Pros
The facilities at the HQ building (in SODO/Seattle) were really nice. Great bike parking, good security, comfortable break rooms, decent cafeteria, etc.
Cons
If you are not an actual SBUX employee then you will not be treated well. I was hired on for an 18-month contract position. It wasn't the best of jobs, but I performed really well and was hoping to spring that into a permanent position. Unfortunately, after just four or so months there management decided to move up the outsourcing date for your group and me and most of my fellow co-contractors were given the boot. There was much secrecy on how one went from being a temp to a regular employee. Rumors abounded that our co-workers (who weren't temps) voted on whether we'd be a good fit or not. Those that passed got an opportunity to further interview for a permanent position. Those that didn't were shown the door. I tried asking questions about the decision-making process, but management played dumb. Did I just rub a few co-workers the wrong way? Was there just some mix-up (see below)? I have no idea. At one point, a supervisor/lead gave me a warning regarding my poor "stats" for the previous week or two (this department was big on stats). This confused me as I knew I always had great numbers. I asked her for the specific numbers, crunched them in my spare time, and realized that she had totally mis-calculated them, flip-flopping some figures and percentages. I kindly pointed out her mistake to (just) her, showing that I was actually doing very well. In hindsight I suppose I should have kept silent. On another occasion I came to my desk one morning to find all my personal effects missing. I thought it was a prank, but no one around me would confess to hiding my items. A supervisor also had no clue, but his manager had a semi-clue and made a call to HR. Apparently my dept manager had recently canned a co-worker, called HR to come retrieve his stuff, and HR took my stuff instead as they were unable to understand cubicle numbering. HR brought my box of stuff back to me, with barely a note of apology. That experience was just surreal. There was a definite divide between the contractors and the permanent employees, as is the case at many other places I suppose. The SBUX HQs are filled with thousands of people and it's easy to have your voice lost in the shuffle. And if you're a contractor you will have no voice at all.