Coffice Hacks – The $1 Starbucks Tumbler

Alright real quick before I forget to write this one.  I recently discovered this little hack at Starbucks that may end up saving me even more money.

As some of you may know I’m a big fan of Starbucks.  I go there not necessarily for their coffee (which I enjoy) but more so for their great coffice set up.  I don’t know what it is but I learned very early on that I’m just not as productive when I’m working from home.  There are just way too many distractions and reasons to slack.

There’s something about being in a coffee shop filled with other folks trying to get work done.  Perhaps its even the osmosis that occurs with coffee permeating in the air.

But before I go on and on and ramble about coffices, I wanted to drop a super quick tip for anyone that goes to Starbucks as much as I do.

Introducing the $1 Starbucks Tumbler

I don’t know if you noticed but at the front cash is this basic reuseable tumbler.

Here’s how it works.  Anytime you bring your own tumbler at Starbucks, they take $0.10 off.

For me this is perfect because I don’t have my own tumbler so I picked this one up for $1.  As long as I use it ten times, I make the $1 back and any additional mileage I get out of the cup is all gravy.

Sure it’s not a huge amount of savings but every little bit helps…AND I’m helping the environment by not throwing out paper cups every time.  Plus you know that Starbucks doesn’t even bother recycling (except for a few select stores).

Quality of this tumbler

So I’m sure you’re wondering what the quality of this dollar tumbler is.  And the truth of the matter is that it’s not going to be as good or well constructed as their signature tumblers they sell on the Starbucks shelf.

Constructed in plastic, the cup itself is thick enough where I honestly don’t really need a sleeve.  The lid is a nice smooth plastic that is my favorite part of the cup.  The plastic on the lid is thicker than the cup itself.

In talking to a few other folks, you will find that the coffee will eventually stain the white plastic on the inside and for most regular coffice go-ers, this tumbler will last 4-5 months.  That’s plenty of time to “make” a couple of bucks back.

Sweetining the pot

Two things that you should look out for:

1)  The tumbler is grande sized but I always order tall to try to limit the amount of coffee I drink everyday.  What I’ve noticed is that some people will still fill the cup to the brim so you end up getting a grande sized coffee for the price of a tall.

2)  I can’t believe I didn’t know about this earlier but coffee refills are free at Starbucks.  As long as you haven’t left the coffee shop after your first purchase, just go up and ask for a refill.  I had no idea I had access to pretty much unlimited coffee all day.  They don’t even ask to scan your rewards card so it’s open to everyone (though I’m not sure why you wouldn’t have rewards card if you use Starbucks as a coffice).  Knowing this and if you’re a drinker of just regular cups of coffee, there’s really no reason why you don’t order a short or tall cup of coffee each time you set your office up for the day at Starbucks.

That is all from me!  Enjoy 🙂

If you’re headed to New York, make sure you check out my list of the top coffices in NYC.

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