped going to my favourite cafe because all the tables were taken up by people using laptops, I think the value proposition is just not there. You are always going to be better off catering to people who are just dropping in for 5-10 minutes over someone who spends several hours and maybe buys 2 things and jeopardizes a table which could have been used by 10 people.
> You are always going to be better off catering to people who are just dropping in for 5-10 minutes over someone who spends several hours and maybe buys 2 things and jeopardizes a table which could have been used by 10 people.
I assume there's a balance. Never run a coffee shop but it seems that a lot of the sales are takeout, so exactly what does and doesn't go on in your seating might well be a secondary concern. If you prioritise folks staying for 5-10 minutes you might just end up with a lot of empty tables.
It's unfortunate I have to completely stop going to some cafes with a no laptop policy for three times one hour per year.