Starbucks makes big change for drive through customers
Coffee chain Starbucks is making a change for drive-through customers.
Starting this week, customers will be able to use their own clean, personal cups for every visit, including drive-through, orders placed via the Starbucks app and in the café. The move makes Starbucks the only national coffee chain the U.S. to offer customers the option to use their personal cup when making a mobile order.
“Offering customers more options to use a personal cup when they visit Starbucks marks tangible progress towards the future. We know our customers are passionate about the planet, and now, they can join us in our efforts to give more than we take, no matter how they order,” said Michael Kobori, Starbucks chief sustainability officer.
You can use any clean cup and all the Starbucks standard size options – Short, Tall, Grande, Venti, Trenta – and beverage types – hot, iced and blended – are eligible. Baristas will create the drink in what Starbucks described as a “new, custom beverage craft smallware,” that has lines needed for measurements before transferring the drink to personal cups and adding toppings.
How it works
Using your own cup will work in a couple of different ways, based on how you place your order.
If it’s through the drive-through, you will order as usual but let the worker know you brought your own cup. At the pickup window, the Starbucks barista will collect the cup – without the lid – via a “contactless vessel to ensure hygiene and safety,” the coffee chain said. It will be returned the same way.
App orders will work almost the same way as drive through but you will hit the “customization” button and then select “personal cup,” before ordering as normal.
For orders placed in the store, you just tell the barista when you order you brought a cup. If you’re staying at Starbucks, you can request a reusable ceramic or glass cup at most locations.
Customers who bring their own cup will receive a 10 cent discount on their beverage and, if you’re a rewards member, 25 Bonus Stars.