Men and women of all ages are lining up at 4 a.m. outside Target for a limited edition Starbucks Stanley tumbler, leading to the question: has overconsumption gone too far? Most of these buyers are not even keeping the reusable cups for themselves, but selling them on places like Facebook Marketplace for up to $2,000. The issue is that there are people in the world who are willing to drop that amount just on a cup. The point of a reusable water bottle is to reuse it, not buy 20 versions of the same thing.
Instagram reels and TikTok have surely brought a lot of popularity to the Stanley cups, and influencers have made people want to have one of their own. Many people have started filming “Water of the day” videos, putting their daily drinks in only Stanley tumblers, and some of them match their Stanley to what flavor packet they are putting in their water that day. The comments are not all positive though, shaming the creators for owning so many “reusable cups.”
Recently, in a video surpassing 3 million views on TikTok, a mother talked about how her daughter was bullied at school for having a tumbler that was not the Stanley brand. It was an off-brand cup from Walmart that just looked very similar since it had a handle. Senior Anastasiya Vasylyshyn talked about kids with Stanley cups in one of her hospitality classes, stating that, “Middle and elementary students have no reason to be raving about these cups. We watched a video of little kids crying tears of joy when they received one for Christmas. It truly is just a cup.”
After and during the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple people in America were struggling to make ends meet, yet today it seems as if people are not successful unless they can afford a Stanley Tumbler. If someone carries a tumbler from another popular brand, it seems as if that person is not as rich as the one with the Stanley Tumbler, which makes no sense.
Stanley tumblers are not all that though. These cups have been tested and proven to mold the quickest and even leak at the slightest angle. Other water bottle brands like Owala, Hydroflask, Yeti and Takeya have all made tumbler versions of their already popular water bottles just to try to compete with the popular Stanley brand. Hydroflask was the Stanley cup of 2019 and COVID-19 dropped its popularity, yet people still use it. All of these tumblers are within $5 of each other, so why is it that one of them makes people “richer” than the other? Out of all of these brands, the other cups do not even leak when you tip them over, unless it is out of the straw.
Dick’s Sporting Goods is the place to go as they sell every single tumbler version from all of the popular brands. If one goes to Dick’s, they will notice the pink tumblers are sold out mostly every time. This is because there is the highest demand for any pink cup, and the resale value is the highest.
Nobody would have ever thought scamming people online for cute cups could be a career, but thanks to over-consumerism, it is. The definition of reusable is “able to be used again more than once.” Having something reusable can stop waste and make the Earth a better place, yet the world is doing the exact opposite. Once the Stanley tumbler is not “in” anymore, where will people’s hundreds of cups end up? The best ways to stop too much consumerism are to be grateful for what you have, stop comparing what you have to what others have, and find a new hobby to occupy your time. Money really does not grow on trees, especially today, so think next time before you purchase your next reusable cup.
