In Minnesota, Caribou Coffee workers have been marked as essential. However, Caribou Coffee is not doing nearly enough to protect its employees or customers. If Caribou Coffee does not make every effort within its power to protect its employees and consumers, employees may find that it is not worth risking their lives to work at a job that does not value their service, especially when a plethora of other comparable companies, both large and small, have already implemented hazard pay, PTO, and have given employees protective gear. Thus, we demand the following be implemented immediately:

1. Hazard Pay: We demand an additional $2 per hour for each employee. We don’t think we’re asking for much considering the fact that the lowest paid team member in the city of Saint Paul is paid $12.50 an hour. Increasing those team members’ pay to $14.50 an hour barely constitutes a living wage. The additional pay would give some workers an incentive to keep working for Caribou, especially for those who desperately need the additional money due to the failing economy.
2. Additional Paid Time Off (PTO) or a Stipend for All Employees Unable to Work: Some Caribou Coffee employees are unable to work during this pandemic as they themselves or their family members may have underlying health conditions, which could potentially lead to deadly consequences if those particular individuals are exposed to COVID-19. We demand that Caribou Coffee alleviate the financial burden of those employees by providing some sort of financial compensation. We also demand that employees who believe they may have COVID-19 symptoms are ensured access to PTO for their quarantine period.
3. Provide Effective Protective Gear: This may seem obvious, but Caribou Coffee has not provided masks to employees. They have encouraged employees who wish to wear masks purchase their own masks. Due to inadequate pay, employees are not likely to purchase their own masks, much less proven and effective masks. We demand that Caribou Coffee provide all workers the masks that they need to stay healthy. Masks will reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19, and in turn will also help protect consumers from employees who may have been exposed to COVID-19. We also demand that Caribou Coffee allows all employees who wish to wear gloves to allow those employees to wear a pair of gloves, not a single glove that would prove to be useless with cash transactions. We also demand that Caribou Coffee provide education to all employees regarding proper usage of gloves.
4. Sneeze Guards/Mobile Order Only: We demand that Caribou Coffee either provide sneeze guards to all employees, or should the company decide that it cannot implement sneeze guards for any reason, we demand that Caribou Coffee move to mobile order/delivery only. Signs can be placed in the windows with enlarged instructions on how to download and order through the Caribou Coffee app. This will help mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19.

We also would like to propose the following suggestions for Caribou Coffee to consider:

1. Close Restrooms to the Public: We ask that Caribou Coffee consider closing restrooms to the public in order to keep its employees and customers safer.
2. Keep All Condiments/Disposables Behind the Counter: We ask that Caribou Coffee consider keeping sugar packets, honey, cream, and disposables behind the counter to help keep customers safer. 
3. Sell Coffee Makers/Tea Pots: We ask that Caribou Coffee considers selling coffee makers and tea pots as a way to encourage customers who are not essential workers to stay home as much as possible.
4. Hand Sanitizer Available for Customer Usage: We ask Caribou Coffee to consider having hand sanitizer available for customer use. Many customers have asked if we had any hand sanitizer available for them to use. Hand sanitizer will help keep customers safe (although not as safe as hand washing), and will show that we are doing everything we can to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Caribou Coffee needs to implement the demands stated above immediately. As noted before, if Caribou Coffee does not make every effort within its power to protect its employees and consumers, employees may find that it is not worth risking their lives to work at a job that does not value their service, especially when a plethora of other comparable companies, both large and small, have already implemented hazard pay, PTO, and have given employees protective gear.