Starbucks getting rid of disposable cups

[Bootsie]

I grew up in south Louisiana.  We did not have air conditioning in some of the schools I attended.  There was a water fountain where we sipped water from during recess; we did not have water bottles and other drinks throughout the school day.  I took my lunch to school and had a thermos for Koolaid (I was not a milk drinker) to drink during lunch.  I remember when Shasta became a big beverage with a number of flavor choices in a can; those were for special treats like a picnic.  

 

 

[skimomma]

19 minutes ago, MercyA said:

I know, it's crazy! We never took drinks anywhere in the 80's and 90's unless it was for something like a field trip or picnic. Now everyone has to have water bottles with them at all times, it seems. It's totally fine, "you do you," and I'm sure being hydrated is healthy, but sometimes when my DD claims extreme thirst after being out for like a half-hour I think it's a bit excessive. 🙂 

My dd recently got upset because she forgot her water bottle on a short hike.  As we were hiking and chatting, I mentioned that I did not even own a water bottle until I was in college.  She was flabbergasted.  I confess that I always have my water bottle (or coffee mug) within reach most of the day whether I am in the house or out, but I assured her she would not DIE without hers on a 4 mile hike.  It would be ok.

[Lady Florida.]

2 hours ago, itsheresomewhere said:

Considering some think to clean their travel mug is a quick swish with water, I find it a bit gross. Restaurants have standards for washing dishes and some people just are icky.  Look at the way some have never thought to clean their reusable bags.  I wouldn’t mind an exchange program where you take your reusable cup you bought from them and exchange it for a new one.  I do hope they have a disposable option available for those who might need it but make it so you have to request it. 

I wonder if they'll have to meet new standards set by local health departments once they start doing this. I would imagine it's something the ptb have looked into and are aware of.

17 minutes ago, itsheresomewhere said:

It must be where you grow up.  We took drinks everywhere back then.  Never didn’t have one with us because of heat and we were cheap/poor.  

 

7 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

This could be part of it. I grew up in Houston, TExas and we were VERY conscious of staying hydrated during much of the year 

 

 

Same growing up in Florida. We always had a drink with us. Most people carry around a bottle of water (either plastic or reusable) especially in the summer. The rise of Yeti cups and the like has made it easier to keep your water cold or cool if you leave it in the car while running errands. 

Re deposits on bottles: It was like that here once upon a time. True story - When I was in college my roommate and I were afraid to ask our parents for beer money (the drinking age was 18 then). We would go around to construction sites after the workers left, collect their discarded bottles, and turn them in for the deposit money. We usually made enough for two beers each, or one each and we shared the third. Funnily enough I don't even like beer now. 😂😂

[vonfirmath]

6 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

I grew up in south Louisiana.  We did not have air conditioning in some of the schools I attended.  There was a water fountain where we sipped water from during recess; we did not have water bottles and other drinks throughout the school day.  I took my lunch to school and had a thermos for Koolaid (I was not a milk drinker) to drink during lunch.  I remember when Shasta became a big beverage with a number of flavor choices in a can; those were for special treats like a picnic.  

 

 

I don't remember having water bottles in class, no. But more frequent water breaks -- yes.

And they are only allowed water in my kids' classrooms now. But they are NOT allowed to drink out of the water fountains -- just to fill water bottles.

 

[Annie G]

The winner here is going to be Starbucks. Their reusable cups are like $1  and barely anyone reuses them. I rarely go to SB these days but when I did I used the app to order in advance so I could skip the line. Would do the  same w drive thru. So how would I use a cup I brought? Time is money to a lot of people and SB is betting that people who will pay $5 for a drink will pay $6.  By and large they’re probably right.  I could see returning  a stack of washed cups in once a month or so, and maybe that will happen.

Food safety rules should require employees washing hands or changing gloves after touching a customer provided cup. Some areas have those rules, such as requiring them to wash hands after touching money. But it’s impractical for SB for sure. 

 

[prairiewindmomma]

Starbucks here had bring your own mug prepandemic for a discount. (Fwiw, I am also in a city which requires single use packaging to be recyclable or compostable, including paper straws not plastic. We also have restaurants that will deliver takeout in tins that you pay a deposit on.) 

The Starbucks cups will likely go into a smart return container….they will probably have a dropoff here early in the drivethru lane and another inside the stores to facilitate handoff. Not a big deal.

[Annie G]

8 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Starbucks here had bring your own mug prepandemic for a discount. (Fwiw, I am also in a city which requires single use packaging to be recyclable or compostable, including paper straws not plastic. We also have restaurants that will deliver takeout in tins that you pay a deposit on.) 

The Starbucks cups will likely go into a smart return container….they will probably have a dropoff here early in the drivethru lane and another inside the stores to facilitate handoff. Not a big deal.

