Innovative 'Suggestion Box'

Suggestion boxes are a thing of the past, so what's to replace these old-school boxes? The latest article on the Wired blog highlights a community site that Starbucks has launched that is all about sharing ideas and thoughts. My Starbucks Idea is the name of this community site that allows you to post ideas, vote on current ideas, and comment as well. The ultimate goal is to implement these ideas, but that can prove to be harder than expected. Here's an example of what sort of ideas are submitted: 'Starbucks should enable customers to encode their usual customized drink orders on their Starbucks cards and have a scanner available in the front of the store so customers can walk in the store, scan their cards and automatically have the orders 1) paid for off of the card, and 2) sent directly to the barista so the customers can bypass the traditional order line and are ensured that their orders are received correctly.' While some ideas seem far-fetched, it's definitely an innovative new process to take under consideration. It's time to re-evaluate how we handle customer suggestions, and think of building communities as an alternative to the age old 'suggestion box'. **Update: The comments left on this particular post on the Starbucks Gossip homepage (Thanks Brent) describes the likelihood of ideas being put into place by suggesting them on blogs, such as the Starbucks Gossip page or My Starbucks Idea. The chances of success without reaching the source (Howard) directly are slim to none.