The problems at the coffee retailer can be summed up in a letter sent by founder Howard Schultz to his management in early 2007. In the letter he wrote " we desperately need to look into the mirror and realize it's time to get back to the core and make the changes necessary to evoke the heritage, the tradition, and the passion that we all have for the true Starbucks". He did nothing about his concerns until he fired the company's CEO and returned to the job a year after his note. That year of indecision cost the company a great deal. The departed chief said during his tenure that Starbucks would eventually have 40,000 stores worldwide. It is now struggling with the possibility that it has too many in the US. Starbucks went from becoming a very good coffee shop to a location which sold breakfast food, sandwiches, music, and WiFi. The vision became clouded. Workers in Starbucks stores recently went through re-training. It does not seem to have helped. SBUX is now the high-priced provider of a commodity as the economy is going into a recession. People are getting their fancy coffee at McDonald's now. Not long ago, the shares were near $40. They now trade at about $18.