That sounds a lot better than their last plan, which was selling the cup and expecting people to use them for future visits. 
If they have the drop offs like you mentioned, is there likely to be a way to ‘credit’ a customer for recycling?  
I wonder if the pandemic has set back recycling efforts, since people got out of the habit of bringing their own bags to grocery stores, for instance.  For more than a year our Publix and Trader Joe’s wouldn’t allow reusable bags even if WE did the packing. But now they’re both actively promoting reusable bags, and it feels like years ago when they initially trained us to use them. Publix even sends me emails telling me to bring my bags and helpful hints to remember to bring them.  

[prairiewindmomma]

So, likely there will be a scan code or something on the bottom of the mug. It will be scanned as a $1 add on when you check out the mug and when you return you can drop it into a smart return to get the credit back. I am guessing they will do the credit back to your Starbucks app account, but I haven’t read the details.
 

We pay deposits on all recyclable drink containers here (except canned wine—and they are trying to close that loophole). Like, when I buy a 6 pack of hard cider, I pay a .60 deposit. I can return those empties later to the automated kiosks in all of the stores here that sell drinks and get cash back or a credit towards a purchase in that store, or I can tip those recyclables into my recycling bin and forfeit the credit and it goes to paying for other recycling endeavors in my community. Because that’s a behavior here that my community has done for forever, I don’t think anyone here is going to bat an eye over reuseable mugs. 
 

I make my own coffee at home 98% of the time these days anyway—but even with travel I don’t see this as being a big deal. Starbucks are everywhere. 

[itsheresomewhere]

57 minutes ago, Annie G said:

That sounds a lot better than their last plan, which was selling the cup and expecting people to use them for future visits. 
If they have the drop offs like you mentioned, is there likely to be a way to ‘credit’ a customer for recycling?  
I wonder if the pandemic has set back recycling efforts, since people got out of the habit of bringing their own bags to grocery stores, for instance.  For more than a year our Publix and Trader Joe’s wouldn’t allow reusable bags even if WE did the packing. But now they’re both actively promoting reusable bags, and it feels like years ago when they initially trained us to use them. Publix even sends me emails telling me to bring my bags and helpful hints to remember to bring them.  

We have quite a few stores here that will let you bring your bags but they won’t touch them.  You pack it all ( fine with me) but then we have a problem with what to do with the disabled or elderly.  They have a plastic bag ban going in soon and a few stores don’t know what to do with that.   Last time at one of those stores, I ended up helping a sweet elderly lady pack her stuff.  Poor lady was having so much trouble trying to pack them and was taking a very long time due to limited joint movements.  

[Ting Tang]

Starbucks and McDonald's McCafe are why I purchased a $99 MrCoffee Expresso/Latte machine in January.  I've only gotten a Latte maybe once out on our way home during a two hour drive.  For me, it is worth it because I love hot lattes.

Anyway, it is funny people mention the brining the water bottle thing everywhere.  We did not do that as children, either.  I am 41, so maybe it was our generation and the parents. We also didn't drink a whole lot of bottled water, either. 

[MercyA]

2 hours ago, Bootsie said:

I grew up in south Louisiana.  We did not have air conditioning in some of the schools I attended.  There was a water fountain where we sipped water from during recess; we did not have water bottles and other drinks throughout the school day.  I took my lunch to school and had a thermos for Koolaid (I was not a milk drinker) to drink during lunch.  I remember when Shasta became a big beverage with a number of flavor choices in a can; those were for special treats like a picnic.  

Did you wrap them in aluminum foil? I loved field trips, because they meant special treats, including pop in a foil-wrapped can instead of lukewarm milk in a thermos. 🙂 

[fairfarmhand]

2 hours ago, MercyA said:

I know, it's crazy! We never took drinks anywhere in the 80's and 90's unless it was for something like a field trip or picnic. Now everyone has to have water bottles with them at all times, it seems. It's totally fine, "you do you," and I'm sure being hydrated is healthy, but sometimes when my DD claims extreme thirst after being out for like a half-hour I think it's a bit excessive. 🙂 

 

2 hours ago, Bootsie said:

I grew up in south Louisiana.  We did not have air conditioning in some of the schools I attended.  There was a water fountain where we sipped water from during recess; we did not have water bottles and other drinks throughout the school day.  I took my lunch to school and had a thermos for Koolaid (I was not a milk drinker) to drink during lunch.  I remember when Shasta became a big beverage with a number of flavor choices in a can; those were for special treats like a picnic.  

 

 

 

14 minutes ago, Ting Tang said:

Starbucks and McDonald's McCafe are why I purchased a $99 MrCoffee Expresso/Latte machine in January.  I've only gotten a Latte maybe once out on our way home during a two hour drive.  For me, it is worth it because I love hot lattes.

Anyway, it is funny people mention the brining the water bottle thing everywhere.  We did not do that as children, either.  I am 41, so maybe it was our generation and the parents. We also didn't drink a whole lot of bottled water, either. 

