Coffee Shop Charging For Use of Its Outlets

just saw the new macbook commercial, the green one,

if that thing uses a quarter of the power than before, that's impressive.

my crappy Dell is a lemon with a desktop cpu and probably uses over 70watts.

I was a fan of M. Rohr. Their decor and customer service are the epitome of what a great New York coffeeshop should be. But that charge is laughable and an affront to the customer. I will not be buying electricity from M. Rohr; I will no longer be buying coffee there either.

I can see the owner's point. Folks who set up for the day and don't spend continuously on food and drinks block the tables from new customers. The basis of a successful food/ drink shop like this is turnover. That said, the $12 is unfortunately high.

What I don't get is how the comments here went from white bashing (all wannabe novelists are white?) to hateful anti-semitism. Did mommy not hug you enough, guestshow/ smacky? That's the really pathetic thing.

It's free to the girl above if she's plugging in her vibrator.

I can see the point the owner is trying to make, but I also see his/her ignorance of the fact that such a steep charge can create resentment in many customers who may choose to never patronize the shop. This is specially true in a city where there are so many other places where you can get a free connection.

laptops take up very little electricity... pathetic.

He's not charging for electricity; he's charging for real estate...

Well since it is the Upper East Side, the owner is simply tapping the market that is more likely to pay such a funny price for a funny charge...

Point being, where would you ever see this kind of nonsense in Brooklyn or Queens?

...thanks for contributing to the bland corporate takeover of NYC.

Quite unfortunate and sadly true.

HA. the Jew talk is funny. Let's burn the place down and sh*t in the owner's mouth. YEA. That will teach him.

OK, let's count.

Typical power consumption for a modern laptop running on wire is somewhere between 20 and 50 watts. Let's say 40. Electric cost is 20c/kW hour at most. If you sit all day there (12 hours) surfing the net, you would probably consume 40/1000*12*0.20 = $0.096 ~10c (rounded up) worth of electricity.

Now, answer, what a greedy stupid bastard you need to be to charge your customers $12 for a dime worthy service?

And, besides that, how many 4-dollar cups of coffee a customer would buy during his 12-hour stay in your cafe?

Do you, guys, still think, it's fair and smart?

Donald Wright is a FOOL and miser. You think this is actually "good business sense?" He should read an elementary primer on customer-psychology.

Probably in line with the cheapo restaurants who charge $3 for an extra bowl of 5 cents-worth of rice or a certain fast-food deli now charging 50-cents for 1-cent cups of sugar/water refills.

We don't want the service and we won't keep coming back either. Can't wait to read a future Gothamist reporting that another cafe bites the dust ...

Wright -- thanks for contributing to the bland corporate takeover of NYC.

it's too cold to sit outside,

where is a good free wifi place indoors? I was thinking the winter garden at wfc. I have one of those 10lb laptops with a 2lb ac adapter. the pocket pc ain't cutting it when looking at pron.

solar is cool though. that's next on my list for when I become homeless again. I'm working on a solar water heater now, it's a painted black water jug. (too bad it only works in the summer)

well, do they charge for wi-fi too? If they charge wi-fi and electricity this is kinda fucked up. I don't mind paying 12 bucks if it's for wi-fi and electric but if it's separate then I'm gonna roll bounce. I'd rather just buy a cup of coffee at dunkin donuts and sit at bryant park. I just bought me this new netbook that's 10 inches, and has a 6 cell battery that lasts 7 hours. I'm gonna get me a 9 cell battery that lasts 10 hours soon too. that coupled with a solar voltaic backpack that charges your laptop = self sustaining energy.

Sounds reasonable to me. if people don't like it, don't set up shop there. I never understood the charm of sitting in a Starbucks all day on your laptop. Nothing better to do I guess...

At least Starbuck$ doesn't charge.

it sounds like guestshow has some issues he needs to work out.

Maybe computer stores should start selling coffee.

Been to Rohrs many times. Love it. Liked the previous location better tho.

Is it so wrong for people to pay for the elctricity they use? Especially in a place like this where people really do camp out for fays at a time.

How are all the hipster going to update their respective neighborhood blogs?

And how are all the white people going to work on the novel they've been working on for the last five years?

In defense of the owner: $12 a day is quite steep, but so are the costs for wireless in internet in cafes. I've been to this place a few times and people really do stay all day long, so I'm not surprised that they've started charging for electricity.

Now to criticize the owner: I once heard him yelling at an employee, loud enough for all of the customers to hear. He sounded like a real asshole.

$12 a day is more than it costs for electricity AND heat in my two bedroom apartment in the dead of winter. if i had ever been a customer of that place, i wouldn't be any longer.