Originally published at: You can use your own mug at Starbucks for "nearly all orders" - Boing Boing
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… I don’t know why they’re so worried about being contaminated by a dirty mug — it’s not like the money we’re handing them is clean 
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Do they place a limit on the size of the mug?
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Presumably, no one will eat the money and then sue them for getting sick. If you hand them a dirty cup, they fill it with coffee, and you get sick, now there’s a question about who’s liable. Requiring clean cups only reduces the chances of someone getting sick, which is going to reduce lawsuits.
I think this is great. We have so much waste in this country from disposable drink cups. I don’t know why we would want to make fun of this. Is it going to save the planet? No. It’s still a good idea.
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From the post:
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… I don’t believe the “contactless vessel” mitigates that scenario in any way
It is a “solution” to some other kind of “problem”
They’re trying to head off potential lawsuits. Both from customers and from employees. It’s a corporation. They don’t give a shit about anything other than money. The contactless vessel part probably won’t reduce the likelihood of someone getting sick, but not accepting dirty mugs will, and both of them with cut off a potential route for a lawsuit, which is the problem with this that they really want to solve.
Regardless, I still think this is a good idea. Jesus, how many disposable drink cups is Starbucks alone responsible for? If that can be cut by 5%, it’s better than just doing nothing. Sure, Starbucks is doing this to increase profits (by a miniscule amount, I suspect), but who cares?
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Is the contact-less vessel some kind of disposable cup, because?
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I would go to Starbucks today and find out, but their coffee is absolutely terrible, so I’m gonna let someone else figure this out.
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Likely two part. It has the potential to reduce the use of gloves during preparation and gives those people who don’t want someone bare handing their mug some comfort.
Personally I don’t really care if they touch my mug. If you use gloves you are just spreading the germs around to all the mugs you touch - unless you change them every time, which seems hugely wasteful. The same would go with the larger mug containment vessel.
The real question here is are they going to actually fill up the mug or hell, even give you what you ordered. My wife likes the Carmel Brulee latte, which comes with the whip cream. It’s amazing how when you order a venti you “lose” a quarter of it because they need room for the whip? Seems to me you could snap on one of those clear tops that used on the iced drinks, because my iced mocha latte has whip and is full.
*Honestly I’m surprised they just don’t make the drink in a standardized cup and just pour it into your cup. You order a venti into your 40oz Yeti, well you should have ordered two.
I don’t care for the over-roasted flavor, but for their clientele, which seems to prefer cream, sugar, and sugary flavorings, the coffee has to be that way. I like black coffee, but not from Charbucks.
And I was kind of joking about the contact-less vessel being disposable. I think it’s a good thing they’re allowing re-usable cups now.
I like coffee flavored chocolatey drinks…and honestly I usually do the “blond” roast so it is less burnt. Probably 95% of the coffee drinks I get out are from a much more local chain, so when I do get Bucks their burnt roast is rather noticable.
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I presume that’s the customer tendering their mug.
BTW, does LOUTH rhyme with mouth, or youth?
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I was figuring “mouth” - like “lout” with an H on the end.
(Edit: Like “lout” rather than like “uncouth”.)
There’s been companies making BYO reusable takeaway cups in industry standard sizes (12/16 oz) for years in Australia, that are accepted at most cafes. Is this not a thing in other countries?
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Not in the US, no. Some convenience stores allow you to refill your own cup, I think, but there’s not like an agreed upon cup standard for the whole industry. That’s a good idea, though.
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According to Merriam-Webster, the ou sound is like in lout. But the th is ‘soft’? I’m not a linguist, that’s probably not the right term, but it’s like the th in bathe.
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Then it should be hard, or voiced.
The soft, or voiceless, ‘th’ is the one in, e.g., bath.
Disclaimer: IANAL, IORAL
(I’m not a linguist, I often read about languages).
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Ok, that’s weird to me because the th in bathe sounds softer and less harsh to me than the th in bath. But, as I said, I’m not a linguist.
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