I have thought this myself. I grew up in Tampa FL from 88-97 and we sipped from the water fountain. No bottles of water. We didn't carry beverages around either. We waited till we got wherever we were going and got a drink there. 

13 minutes ago, MercyA said:

Did you wrap them in aluminum foil? I loved field trips, because they meant special treats, including pop in a foil-wrapped can instead of lukewarm milk in a thermos. 🙂 

My mom did that. I haven't thought of that in years.

[Bootsie]

27 minutes ago, MercyA said:

Did you wrap them in aluminum foil? I loved field trips, because they meant special treats, including pop in a foil-wrapped can instead of lukewarm milk in a thermos. 🙂 

Oh, yes!  We would put them in the freezer just long enough for them to get slushy--being careful that it didn't stay in long enough to explode and then wrap it in aluminum foil--we had a lot of mishappen soda cans.  We also did crafts with chains of pull tops.  

[prairiewindmomma]

Ha! I am old enough that in my childhood we had glass bottles that we returned to stores also.  

We had old school thermoses that matched our metal latched lunch boxes that we took to school.  We could refill our thermoses with water and drink from the cup on top of the thermos.  I do agree that Shasta was an awesome field trip drink.  We could mark the side of our can with masking tape with our initials on it and throw it into an iced cooler. Sometimes the tape would come off and you'd end up with someone's nasty lemon lime shasta instead of the orange that you brought. Secret Shasta stealers. 😞

[prairiewindmomma]

😂

 

[KSera]

2 hours ago, Annie G said:

The winner here is going to be Starbucks. Their reusable cups are like $1  and barely anyone reuses them. I rarely go to SB these days but when I did I used the app to order in advance so I could skip the line. Would do the  same w drive thru. So how would I use a cup I brought? Time is money to a lot of people and SB is betting that people who will pay $5 for a drink will pay $6.  By and large they’re probably right.  I could see returning  a stack of washed cups in once a month or so, and maybe that will happen.

 

If that turns out to be the case, then it seems like in areas where a lot of people just eat the cost and don’t return the cup, the net waste could end up being higher. That’s a disappointing thought. Using a new heavy plastic cup for every trip to Starbucks rather than a paper one seems a bigger problem. I’m wondering how they could combat that.

[itsheresomewhere]

31 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Ha! I am old enough that in my childhood we had glass bottles that we returned to stores also.  

We had old school thermoses that matched our metal latched lunch boxes that we took to school.  We could refill our thermoses with water and drink from the cup on top of the thermos.  I do agree that Shasta was an awesome field trip drink.  We could mark the side of our can with masking tape with our initials on it and throw it into an iced cooler. Sometimes the tape would come off and you'd end up with someone's nasty lemon lime shasta instead of the orange that you brought. Secret Shasta stealers. 😞

That thermos with the cup lid was awesome.  It may have taken up most of the lunch box but it worked.  We never had soda on field trips as my mom would only buy it for special occasions but that was when we got capri sun juice boxes.  Those were such a treat then.  

[mom2scouts]

I don't go to Starbucks, but I'm interested to see if they can pull it off. I love the idea of reusuable mugs for drinking coffee in a coffe shop, but Starbucks seems to be mostly a drive through and grab your coffee type of place and that could make it harder to implement.

[Laura Corin]

51 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Ha! I am old enough that in my childhood we had glass bottles that we returned to stores also.  

Soft drinks were in returnable glass bottles in England when I was small.

We get our milk, including oat milk, delivered twice a week in glass bottles.  We rinse them and put them out for collection,  washing and re-use.

[prairiewindmomma]

I can still get milk in glass bottles. This has been true in the last three places I have lived in; you just have to look a bit to find the opportunity. 

Currently, milk is $4.50/ half-gallon, $2 deposit on the container. Eggs are $7/dozen.  I suspect prices will be up this year as feed is up.

[TechWife]

Starbucks will already fill a cup you bring in - they’ve been doing it here for years. This seems like something that might be slow to adapt in many areas, though. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds. 

[Pam in CT]

38 minutes ago, TechWife said:

Starbucks will already fill a cup you bring in - they’ve been doing it here for years. This seems like something that might be slow to adapt in many areas, though. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds. 

Here too.  I'm a drink-something-hot all day long kind of person -- caffeinated coffee in the morning, mint or herbal tea from 11a onward; and I carry around a thermal car mug as a permanent fixture. SB has cheerfully filled it for years.  (There may well have been an early-COVID hiatus, but I wasn't going into stores in that interval. By now, they're back to cheerfully taking my thermal cup and filling it with whatever I ask for.)

[Dmmetler]

When we visited University of Toronto, one thing that the guide mentioned was that the coffee shop in one of the colleges had a mug library. Basically, people donated a bunch of mugs (and they get added to with each graduating class, etc), and you get your drink in one of them. You can carry it wherever, and just bring back the mug when you have a chance, whether it’s the next morning or when you cleaned out your dorm room at the end of the semester-there was a drop box by the door to put them in. (The whole campus was very environmentally focused). 
 

