C19 Starbucks drive thru, btdt?

[happi duck]

I have not done any takeout since this all started.  I'm considering driving thru Starbucks.  Has anyone btdt?  Does it seem safe?  Do you do anything differently to make it safer in your eyes?

[MEmama]

As long as employees are masked and you are masked when you receive your drink, I can’t imagine much problem with it.

I guess you could use your own java jacket sleeve so you don’t have touch the cup, but I wouldn’t personally be too worried about contamination that way. We are getting takeout regularly and don’t worry about the containers (except the non recyclable trash).
 

If you find yourself extra concerned, though, you could remove the lid as well (maybe bring a clean one from home or transfer your drink into a reusable cup you bring with you).

[alisoncooks]

We have, multiple times. Also drinks through McDs drive-thru and takeout bubble tea. We're not taking any different precautions with it. 

[mathnerd]

I don't, but my husband gets coffee from SBUX frequently. He has his own insulated travel mug in the car and transfers the contents into it immediately, throws away the starbucks cup (they only use disposable cups in california due to CV19, maybe this is true in other states) and he uses hand sanitizer right after that and we have had no problems so far. He also wears mask (mandatory in my state for employees and customers) during this procedure.

Edited June 22, 2020 by mathnerd

We have had takeout Starbucks...ours have been order ahead or drive through as in the building ordering only started this week I think.  My biggest beef with a Starbucks drive thru is they are SO VERY SLOW.  They back up onto the road and one car might have multiple drinks.  I much prefer the order on the app and they bring it to the door locations.  I just take it as is, but removing the lid wouldn’t be that hard (unless you are drinking it while driving)

[Jean in Newcastle]

I have done drive through Starbucks many times during the Pandemic.  The employees are masked.  I don't have a problem receiving a drink from them or using their cups.  I did use a straw (which was handed to me in it's wrapper) with my last cold drink. 

[KidsHappen]

I have been driving through Starbucks for the past few weeks. They are very good about masking and if you use a credit/debit card there is a reader outside the window that you can use so the cashier doesn't have to touch your card. My Starbucks also has employees wearing plastic gloves that they change frequently. I feel like it is one of the safer drive-thrus. Chick-Fil-A is also very good.

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, Plum said:

Oldest works there and brings home drinks all the time. They always wear masks. I have been concerned about how much he interacts with the public. All of the precautions his store has taken so far has reassured me that they aren’t just paying lip service. 

Thank you! I've been wondering. 

I do think hot drinks would be no issue - they would be hot enough to kill the virus anyway - but I'd pour into my own cup, or clean lid with peroxide, personally. 

That said, it is hotter than the sun here, so if I got Starbucks it would be iced, and I'm not as comfortable with that. I know that no one in authority says it can be caught via the GI tract, but we keep learning more, and we know some show only GI symptoms, or start with GI and then later have respiratory, and we know there are cells it can replicate in in our GI tract, so....I'm not comfortable with it. 

if it was a need, ok. But at this point, the extra risk plus the long line plus the cost keeps me making my own. And we did have a Starbucks in my small city close down for a few days after an employee tested positive, which sort of reaffirmed my decision. (I will say, my Nespresso has more than paid for itself over the years, and I use generic espresso pods in it). 

Edited June 22, 2020 by Ktgrok

[J-rap]

We've done things like that several times now.  We don't take precautions for that specifically, but I do keep hand sanitizing gel in the car and use it after touching something foreign.  So, I'd probably do that after I finished my take-out drink.  (And before, if it's something I'm eating -- not just drinking.)

[TrixieB]

Dh goes to the Starbucks drive thru regularly.  I do in store mobile pick up usually, but occasionally drive thru.  Employees are ALWAYS masked.  They hand over the drinks in a container; you take the drink from the container (they used to use a large mug, now it's a plastic box thing) so the person who gives you your drink never touches any part of your cup.  IDK if the container thing is nationwide? Touchless pay with the app.

An acquaintance is a Starbucks barista and she told me the routine she has to go through before/during each shift.  After hearing that, and from my personal experience, I have no worries about getting my iced drink via drive thru/mobile pick up.  

 

[Lady Marmalade]

No glove use at my Starbucks, and they're still using the large coffee mug to hand out drinks.  Cute idea, I guess, but when I literally just watched the gloveless barista make my drink, and then the window person put my drink in that giant mug with gloveless hands...  It's not totally preventing me from enjoying Starbucks about once a week right now, but I wish they wore gloves and I said as much when surveyed.

Aside from that, it's like our Starbucks opened back up on the slow train to nowhere.  It takes a seriously long time to get your order right now- even when there's only one or two cars in the line. We always place our order and pay via the app, hoping to cut the time, but it's still super slow.  I wonder if they are swamped with delivery orders or something, because it can't possibly take that long to make a couple of coffee drinks. 

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Lady Marmalade said:

No glove use at my Starbucks, and they're still using the large coffee mug to hand out drinks.  Cute idea, I guess, but when I literally just watched the gloveless barista make my drink, and then the window person put my drink in that giant mug with gloveless hands...  It's not totally preventing me from enjoying Starbucks about once a week right now, but I wish they wore gloves and I said as much when surveyed.

Aside from that, it's like our Starbucks opened back up on the slow train to nowhere.  It takes a seriously long time to get your order right now- even when there's only one or two cars in the line. We always place our order and pay via the app, hoping to cut the time, but it's still super slow.  I wonder if they are swamped with delivery orders or something, because it can't possibly take that long to make a couple of coffee drinks. 

I don't get the point of the large mug either, but if it makes you feel better, I don't see how gloves are better than skin, if they have washed their hands. They can rub their nose, touch their face, etc with the gloves as well as a hand, you know?

[Lady Marmalade]

4 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

I don't get the point of the large mug either, but if it makes you feel better, I don't see how gloves are better than skin, if they have washed their hands. They can rub their nose, touch their face, etc with the gloves as well as a hand, you know?

We wear gloves at my restaurant for every single task right now.  SO many glove changes and so much washing of hands! But, it's made all of us much more aware of how often we do the little things like brush hair behind our ears or scratch an itch wherever it might be.  I totally understand the gloves/skin thing and that glove usage has not been advocated like masking, but from a customer perspective, gloves would be the better choice.  Especially since the same person holding that mug out to us has already handled our drinks to put them IN the mug, after serving the people in front of us.