There are many sponsored Wayspots that do get removed after the sponsorship deal ends. I know the convenience store Holiday used to have sponsored Wayspots for about a year or 2, but then they were just removed. Could have been that they were bought out by another chain, but can’t say because I don’t know.
Now, Starbucks and PoGo launched sponsored stops/gyms in Dec 2016, but none have been added since. If Starbucks wanted to give PoGo more exposure, or PoGo wanted to have more stops/gyms, then every new Starbucks store would have a stop/gym. This is not the case, and new Starbucks in the US regularly get nominated for Wayspots, even though they don’t meet criteria.
There’s a lot to sponsorships, and most only last for a certain amount of time. Think professional athletes signing deals to represent a certain athletic brand of clothing and shoes; those typically a good a a certain amount of time, and if the brand wants to continue the sponsorship, they’ll work out a new deal with that athlete and their management.
None of the new stores in my area have stops/gyms, and we have had a growth in Starbucks in the last few years. If they wanted more locations with stops/gyms, I think they’d pay to get them added, but none of the new ones that have opened since Dec 2016 have stops/gyms.
Keep in mind that I’m always going off of what I’m seeing in my area, from my experiences. I don’t know why some assume I know things they don’t, or am trying to spread mis/disinformation. Try not to jump to conclusions right away.
It’s the phrasing. When i am basing something on what I’ve observed, i use words like, “in my experience” or “i believe” or “it seems.” When someone makes a definitive statement as if it is a fact rather than an observation, it comes across as authoritative. Softening the language on these kinds of statements helps the reader understand that what is being said is not meant to be taken as 100% verified fact.
This is a larger conversation happening all over the world, not just here on the forum. I found this good reference on the internet.
It’s not about jumping to conclusions. It’s about explaining to you how other people read your statements. Whether you intend for them to or not, your statements come across as facts when they are either assumptions or opinions. New people come to the forum and read what looks like a fact and believe it to be the definitive truth. It is everyone’s place to ask for clarification from anyone when they think some statement is not completely accurate or that it contradicts what they have experienced.
It has been known for a long while that new sponsored starbucks locations have not been added into game I would say at least five years now if not longer eventually they just stopped adding new locations. I know a starbucks location near me has been open since around 2019 and it never became a sponsored location.
I remember they added a few locations around 2017 or so but I never noticed newer locations added after that.
I have seen community approvals of waypoints at newer starbucks locations after they stopped adding them.
Yes, this is observed behavior. But to my knowledge there has never been any formal announcement that no new stores will ever get a sponsored stop. I don’t think any of us on this forum can state that not one Starbucks has been added anywhere in the entire country.
I wonder if it’s like when any business tries to get on Google Maps, they have to make sure the address is correct because an address can be valid if no city is provided. I used to see it all the time on Google Maps because the place got imported to where it could have been valid but looking at it for more than 5 seconds would tell you it’s off.
An example for my area is Tamiami Trail for US 41.
If you said 14400 Tamiami Trail that could be a valid place for Osprey, Venice, Sarasota, Port Charlotte, and for the rest of Southwest Florida.
The McDonald’s waypoint in my area is more than 100m off from the actual location. Checked another one near downtown and same exact issues. One of the ambassadors was spot on in their post.