Seemed like a great idea, and it seems like something that would work for Starbucks, etc. 

[Carrie12345]

16 hours ago, MEmama said:

Agreed. I just saw somewhere than Dunkin Donuts in Ireland is switching to cardboard coffee cup lids instead of plastic. I mean, it's such a simple, obvious solution why is it ever done a different way?

I am glad to see that some of our local microbreweries now sell their 4/6 packs using cardboard instead of those horrible plastic rings. Again, an obvious solution. There are unlimited places like these where we can do better. It’s long past time to normalize making better decisions. 

As a Dunkin girl, (and I’m talking maybe once a month for most of the year and 2-3x/mo in the summer, lol,) I would be thrilled if they moved to better options in the US. I believe they are back to taking customer cups, but I’m clearly not there enough to devise a system for myself. In the meantime, most of their stuff is not only non-biodegradable, but not even truly recyclable by most standards. Yuck.

[lmrich]

I remember my mom would pack a tupperware pitcher for the car and cups for us. My dad always had a thermos of coffee for the car. We NEVER stopped to get a drink or  a snack on a road trip.  We rarely stopped for a meal either; we packed  lunches. 

 

[plansrme]

So if I have a car of four, I'm supposed to carry around a dish rack in the back to hold all of our cups and glasses (multiple items per occupant, depending upon whether we're going to want cold or hot drinks) in case we want to swing through the Sbx drive-through on the way home? If you are really going to be committed to environmental friendliness, stay home and drink. But let me have a paper cup. 

[LuvToRead]

My understanding after reading the article is you don't actually have to bring a cup with you.  The first sentences from the article reads:  "On its mission to become more sustainable, Starbucks plans to drastically decrease the use of their disposable cups – yes, the same cups that we look forward to seeing different designs of every holiday season."  Drastically decrease doesn't mean to do away with, although that may be something they are working towards. Towards the end of the article it mentions there could be an up-charge for a disposable cup.

The other option is to purchase a reusable cup that can be returned and receive your deposit back or not be returned at all. Heck, you can even throw it away if you wish.   I actually go to Starbucks maybe once every other year so maybe I am not quite understanding all the issues people are talking about.  Maybe for those who frequent SB daily it could get expensive to keep purchasing cups. 

I do see how refilling cups in the drive through could be an issue.  I can see how it could really slow things down.

Anyway those are just my uneducated thoughts on the situation!

[Faith-manor]

3 hours ago, lmrich said:

I remember my mom would pack a tupperware pitcher for the car and cups for us. My dad always had a thermos of coffee for the car. We NEVER stopped to get a drink or  a snack on a road trip.  We rarely stopped for a meal either; we packed  lunches. 

 

We have gone to this as well. We are headed to Alabama Saturday, and I am making my yummy broccoli pasta salad in two serving size containers, fresh fruit, fresh veggies and dip, and cheese sticks along with two stainless steel water bottles. I have a gallon jug for water that I keep in the trunk, and we will refill the bottles. We will begin with travel mugs of coffee from home. I would be thrilled if we could rinse them and fill them at gas stations or hand them through the drive thru at McD's. I hate the refuse, the garbage in my car. We also eat better and drink more water when I do it this way instead of relying on take out/to go. It is NOT convenient. But the earth is struggling, paying the price for lollygagging on environmental issues and reliance on convenience. I don't use Starbucks at all, so don't really have a dog in that one particular fight or profess to know if i will work out weel or not, however, I am pro companies looking for ways to eliminate garbage and the manufacturing of vast amounts of disposables. 

 

[lmrich]

34 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

We have gone to this as well. We are headed to Alabama Saturday, and I am making my yummy broccoli pasta salad in two serving size containers, fresh fruit, fresh veggies and dip, and cheese sticks along with two stainless steel water bottles. I have a gallon jug for water that I keep in the trunk, and we will refill the bottles. We will begin with travel mugs of coffee from home. I would be thrilled if we could rinse them and fill them at gas stations or hand them through the drive thru at McD's. I hate the refuse, the garbage in my car. We also eat better and drink more water when I do it this way instead of relying on take out/to go. It is NOT convenient. But the earth is struggling, paying the price for lollygagging on environmental issues and reliance on convenience. I don't use Starbucks at all, so don't really have a dog in that one particular fight or profess to know if i will work out weel or not, however, I am pro companies looking for ways to eliminate garbage and the manufacturing of vast amounts of disposables. 

 

And eating at a rest stop...  When my kids were little, I would pack their lunch in an recycled shoebox and put a few toys (that they already had) in it so it felt like a Happy Meal. I would make a little maze or  tic toe grid on the lid and throw in some crayons or wiki sticks. I loved the shoeboxes because they could easily put them on their lap and open them and have a little  lap tray. They also liked eating in the car so when we stopped at the rest stop, they could run around and  play. Why waste time eating when you  could be  running around? 

