What’s the proper etiquette for WiFi use at coffee shops?

What’s the proper etiquette for WiFi use at coffee shops?

Posted on 08/09/2013 at 5:00 pm by Paolo Lucchesi 

A limited number of tables are declared a laptop-free zone during the midday rush to allow customers a place to eat their lunch at Coffee Bar in San Francisco. Photo: Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

Photo: Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

This weekend’s Stacy Finz story tackles a topic familiar to coffeeshop owners in the Bay Area: How to deal with customers who camp for hours using free WiFi?

With Starbucks’ recent Google WiFi partnership, it’s an issue that is showing no signs of changing.

Obviously every cafe has a slightly different way of handling the WiFi situation. Some, like Four Barrel and the Grove, have nixed WiFi entirely, while some places like Coffee Bar (pictured) limit some tables to WiFi zones during certain hours. And others, like Caffe Trieste — the old school North Beach coffeehouse that says they were losing business and had to get WiFi — give paying customers a special, time-sensitive code.

But if you are a paying customer using the free WiFi, what should be your etiquette?

Unless you’re a terribly unaware person who buys a small $1 coffee and then camps out for eight straight hours, most customers can probably agree that you should buy stuff throughout the day. Coffee Bar’s Luigi Di Ruocco says he thinks it’s fair for WiFi users to buy something every hour, or at least every other hour. But others say it’s not only about the squatters’ money; it’s about taking up the seat, so some say that if new customers are looking for seats, the considerate thing to do is relinquish your seat. Some say you should leave generous tips for the staffers; one quoted customers says she spends $20-$25 during a day of work at an independent cafe.

So we want to hear from you: What’s the proper etiquette?

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2013/08/09/whats-the-proper-etiquette-for-wifi-use-at-coffee-shops/