Why is it trendy to have your Starbucks coffee? Everyone should be using a reusable coffee cup to reduce waste

Question

evidently I should have worded it differently, people read into the wrong part of the question. I am not telling you what you should do. I am guilty of it too!! I just started feeling guilty and wanted to see what other people felt about it. Thank you to the people who replied nicely.

Answer 1

There are three problems with buying coffee already brewed like Starbucks.  1. is the reusable coffee cup issue

2. is the fair trade issue

3. driving somewhere to purchase your coffee

People are all about convenience.  Purchasing a reusable coffee cup and having it with you takes effort!  Most people are ignorant to fair trade.  These are probably the same people that drive their SUV 10 miles out of their way to get their coffee!

Answer 2

This is the most self-righteous site in all of YA. Everyone wants to tell everyone else what to do, and why they are so special because they, themselves, do it.

Answer 3

Everyone should not be drinking that c**p in the first place...people paying $4-5 dollars for a cup of coffee worth 50 cents and contributing  to  the destruction the rain forest just so they can be "trendy".  It is pretty ridiculous if you ask me...  I wouldn't step foot in a Starbucks if they paid me.

Answer 4

It makes people feel special.  They are being served, and that can be a more powerful motivator than crack cocaine.

A re-usable coffee cup reduces solid waste, but paper is already consumed in huge quantities in America so switching to re-usable coffee cups from paper would not reduce this solid waste much.

What is important is the total energy cost of paper versus re-usable.  One use paper cups are light weight, sanitary, non-breakable, and safe to dispose of.  Re-usable are usually ceramic, heavy, breakable, and need to be washed.

If washing the re-usable cup becomes more expensive than the cost of a paper cup, then paper wins out.

A dishwasher is actually more efficient than hand-washing, so sometimes environmental trade-offs are not as obvious as they were in the olden days when people didn't throw anything out.

Answer 5

Starbucks is involved in terrible scandals concerning Ethiopian farmers who`s trademarks they stole and pay less then minimal for the production.

Getting rich by cheating and then exploiting the poor seems hardly trendy to me.

Answer 6

It's much easier to go to the store, buy a cup of coffee, and then throw it away when you're done.  It's all about convenience and we do this because we CAN.  It's too much trouble having to lug around your own cup and then wash it when you're done.  But I'm sure if there was no other choice, we'd bring our own cups.

Answer 7

These people want to show off that they drink $5. coffee.  Then they load it up on sugar and cream to be able to stomach it.  I prefer to grind my own beans and make good tasting coffee, no sugar,no cream needed.  I enjoy the taste of coffee.  

I only use reusable cups.

Answer 8

s***w trends.   I am the complete opposite of trendy and am able to take 2-3 month vacations and own my house instead of the bank owning it.    Trends are for people who have no ability to think for themselves.   Yes, I use a ceramic cup for drinks at work.

Answer 9

don't tell me what I SHOULD be doing!!

Plz take your refillable cup to Starbucks and feel better about yourself -

but instead of telling people what they SHOULD be doing - how about offering better solutions. For example, discounts to people who bring in their refillable cups. This way Starbucks save money on buying all those cups ....

Answer 10

In Ontario at least our Tim Hortons coffee franchise makes a trivial 5 cent reduction when you supply the cup... then every year they put on a promotion that you can win a vehicle or a lot of other things, but you can only win if you take your coffee in a Horton's  foam cup.

By the end of that promotion they have weaned almost everyone off the habit of bringing in the cup. They absolutely never mention the savings for your own cup... it messes up their book keeping horribly because they don't do it automatically on the till.

But those who got this going also do nothing to promote Hortons use of this policy. We do not even make it a point to mention it to others... Who knew?

Answer 11

I agree, I hate trends.

1)  I never buy anything based on trends.  I buy what I need

2)  Only an ID-10-T would pay 5 bucks for a 50 cent cup of coffee.  Yes, I am talking about you Sherryl (my ex wife)

3)  Starbucks absolutely sucks!  I would not even pay 50 cents for it.  Penn and Teller proved it with their bottled water episode.  Some people will eat and drink the nastiest junk if they spend enough money on it and they think that they "should" like it based on it's cost.

4)  Except for my business trip to Colombia last year (fresh coffee, oh yeah!!!) I always brew my own and take it to work and use my own ceramic cup.