> Okay, I want to be super clear on this one: Do you have to pay for the coffee once you pass security / they know you work there? Or is that coffee shop not part of the company and just so happens to be onsite?

Don't know about Amazon, but there are two coffee options at my employer (past security):

1. A chain coffee shop you have to pay for. No discount that I can perceive.

2. Free coffee machines.

#1 used to be extremely popular when #2 consisted of Douwe Egberts machines that used some weird coffee concentrate that made terrible and weak coffee. Now I think #1 closes early and has low staffing because the #2 got upgraded to espresso machines that use decent beans and can also do basic espresso drinks (Americano, Latte, etc).

Why is that material?

But to answer your question, the coffee shop is not part of the company, you do have to pay for your coffee and it is past security.

Thanks for the answer.

It's not all that germane to the article, more of an aside, so thanks for that indulgence.

The motivation is from this old post here: https://steveblank.com/2009/12/21/the-elves-leave-middle-ear...

Ah, for context, to encourage people to RTO during the pandemic, coffee there was free. Once we started an RTO mandate it changed to one coffee a day was free. Now that we're moving to mandated 5 day RTO, even that is gone.

Things get shittier and shittier in a company known to be shitty to it's employees