[Arcadia]

3 hours ago, LuvToRead said:

The other option is to purchase a reusable cup that can be returned and receive your deposit back or not be returned at all. Heck, you can even throw it away if you wish.   I actually go to Starbucks maybe once every other year so maybe I am not quite understanding all the issues people are talking about.  Maybe for those who frequent SB daily it could get expensive to keep purchasing cups. 

I do see how refilling cups in the drive through could be an issue.  I can see how it could really slow things down.

I order through the Starbucks mobile app though for myself and my teens because it is easier to do it that way. So just wondering how that would work out if the surcharge for the reusable cup is going to be a dollar and I need to go back to a Starbucks standalone store to redeem back the surcharge. 

[KSera]

4 hours ago, plansrme said:

So if I have a car of four, I'm supposed to carry around a dish rack in the back to hold all of our cups and glasses (multiple items per occupant, depending upon whether we're going to want cold or hot drinks) in case we want to swing through the Sbx drive-through on the way home? If you are really going to be committed to environmental friendliness, stay home and drink. But let me have a paper cup. 

I think you would best use the borrow-a-cup program in that case. If you have somewhere in the car that everyone would be able to put their paper cup with drink in it, you would put the borrowed cups in those places. And then return them next time and get new borrowed cups. It does seem there could be a gross factor if people use that program but don't go to Starbucks often and leave the dirty cups in the car for a long time rather than cleaning them out or dropping them off. The cups could get yucky in the car. Hopefully most people will be motivated not to do that with their cups, but surely some will. But I also agree with some others above that we're all just going to have to reach a point where we accept that there may be some things we need to do that are less convenient because the planet can't afford for us not to. I think we've reached the point where we're not going to be able to kick the can down the road any farther on that. Maybe we could have had we made some other more substantial changes before this point.

[Catwoman]

5 hours ago, LuvToRead said:

My understanding after reading the article is you don't actually have to bring a cup with you.  The first sentences from the article reads:  "On its mission to become more sustainable, Starbucks plans to drastically decrease the use of their disposable cups – yes, the same cups that we look forward to seeing different designs of every holiday season."  Drastically decrease doesn't mean to do away with, although that may be something they are working towards. Towards the end of the article it mentions there could be an up-charge for a disposable cup.

The other option is to purchase a reusable cup that can be returned and receive your deposit back or not be returned at all. Heck, you can even throw it away if you wish.   I actually go to Starbucks maybe once every other year so maybe I am not quite understanding all the issues people are talking about.  Maybe for those who frequent SB daily it could get expensive to keep purchasing cups. 

I do see how refilling cups in the drive through could be an issue.  I can see how it could really slow things down.

Anyway those are just my uneducated thoughts on the situation!

The sentence I bolded is the part that convinces me that this is primarily a financial decision for Starbucks. They will save a massive amount of money by forcing people to either bring their own cups or pay extra for a disposable cup. 

 

[kbutton]

On 3/16/2022 at 2:22 PM, MercyA said:

Tangent: the store allowed people to mix and match bottles in the cardboard containers that held six (?) bottles. So you could get four Pepsi's and two Mountain Dews, for instance. 🙂  

Ooh, that's cool! I don't think we ever had that flexibility.

We had returnable bottles in one local store up until about 1995. I took an 8 pack of Pepsi Free with me to college and drank them sparingly all year.

On 3/16/2022 at 2:26 PM, vonfirmath said:

But I can remember holding a can between my legs to drink in the car and juggling the can and the book I was reading.

We drove around holding the returnable bottles between our legs, lol! 

 

[Ann.without.an.e]

On 3/16/2022 at 6:20 AM, regentrude said:

It's high time we stop the insane waste of single-use throwaway items. I hope it works. 

When you buy mulled wine at the Christmas market in my German home town, you pay a deposit for the ceramic mug which you get back when you return it.

Amen, Amen, Amen...I hate the waste. Makes me sick to my stomach sometimes. 

[LuvToRead]

6 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

The sentence I bolded is the part that convinces me that this is primarily a financial decision for Starbucks. They will save a massive amount of money by forcing people to either bring their own cups or pay extra for a disposable cup. 

 

I agree!  I think there will be a lot of people who throw the cups away or keep them at home and use them.  Or people like me who only to go Starbucks on a (rare) whim and so will never have a cup with them to return.

[LuvToRead]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

I order through the Starbucks mobile app though for myself and my teens because it is easier to do it that way. So just wondering how that would work out if the surcharge for the reusable cup is going to be a dollar and I need to go back to a Starbucks standalone store to redeem back the surcharge. 

I admit I an unfamiliar with the Starbucks app and standalone locations.  I am only familiar with the ones in Barnes and Noble stores. 

[MercyA]

16 hours ago, Dmmetler said:

When we visited University of Toronto, one thing that the guide mentioned was that the coffee shop in one of the colleges had a mug library. Basically, people donated a bunch of mugs (and they get added to with each graduating class, etc), and you get your drink in one of them. You can carry it wherever, and just bring back the mug when you have a chance, whether it’s the next morning or when you cleaned out your dorm room at the end of the semester-there was a drop box by the door to put them in. (The whole campus was very environmentally focused). 
 

Seemed like a great idea, and it seems like something that would work for Starbucks, etc. 

I LOVE this. Anyone who does any thrifting knows that there is a huge amount of excessive coffee cups in the world already (and a lot of them are super cute!) 🙂 Would love to see retail chains, schools, and others start to use repurposed and thrifted items rather than creating new ones. 

[regentrude]

On 3/16/2022 at 1:13 PM, MercyA said:

I know, it's crazy! We never took drinks anywhere in the 80's and 90's unless it was for something like a field trip or picnic. Now everyone has to have water bottles with them at all times, it seems. It's totally fine, "you do you," and I'm sure being hydrated is healthy, but sometimes when my DD claims extreme thirst after being out for like a half-hour I think it's a bit excessive. 🙂 

This. The notion that an adult is unable to make it through a one hour lecture (let alone from one meal to the next, while sedentary in an air-conditioned environment) without sipping from a bottle is a new thing. There's no physiological reason for that beyond the infant age.

We, too, didn't constantly tote a bottle growing up. I still don't,  unless I am hiking or exposed to high temperatures. 

[regentrude]

Just putting a thought out here for pondering.

I have a fundamental issue with the pervasive cultural trend of eating and drinking on the go while doing other things: It is a symptom of the culture where permanent busy-ness has been elevated into almost a moral virtue.

Few circumstances excepted (travel, the occasional overscheduled day): if I am always so busy that I can't pause what I am doing in order to eat and drink without doing anything else simultaneously, something is off balance. It also goes hand in hand with the devaluing of food. Folks in countries that have *good* food don't seem to feel the need to scarf that down from Styrofoam boxes in moving vehicles.

Starbucks' to-go drinks are just one manifestation of what I find a deeply unhealthy (not just physically,  but mentally and spiritually) development. Of course. it all has its place, like in travel. But the general notion that we're too busy to drink without running around and are entitled to producing giant heaps of trash seems disturbing to me. 

Edited March 17, 2022 by regentrude

[fairfarmhand]

38 minutes ago, regentrude said:

Just putting a thought out here for pondering.

I have a fundamental issue with the pervasive cultural trend of eating and drinking on the go while doing other things: It is a symptom of the culture where permanent busy-ness has been elevated into almost a moral virtue.

Few circumstances excepted (travel, the occasional overscheduled day): if I am always so busy that I can't pause what I am doing in order to eat and drink without doing anything else simultaneously, something is off balance. It also goes hand in hand with the devaluing of food. Folks in countries that have *good* food don't seem to feel the need to scarf that down from Styrofoam boxes in moving vehicles.

Starbucks' to-go drinks are just one manifestation of what I find a deeply unhealthy (not just physically,  but mentally and spiritually) development. Of course. it all has its place, like in travel. But the general notion that we're too busy to drink without running around and are entitled to producing giant heaps of trash seems disturbing to me. 

I'm quoting this because I want to come back to this in a bit. I think you have something pretty profound here and I want to think on it before I respond.

[Pam in CT]

re on-the-go!! eating

2 hours ago, regentrude said:

Just putting a thought out here for pondering.

I have a fundamental issue with the pervasive cultural trend of eating and drinking on the go while doing other things: It is a symptom of the culture where permanent busy-ness has been elevated into almost a moral virtue.

Few circumstances excepted (travel, the occasional overscheduled day): if I am always so busy that I can't pause what I am doing in order to eat and drink without doing anything else simultaneously, something is off balance. It also goes hand in hand with the devaluing of food. Folks in countries that have *good* food don't seem to feel the need to scarf that down from Styrofoam boxes in moving vehicles.

Starbucks' to-go drinks are just one manifestation of what I find a deeply unhealthy (not just physically,  but mentally and spiritually) development. Of course. it all has its place, like in travel. But the general notion that we're too busy to drink without running around and are entitled to producing giant heaps of trash seems disturbing to me. 

+1

Nah, on consideration +100

Not only does our glorification of busy-ness and multi-tasking devalue food, it also devalues human contact and connection and conversation.

I'm *all in* for cafe culture, where folks meet up for a relatively-affordable cuppa and catch up. To the extent that Starbucks provides a comfortable place for such meetups -- which is largely what it IS like in my own town, where SB doesn't have a drive thru -- I think it's great (though I personally frequent the non-chain individually owned cafe whenever I'm the one doing the choosing).  And yes, of course, there are those times.

