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 Linda Thomas
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Starbucksgarbage.jpg
Starbucks will begin selling a $1 reusable plastic cup in all its stores in the U.S. and Canada Thursday in an effort to get customers to kick their throwaway habit. (Photo courtesy Starbucks)

Starbucks will give you a dime back if you use their new cup

January 2, 2013 @ 3:57 pm (Updated: 4:54 pm - 1/2/13 )

While the City of Seattle used a stick, Starbucks is dangling a carrot.

A nickel bag fee prodded many Seattle shoppers into being more environmentally conscious by carrying their own canvas bags into grocery stories.

Starbucks is giving customers a dime if they'll use the company's new reusable tumbler.

Starbucks Thursday is introducing its $1 reusable plastic cup.

The company will offer coffee consumers a dime discount for each cup refill. Do the math, the white plastic cup pays for itself in 10 uses.

The coffee chain has offered incentives before to customers who bring in reusable containers, but this is the first time they've sold their own plastic tumbler, with logo, for a buck.

Before the national roll out, Starbucks tested the reusable tumblers at 600 of their coffee shops in the Northwest and found getting a dime off the price of a coffee was worth it to a lot of people. Reusable cup sales were up 26 percent over the previous year.

Starbucks has tried to reduce its cup costs for many years. In 1997, they developed the first cup sleeve as a way to protect customers from hot beverages and avoid the waste of using two cups. They've held "Cup Summits" with MIT scientists and others trying to find ways to create a more environmentally-friendly cup.

Although CEO Howard Schultz has been on a campaign to generate U.S. jobs, Starbucks' reusable tumblers were made in China.

By LINDA THOMAS

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (13)


  • Add A Comment

  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    So, great....The barista is handling some filthy cup
    January 2, 2013 3:46 pm
    passed across the counter by some guy or gal immediately in front of me. You know, the one that hasn't showered or changed clothes for a couple of days and is carrying both a 101-degree fever and the flu. But hey, save the grime a dime. Whoopie.

    No problem, as long as the coffee servers wash their hands after every encounter with a customer's private cup......(uh, that sounds a little risque, maybe. Should that maybe be on the menu?). I don't see that hand washing about to start happening, frankly.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • akhousley wrote...
    Starbucks will be washing each cup
    January 3, 2013 7:47 am
    I believe it's a responsible action to help with a huge problem. Starbucks has stated on radio news that they will be washing each cup in boiling water. They tested in 600 stores and tested the cups for any remaining bacteria.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Babs (1) wrote...
    Right on Chuck!
    January 2, 2013 4:17 pm
    I think it's just gross to have someone else's germs on the Barista's hands and then make my cup of coffee. Now I will be ingesting "who knows what"... on my first sip of my much awaited java. I have to use hand sanitizer several dozen times a day because I am an instructor and touch keyboards all day. Do I have to sanitize the outside of my coffee cup once it is handed back to me? Who knows, maybe I should have been doing that all along. I'm not sure but now all I can think about is shopping carts! Gas station nozzles! arrrgh....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • black_bart wrote...
    Wow......
    January 2, 2013 4:36 pm
    So I guess you are not concerned with all the germs and grime carried on the money that the barista is handling.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    Keep drinking WL . . . .
    January 2, 2013 5:00 pm
    We Americans can't wait till you pass out.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Babs (1) wrote...
    Oh yes
    January 2, 2013 5:03 pm
    I did forget the filthy money. So now I say give me free coffee.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    Here's your dime
    January 2, 2013 7:33 pm
    Now bend over and lets as a*ss rape you for the burned coffee!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Snout wrote...
    A whole dime?
    January 2, 2013 9:10 pm
    That's mighty White of you. Did you take it out of the give a penny take a penny bin?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • RnD_Fan wrote...
    Usually.....
    January 3, 2013 5:47 am
    The clerk at the register does not handle the coffee and the money.

    Meaning... the dirty money doesn't get anywhere near the coffee (at Starbucks).

    However, with a dirty cup... ick!

    The barista obviously handles the cups, and perhaps that one with all the germs on it...

    Right before brewing your coffee (and science experiment of germs).

    Another reason to go 'independent' for my Coffee.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • po_guy wrote...
    WRONG!!!!!
    January 3, 2013 1:52 pm
    Every time I order a drip coffee, the girl takes the money, fills my cup, gives me back my change...she also writes on the cup what coffee my wife wants and passes it on down to the Barista making the sweet drinks...so they both get to handle the same cup...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    dont you all care
    January 3, 2013 5:53 am
    about the environment??? Whats a few germs? You all could make your own coffee at home...problem solved.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    Now you know what it is like to be a Republican . . . .
    January 3, 2013 8:44 am
    a loser. Move over to the Seattletime.com to post. They could use a good laugh. Better yet get back to work!!!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }