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Coffee Cups Are Next

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Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#81

Post by snowwindwaves »

wetpaws wrote: post #78
alexvaut wrote: post #48

What about returning refillable standard cups ? You return them dirty, starbucks/mac do wash them and everytime you want a coffee you get a clean one. It existed in France for glass bottles in the last century, it's still like that in Belgium for beers (and works very well). I don't see any problem to apply it for coffee. You can even think of little stickers of the brand from where you get your coffee, those sticker…

Returned cups practically scream "biohazard" in all caps.

Have you never drank from a glass or eaten off a plate or used cutlery in a restaurant? Seems like a solved problem.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#82

Post by usefulcat »

zeta0134 wrote: post #70
pg_bot wrote: post #55

If you don't think the people who work at these companies care about making better cups, read the following article.[0] There is a big opportunity for making a better disposable cup, but there are many engineering hurdles to jump over. - The cup has to retail for 17 cents. - It has to support a lid that is resealable. - It has to tip over and not spill. - It has to handle high temperatures. - It can't alter the taste…

It's worth pointing out that the obvious alternative, reusable to-go cups, need to solve an additional set of challenges: - Must NOT violate sanitization of the work area; cups provided by customers should not pose any health risks to workers or other customers. - Should be durable enough to survive repeated visits - Either the reusable cup must conform to a standard size, baristas need a way to measure liquids consi…

Seems like some sort of deposit system might work. First time, customer buys an inexpensive but reusable cup, which they can take with them. On a following visit, customer exchanges this cup for a clean one, which they can also keep or trade in on a subsequent visit. The retailer would have to wash the cups but at least that would solve the sanitation and consistent serving size issues. After too much wear and tear the cups would eventually need to be recycled, but that cost should be relatively predictable and amortizable, especially at scale.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#83

Post by rorykoehler »

usefulcat wrote: post #82
zeta0134 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth pointing out that the obvious alternative, reusable to-go cups, need to solve an additional set of challenges: - Must NOT violate sanitization of the work area; cups provided by customers should not pose any health risks to workers or other customers. - Should be durable enough to survive repeated visits - Either the reusable cup must conform to a standard size, baristas need a way to measure liquids consi…

Seems like some sort of deposit system might work. First time, customer buys an inexpensive but reusable cup, which they can take with them. On a following visit, customer exchanges this cup for a clean one, which they can also keep or trade in on a subsequent visit. The retailer would have to wash the cups but at least that would solve the sanitation and consistent serving size issues. After too much wear and tear t…

Needs to be asynchronous. You pay for the cup when you buy a drink and you can drop it off at any disposal machine and get your money for the cup back. The problem to solve is that no one wants to carry a cup around for longer than necessary. Buy, drink, dispose.

The government could help a lot by creating a standard cup and mandating all companies have to use them.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#84

Post by jdavis703 »

pg_bot wrote: post #74
zeta0134 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth pointing out that the obvious alternative, reusable to-go cups, need to solve an additional set of challenges: - Must NOT violate sanitization of the work area; cups provided by customers should not pose any health risks to workers or other customers. - Should be durable enough to survive repeated visits - Either the reusable cup must conform to a standard size, baristas need a way to measure liquids consi…

From what I've read the reusables have to be used ~70 times to be more environmentally friendly than the current disposables. I think the easiest win would be designating between sit down and take out customers. Sit down customers could be given porcelain or some other washable container. However this would increase labor costs for businesses so you don't automatically get a free win.

I’ve been searching for this data for a while. Mind sharing your sources?

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#85

Post by chasedehan »

As an economist I love this. People respond to incentives and making the decision visible, not making it a tax by letting the coffee shops keep the surcharge, and making it possible to keep prices the same (including the surcharge) is frankly a well designed law/experiment.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#86

Post by wemdyjreichert »

belltaco wrote: post #63
mises wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This will not happen; each firm will benefit from only accepting their own proprietary cups. Also, what about sizes?

This is where regulation can step in, like how the EU regulated standard phone chargers.

As far as I'm aware, the most the EU has done is look closely at doing it (most recently in 2018). One could argue that Lightning ports are better (particularly when compared to micro usb), and Apple seems to be slowly switching to usb-c. A standard charger would a. prohibit fast charging technologies or b. "pick the winner" with respect to such technologies. It would almost certainly slow or halt the use of newer fast charging technologies, higher bandwidth connections, etc. as they were created.

I understand bottles are different, but I felt a bit of a need to mention what a bad idea the phone charger thing was. "Design by committee" is a pejorative for a reason. Also, knowing governments, they would do something crazy like mandate the standard soda cup to be small (see NYC).

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#87

Post by tptacek »

zeta0134 wrote: post #70
pg_bot wrote: post #55

If you don't think the people who work at these companies care about making better cups, read the following article.[0] There is a big opportunity for making a better disposable cup, but there are many engineering hurdles to jump over. - The cup has to retail for 17 cents. - It has to support a lid that is resealable. - It has to tip over and not spill. - It has to handle high temperatures. - It can't alter the taste…

It's worth pointing out that the obvious alternative, reusable to-go cups, need to solve an additional set of challenges: - Must NOT violate sanitization of the work area; cups provided by customers should not pose any health risks to workers or other customers. - Should be durable enough to survive repeated visits - Either the reusable cup must conform to a standard size, baristas need a way to measure liquids consi…

How big a deal could the sanitization thing really be? Every coffee shop I've been to, including Starbucks, will fill pretty much any cup you give them. The only rule I'm aware of is that they're not supposed to handle the lids.

Apropos nothing much, my brother owns a coffee shop in suburban Chicago, and their clientele is mostly local; they have a whole collection of old mugs, which they let customers take with them and return later.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#88

Post by mattigames »

mises wrote: post #69
mattigames wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is paper the first choice? The obvious choice I think is something that doesn't need to go to the garbage immediately but something re-usable such as metal straws or wood straws.

Carrying around a straw will cause you to end up with a sticky mess if you drink anything but water. I guess the option is to carry it to a bathroom and wash it after every use? No thank you.

...I meant as something owned by the cafeteria or restaurant, like metal forks and knifes, not something you carry around with you, just something you leave there after using for the staff to clean up.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#89

Post by SllX »

pg_bot wrote: post #74
zeta0134 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth pointing out that the obvious alternative, reusable to-go cups, need to solve an additional set of challenges: - Must NOT violate sanitization of the work area; cups provided by customers should not pose any health risks to workers or other customers. - Should be durable enough to survive repeated visits - Either the reusable cup must conform to a standard size, baristas need a way to measure liquids consi…

From what I've read the reusables have to be used ~70 times to be more environmentally friendly than the current disposables. I think the easiest win would be designating between sit down and take out customers. Sit down customers could be given porcelain or some other washable container. However this would increase labor costs for businesses so you don't automatically get a free win.

Plenty of cafés already have coffee mugs and glasses. I’m drinking a cup of coffee from a Homer Laughlin mug warmed atop the espresso machine at a small mom and pop establishment right now. When I’m done with it, it will go into a bus bin a few feet away and washed by the staff here whenever they’re not too busy to do a load of dishes.

If I had brought my own cup, it would have been a 10¢ discount but to be honest, their mugs are better than mine.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#90

Post by [deleted] »

oska wrote: post #64
mattigames wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is paper the first choice? The obvious choice I think is something that doesn't need to go to the garbage immediately but something re-usable such as metal straws or wood straws.

A reusable straw would be difficult to clean, I imagine. I'd suggest the first place to start is to just question whether a straw is necessary. I think they're mostly a gimmick, apart from their use by some disabled people.

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