Schultz said he is worried about safety, and while he didn't reverse the policy outright, he seems to be worried about a growing "mental health" problem threatening Starbucks employees. (As a quick aside, I don't know what he means by that mental health comment, and he didn't offer any examples. My guess is that Starbucks employees are just legitimately tired of having to clean the bathroom so much, and Schultz is doing all he can to keep his staff from revolting and forming unions. Anyway, the point is, whatever the reasoning, Starbucks has the full right to lock up its bathroom doors whenever and however it wants, and unless you own stock you don't get any say in that decision).

For more than 20 years, Starbucks has been a de-facto public bathroom, especially in cities, and now that it's re-evaluating its policy, it could force the issue back into the political sphere.

"The commercial solution is really not a great solution... No rational person would want Starbucks to pay for traffic lights or streetlights," said Lezlie Lowe, author of "No Place to Go: How Public Toilets Fail our Private Needs."