A collaboration between two beverage giants has fans going to extreme lengths to procure it.
On Nov. 2, Starbucks dropped its latest frenzy-inducing merch item: a Stanley Quencher in a holiday-ready shade of red. Sold in stores for $49.95, the 40-ounce double-wall vacuum-insulated tumbler has those on #WaterTok in a chokehold.
Despite the fact that Starbucks never officially announced the product, its drop has inspired a palpable fervor online and in Starbucks stores. This apparently includes more than one instance of customers pitching tents in Starbucks parking lots.
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“bUt dO yOu HaVe tHe sTanLeY cUp?,” reads the title of a Nov. 8 post with the “Mocking Spongebob” meme in the r/Starbucks subreddit. In the comments section of the post, several Redditors discuss the lengths people have gone to score the coveted cup.
“The amount of calls we’ve gotten for the Stanley cup 😭😭😭,” commented one Reddit user.
“Yeah my store got asked before the launch date lol. We only got two in stock and alrdy sold out 😅,” wrote another.
The Scene
“Came in for opening shift and there was a group of people that slept with tents outside for the cups lol,” commented one Starbucks worker, to which another replied, “Same at my store,” claiming that by 9 a.m. half the shelf was empty. “Opener said we had a line of people when she got there, half hour before open.”
Other interactions between Starbucks customers and employees have been a bit more contentious, according to some commenters.
“We keep getting people harassing us for cups when even if we did get them and had them out (we never got them btw) one person would’ve bought them all and everyone would continue to harass us,” commented another Redditor. “We literally had one lady camp out before the openers even got there.”
In a post titled “Got cussed out by people camping outside for Stanley cups,” one Starbucks worker wrote, “The women came in, asked for them, we told them we didn’t have anymore. She demanded to know where they were because she came last night to bother partners setting up and had also been walking around the building shining her flashlight through the windows. She lost it when she was told the cups were purchased by partners.”
On the customer side of things, folks have been documenting their experiences trying to score the red cups for themselves, their loved ones and, in some cases, those who are willing to pay a pretty penny for one.
“Let’s go buy these damn Stanley cups,” says a voiceover on TikToker @Melissa_Mariche’s video detailing her trip to more than one Starbucks location to score a quartet of Stanley cups. “I ended up spending a little over $200, but I just couldn’t resist guys, they’re just so pretty.”
“I drove 40 minutes to get me and my friend one (shes a night nurse) thankfully i got 2 but they only had two i felt so bad,” commented one person under the video.
TikToker @championshipheat documented his experience waiting in line at 4 a.m. at a Starbucks, only to find out that someone had already purchased that store’s Stanley cup stock.
“By now it was already 4:30 and we decided to head to our third Starbucks location. As I was walking in, I didn’t see them on display, but I saw two girls walking out with six Stanley cups,” he says, adding that he was able to buy the last four that were left.
How to buy the Starbucks x Stanley Quencher
“We are seeing an enthusiastic response to the limited-edition, red Starbucks x Stanley Quencher (40 fl. oz.) available at Starbucks stores in the U.S. for a limited time, while supplies last,” a Starbucks spokesperson tells TODAY.com. “Some stores will be restocked throughout the season.”
Until those stores are restocked, however, a resale market has opened up on sites like eBay, OfferUp, Mercari and Poshmark, where the limited-edition tumbler has been selling for prices as high as $250, with one lot of three cups going for $450.
“When you wake up at 5AM to buy the new Starbucks x Stanley Tumbler and sell them for $300 to Starbucks Girlies,” reads the on-screen caption on a video from TikToker @davidbloomx.
In response, one user commented, “I will take one 😭.”
This article first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
