Dear, Coffee Shop Owners: Wi-Fi Influences Purchase Decisions

Commuter Daddy and my alternate personas are on vacation this week, so if you read this today or tomorrow, you didn't see me type this and can't prove a thing.

While reading the Wall Street Journal this morning over coffee, however, the headline alone lured me from the easy chair to the blogging chair: No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users.

The gist of the story is the growing trend, particularly among independently owned and operated coffee shops, to free up seats by enforcing laptop bans during certain hours.

Amid the economic downturn, there are fewer places in New York to plug in computers. As idle workers fill coffee-shop tables -- nursing a single cup, if that, and surfing the Web for hours -- and as shop owners struggle to stay in business, a decade-old love affair between coffee shops and laptop-wielding customers is fading. In some places, customers just get cold looks, but in a growing number of small coffee shops, firm restrictions on laptop use have been imposed and electric outlets have been locked.

Dear, Coffee Shop Owners, There is no more decisive way to chase away my long-term business than to completely cut off Wi-Fi access. Sincerely, Commuter Daddy.

Three places I frequent most while on the road are Hampton Inn, Panera and Starbucks. All are Wi-Fi-based choices.

Obviously, to avail yourself of the Hampton's Wi-Fi, you have to be staying there and get the secret login code from the front desk. Still, that plus the free breakfast are the linchpin in my purchase decision. Hampton Inn is usually the first and only hotel choice for any overnight trip I am making.

Panera's open Wi-Fi availability not only makes it my first choice for working coffee, lunch and dinner breaks while I am on the road, but it is also my first choice for off-site meetings with both vendors and staff. Panera has received a lot of my business primarily because of their Wi-Fi, and I have become a business connector for Panera, drawing in additional paying customers as a result of my Wi-Fi-based loyalty.

Starbucks is my backup plan, especially now that my Starbucks card affords me 2 hours of free AT&T Wi-Fi access at most of their locations. Hardly a trip goes by that doesn't include at least one Starbucks visit.

The WSJ story notes that so far New York City seems to be the one place where Wi-Fi scheduling or rationing is happening on a large scale. From a Commuter Daddy perspective, that's fine. While I prefer the environs of quirky and comfy independent coffee shops, there's more than 150 Starbucks locations in New York City. I have plenty of alternatives.

Yes, there might be times I linger too long over a single cup of coffee at Wi-Fi-enabled coffee shop. But there are many other times I have returned sans laptop -- sometimes with family, friends or co-workers -- because of the brand loyalty that the Wi-Fi access has nurtured.

Perhaps the city laptop culture is different than the road warrior set, and as such different rules must apply. I have a hard time seeing, though, how restricting a perk that attracts crowds can be a wise long-term business decision.