Why does Luckin coffee store discipline keep drawing complaints?

A worker identifying as a Luckin Coffee employee said a district manager's inspection found grooming and appearance standards unmet, leading to a 1,000 yuan deduction from a 3,000 yuan monthly salary plus copying a passage five times. The store was a franchise location, and Luckin has called punitive copying non-standard behavior at individual stores.

Similar cases have surfaced before, including a July 21 incident where a part-time employee copied pages for omitting a straw. Penalties differ between franchise and directly operated locations, and some staff say they would rather copy than pay fines, pointing to tension between coffee store standards and order-system pressures.

Management issues at Luckin Coffee stores have once again drawn attention. Recently, a netizen claiming to be a Luckin employee exposed that during a district manager's inspection, they were not only fined 1,000 yuan for failing to meet grooming and appearance standards, but also required to copy a passage five times as punishment. This is not the first time Luckin has trended on social media over punitive copying. As early as July 21, a part-time employee sparked widespread discussion after being punished with copying multiple pages for failing to include a straw. Luckin officially responded at the time that punitive copying was non-standard behavior at individual stores, but similar incidents have continued to occur. Notably, penalty methods differ between franchise stores and directly operated stores, with some employees saying they would rather accept punitive copying than pay fines. This article will review the sequence of events and reactions from all sides, and explore the balance between store management standards and improving the ordering system.

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Recently, another netizen claiming to work at Luckin posted on social media, revealing that when a district manager visited the store for an inspection, they found grooming and appearance standards were not met. As a result, the employee was not only docked 1,000 yuan but also required to copy a passage five extra times as punishment.

The blogger revealed that their monthly salary was only 3,000 yuan, and now on top of the 1,000 yuan fine, they still had to continue copying. According to them, their store is a franchise store. If a district manager finds it failing twice during inspections, the store must close for rectification, and franchise store owners with low ratings also cannot escape fines.

In the comments section, some said they also work at a franchise store, and if they refuse to copy, two hours of work time are deducted. A netizen from a directly operated store said their store has now switched to fines, with each bad review costing ten yuan. Another netizen said that since the last time it trended on social media, their store has canceled punitive copying.

The reason we say "again" is that punitive copying incidents at Luckin are hardly new. On July 21, Luckin trended on social media because a part-time employee was punished with copying multiple pages for not including a straw. That same day, Luckin Coffee customer service responded that after an internal investigation, punitive copying was non-standard behavior at individual stores and not an official company management regulation or training method, and that the company would further strengthen the standardization of store management practices.

Looking further back, netizens had also posted similar threads on social media. It is clear that these so-called "non-standard behaviors at individual stores" have in fact existed all along.

Previously, a Luckin staff member explained that because the company frequently received complaints about employees not making coffee according to notes, store managers adopted this method, which could also be seen as a way of being responsible to customers. Ultimately, the goal was to reinforce employees' rote memory through extensive writing.

In the eyes of some netizens, "punitive copying" seems like a punishment only elementary school students would receive. A group of adult store employees bowing their heads and copying notes over and over again would find it hard not to break down emotionally. Judging from employees' attitudes, most find such punishment hard to accept, but compared with fines, they would still rather choose punitive copying.

In fact, adding options to the ordering interface was also repeatedly mentioned during the "ice" incident. From this perspective, rather than simply blaming employees, it would be better to first improve the ordering system.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.