But chronic on-the-go "fueling" at the expense of slowing down, eating real food, with other humans... is No Virtue

[Frances]

On 3/16/2022 at 3:12 PM, Laura Corin said:

Soft drinks were in returnable glass bottles in England when I was small.

We get our milk, including oat milk, delivered twice a week in glass bottles.  We rinse them and put them out for collection,  washing and re-use.

They were here too. My dad would bring a case home from work and return them there afterwards. I think the company sold them to individuals when they filled the vending machines. Since soda was a relatively rare treat, a case lasted quite awhile. And the crate was wooden and also reusable.

[Frances]

10 hours ago, regentrude said:

Just putting a thought out here for pondering.

I have a fundamental issue with the pervasive cultural trend of eating and drinking on the go while doing other things: It is a symptom of the culture where permanent busy-ness has been elevated into almost a moral virtue.

Few circumstances excepted (travel, the occasional overscheduled day): if I am always so busy that I can't pause what I am doing in order to eat and drink without doing anything else simultaneously, something is off balance. It also goes hand in hand with the devaluing of food. Folks in countries that have *good* food don't seem to feel the need to scarf that down from Styrofoam boxes in moving vehicles.

Starbucks' to-go drinks are just one manifestation of what I find a deeply unhealthy (not just physically,  but mentally and spiritually) development. Of course. it all has its place, like in travel. But the general notion that we're too busy to drink without running around and are entitled to producing giant heaps of trash seems disturbing to me. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Frances

[ktgrok]

Not only did we not have bottles of water in class as a kid, we were timed as we drank from the water fountain after PE class - 5 seconds and that was it. So we got a carton of milk at lunch, and a 5 second drink of water after PE, and that was it. In south Florida no less!

I do NOT want to return to that, but I do think we'e swung far the other way. 

[Faith-manor]

9 hours ago, ktgrok said:

Not only did we not have bottles of water in class as a kid, we were timed as we drank from the water fountain after PE class - 5 seconds and that was it. So we got a carton of milk at lunch, and a 5 second drink of water after PE, and that was it. In south Florida no less!

I do NOT want to return to that, but I do think we'e swung far the other way. 

Yes, when I was in elementary school it was timed as well. The recess aides stood at the drinking fountain and ran us off if we went over our allotted quick sip. So the kids who arrived on the bus had many times already been on that bus for an hour. No one was allowed to drink water from the drinking fountains in the morning before school started because the teachers didn't want us to have to use the bathroom before recess. Then we had the timed sips after recess and nothing until lunch. We were not allowed a drink after lunch recess because we had had milk or whatever with our lunch. Then one timed sip at the drinking fountain after the afternoon recess. They did not allow us access to drinking fountains or bathrooms after school, just rapidly funneling kids out of the building to their buses or carpool. I know we spent most of the day dehydrated. Then when the new high school was built, it only had one set of student bathrooms for a school with at that time 700 students. So everyone learned not to drink anything when you woke up in the morning and to NOT drink anything at school either so you wouldn't need the bathroom because the lines were so long. I am surprised it was even legal to have a public school building with so little bathroom access, but apparently the state didn't care. So if a student went to bed at 11 pm, that person likely did not have anything to drink until after 3 pm the next day. 16 hours without liquid. Sure whatever was eaten for breakfast or lunch would have contained water especially to they had vegetables and fruit. But there is no way in the world that was enough. I am surprised we all didn't have major health problems. I know some kids every year passed out running laps in P.E. Every.single.year. The school could not be held responsible because technically, they were not restricting the students' intake by policy, it was a choice. However, it was the stupidity of the school board who voted to have only one set of bathrooms in order to save money on the build.

I have no desire to return to those days. But swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction has caused this absolute mess of plastic water bottles littering the nation. I am not sure why every correction of a problem had to be some nutty extremist pendulum swing which creates another set of problems. Seems to be there American way.

[regentrude]

@Faith-manor Drinking fountains do not exist in Germany, neither in schools nor public places. 

Nowadays, people could have reclosable bottles, but when I grew up, screw-top beverage bottles didn't exist. ( yes, believe me. They didn't) Really the only time folks had a bottle was for hiking; there existed one type of pint sized plastic flask; I have never seen anyone use that in daily life.

[skimomma]

15 hours ago, regentrude said:

Just putting a thought out here for pondering.

I have a fundamental issue with the pervasive cultural trend of eating and drinking on the go while doing other things: It is a symptom of the culture where permanent busy-ness has been elevated into almost a moral virtue.

Few circumstances excepted (travel, the occasional overscheduled day): if I am always so busy that I can't pause what I am doing in order to eat and drink without doing anything else simultaneously, something is off balance. It also goes hand in hand with the devaluing of food. Folks in countries that have *good* food don't seem to feel the need to scarf that down from Styrofoam boxes in moving vehicles.

