Starbucks has asked its customers for suggestions on how to improve its drinks, customer service and all-around business at the Seattle company. And they've responded, according to the Associated Press, by the hundreds.

Here's an excerpt from the AP story:
Create a punch-card system with a free drink after so many purchases. Give people a free cup of birthday joe or discounts for using their own mugs. Let customers forgo long lines by ordering their usual with the swipe of a card when they walk in the door.

Skeptics have panned MyStarbucksIdea.com, unveiled at the company's heavily attended annual meeting in mid-March, as an online suggestion box that's already grown stale. But the heavy traffic it's drawn and the message Starbucks is sending — that it's listening, and listening carefully — have impressed corporate marketing experts.

"Most brands do not put out a welcome mat for feedback," said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of strategic services for the market research firm Nielsen Online. "Generally feedback is viewed as a cost of doing business rather than an opportunity. Starbucks is saying this is an opportunity."

Before it went live, Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks' chief information officer, said he was hoping a few hundred ideas would trickle in the first few days.

About 300 suggestions were posted in the first hour after the shareholders meeting, which drew a crowd of 6,000 and was closely watched by Wall Street analysts hungry for details on the company's turnaround plans.

Any ideas of your own? (You'll need a Starbucks.com account to participate at MyStarbucksIdea.com) Do you think a loyalty program giving regulars free drinks after so many purchased -- as so many espresso bars do -- would make a difference? One suggestion I saw addressed discounts for bringing your own mug, something I thought Starbucks already did.

A few quick notes on the company that has announced buying a 14 percent stake in Washington Mutual.

TPG – formerly Texas Pacific Group and founded in 1992 – manages one of the world’s largest private investment companies with more than $50 billion of assets under management.

Through TPG Capital, the firm generally makes significant investments in operating companies through acquisitions and restructurings across a broad range of industries throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Portfolio companies controlled by TPG currently have combined revenues of approximately $128 billion, operate in more than 140 countries and employ about 500,000 employees. Fully aggregated, TPG portfolio companies would create the 15th largest business of the Fortune 500.

As far as financial institutions go, TPG has taken a number of control and minority stakes in such landmark companies as Korea First Bank and Shenzhen Development Bank. TPG expanded its presence in Japan with investments in TOMY Company and NIS Group.

Some of TPG's best known investments have included Burger King, J.Crew, Del Monte, PETCO, America West Airlines, Harrah's, Debenhams, Hotwire, Beringer Wine Estates, Energy Future Holdings (formerly TXU), Seagate Technology, Texas Genco, MGM and Neiman Marcus.

Someone familiar with today’s transaction told me this afternoon that the transaction doesn’t necessarily signal a revival of fortunes for the financial institution sector. TPG’s relationship with WAMU goes back to the days of the thrift crisis, when TPG bought American Savings Bank and later sold it to Washington Mutual.

TPG is simply buying a stake in a company it knows well, from experience, with an idea of holding the stake for a “considerable period. They’re not making a broad market call here.”

There's been some talk on this blog and in Puyallup that there may be a Kohl's coming to town.

Nzingha Thompson, Kohl's spokeswoman, said she didn't have any details about a store opening in Puyallup – the company only confirms new stores once the plans are finalized.

Kohl's is constantly exploring sites for new stores, but Thompson wouldn't say whether the company was looking at property in the South Sound.

David Montevideo, South Hill Mall property manager, said there's no Kohl's planned for his mall, though JCPenney's is building a second store there.

Sunrise Village, a new shopping center on Meridian south of Puyallup, recently announced its first wave tenants and Kohl's wasn't in the bunch.

Kohl's is celebrating the grand opening of a store in Snohomish Wednesday and a Kohl's opened in Spokane Valley (A shout out to my hometown!) in March.

The nearest Kohl's for Pierce County shoppers are in Lacey or Covington.

The Associated Press reports that Boeing may announce a fourth delay in the 787 on Wednesday when it updates its status.

A Boeing spokeswoman, Yvonne Leach, says it has been assessing the production schedule.

Last month the head of a leasing company that has ordered 74 Boeing 787s, Steven Udvar-Hazy of International Lease Finance, said he expects another delay to redesign the center wing box, which connects wings to the fuselage.

Under the schedule announced in January, Boeing plans the first 787 flight in June with the first delivery early next year, about seven months behind the original goal.

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Investment group TPG plans to infuse Seattle-based Washington Mutual with $7 billion in new capital, according to news reports this morning.

But the investment won't ward off some serious downsizing by the Seattle bank, which has suffered from the rising delinquencies and defaults on mortgages.

The company plans to lay off 3,000 workers and close all of its remaining stand alone home loan businesses. According to the company's Web site, WaMu operates home loan centers in Tacoma and Federal Way.

More from The Associated Press story:

By JESSICA MINTZ
The Associated Press

Washington Mutual Inc., hit hard by rising delinquencies and defaults on mortgages, said Tuesday it will receive $7 billion in new capital from an investment group led by private equity firm TPG but will post a wider-than-expected loss for the first quarter.

The Seattle-based thrift said it will lose $1.1 billion during the first quarter and take a provision for loan losses of $3.5 billion — $1.5 billion more than previously expected. Wall Street had forecast a loss of $344.3 million, according to Thomson Financial survey of analysts.

Separately, the country’s largest savings and loan said it will get out of the wholesale lending business, close all remaining standalone home loan centers and lay off 3,000 workers.

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