Starbucks' to-go drinks are just one manifestation of what I find a deeply unhealthy (not just physically,  but mentally and spiritually) development. Of course. it all has its place, like in travel. But the general notion that we're too busy to drink without running around and are entitled to producing giant heaps of trash seems disturbing to me. 

I was thinking similar thoughts.  I am all for reusable cups at Starbucks.  That is great.  But a whole year's worth of paper coffee cups is surpassed by just one or two styrofoam-encased take-out meals as far as environmental damage is concerned.  At some point we are going to have a reckoning and reusable cups are going to be the least of our inconveniences.  

We are one of the only families I know that sits down together for all meals.  Whoever is home eats together sitting down.  Even during a work day, if dh can swing it, he comes home for lunch.  He works within walking distance of our home and I work from home.  And until dd left for college, she was homeschooled so also home.  All of my friends claim I am a great cook.  This has perplexed me as most of them actually cook far tastier and more elaborate foods.  My go-to meals are very simple like rice-and-beans or one-pot wonders.  But cooking for them is a special occasion whereas we eat some sort of home-cooked food three times each day.  Pre-pandemic, friends would often materialize around dinnertime and eagerly accept an invitation to sit with us and eat, then rave about whatever simple meal I prepared.  After pondering on your post, I realized that it is not that I am some sort of exceptional cook but rather that people enjoy the act of sitting and eating a meal.  No phones.  No TV.  No getting up (except to shoo a cat off the counter).  Food is so much more than fuel.  Or at least it should be.

However, I do love my water bottle.....no going back on that one!  

 

[ktgrok]

I think some of the "grab a snack or drink to go" thing is actually a desire to have (relatively) low cost enjoyment in a world where so many other things feel out of reach. If you can't afford (timewise or money wise) to go on a vacation, and you can't find the time to have a night out with friends, or you are a busy mom who spends 99% of your time taking care of others, a "special" drink feels like an affordable indulgence that doesn't take time out of your day other than the 5 minutes you spend in the drive thru. 

I know I did this - drinking an iced americano sort of balanced out the hassel of whatever errands/chores I was doing. I knew I wasn't going to go out to a nice dinner anytime in the next months/years..but I could manage a fancy drink to sip on as I drove the kids to a class or whatever. 

But cost wise, I eventually got a Nespresso and went to Starbucks way less. 

Oh - I did use Starbucks as my office when I was writing at least one of my books. But I didn't go inside - my starbucks was very loud with lots of music, people laughing, etc. I'd get a drink in the drive thru, then park near the building in my van and use their wifi. I wrote almost a whole book in their parking lot, one scene at a time. 

[regentrude]

23 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

I think some of the "grab a snack or drink to go" thing is actually a desire to have (relatively) low cost enjoyment in a world where so many other things feel out of reach. If you can't afford (timewise or money wise) to go on a vacation, and you can't find the time to have a night out with friends, or you are a busy mom who spends 99% of your time taking care of others, a "special" drink feels like an affordable indulgence that doesn't take time out of your day other than the 5 minutes you spend in the drive thru. 

yes- but that goes back to what I mean: if we routinely (I am not talking about a short term crisis) are unable to take more than five minutes out of our day, something is unbalanced. Our culture encourages us to set up our lives that way, and it is unhealthy. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by regentrude

[Bootsie]

46 minutes ago, regentrude said:

yes- but that goes back to what I mean: if we routinely (I am not talking about a short term crisis) are unable to take more than five minutes out of our day, something is unbalanced. Our culture encourages us to set up our lives that way, and it is unhealthy. 

I agree with this. And, I think it goes a bit further.  I often find that those little pleasures, that seemingly don't take much time or money, actually ADD to the stress and busyness.  When I am in a hurry and think I will save time ad go through a drive thru and pick something up, I am amazed at how long it really takes.  It is rare that it is only five minutes by the time I order, pull up pay, get my order, etc.  And I have to deal with yelling my order to a screen "a tall latte" and then I get back a muddled "two small caramel macchiatos"--no I repeat my order and then get mumbling and I have to ask "What?"  Then, I get, "Did you want to try our new banana slush?"  No.  Then another muddled response--oh that must have been a total amount I owe, but who knows what it was?  Then I pull up to the first window and they ask--Molly?  No, I am Betty.  Then they try to hand me change but drop it as I am stretching to reach outside the car window.  Then, I have to figure out how to place the food so that it doesn't spill in the car.  And, I have to make sure to get the trash out of the car.  And then there is the problem when they don't get the order correct (which is often).  And if this is done with kids in the car--just multiply the stress.   Taking five minutes out to sip a hot tea at my dining table, or drink my cup of coffee on my porch, is really less time and less stress. 

I also have my college students do a calculation of how much money they spend in four years of college if they treat themselves to that inexpensive Starbucks drink every day for four years.  $5 per day for four years totals $7300!--even more if the $5 is put in an interest bearing account (I know interest rates have been negligible but I teach finance and they are not always negligible.)