Tim Hortons Earth Day Mistake

A drive-through idler complains that not enough paper cups are being
thrown away in the name of sanitation and Earth Day.

O gawd.

Going green by idling in the drive through....makes perfect sense.



Good Day

I turn my vehicle off in drve-thrus. Besides, I'm trying, isn't that
better than nothing at all?

I have to give Tim Horton's credit. I have recieved a reply from them
already!
"I would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us about
our
Travel Mug refill service. We always appreciate hearing from our
customers, and assure you that we share your concern for the
environment.

Through our ongoing training programs, our staff are instructed that
all
hot beverage refills should be poured directly into the customer's
travel
mug. We want to encourage our customers to reduce waste therefore we
offer
a 10 cent discount on all travel mug refills. Thus, we agree that
measuring liquids in a paper cup defeats the purpose of using the
Travel
Mug.

If this procedure is not being followed at one of our locations in
the
future, please do not hesitate to bring this to our store managers
attention. Further, I have forwarded a copy of your email to *******,
our
area District Manager in *******. I can assure you that ******* will
follow up with the store location. For information on our other
environmental initiatives please visit our website at timhortons.com.

It is by listening and reacting to our valued customers feedback that
we
have been able to achieve and maintain success to date.

We look forward to serving you better in the near future."

What is more unsanitary about pouring coffee out of a cup than pouring
coffee out of a pot? This assumes, of course, she isn't sipping out
of the cup between customers.

I think it's entirely possible that they resused several cups through
out the day to keep up speed and consistent sizing.

In my mind it probably goes something like this. One cup of each size
for each variation of coffee. For instance, a small medium and large
cup for just black coffee. A small medium and large cup for coffee
with creme. A set for sugar, mixed and whatever other variations they
have.

This is an admirable cause. And as other posters said its not
unsanitary at all because no one is drinking out of the cup. I can
imagine there would be letters flowing in about the unimaginable wait
times had it not been done this way. I can also see the complaints
coming about people getting ripped off on sizing if there wasnt some
consistant measure of what each person was getting.

Nice, polite letter, and while I appreciate your concern for the
environment, I fail to see how reusing the same paper cup several or
many times to dispense coffee is unsanitary. No one is drinking out
of it. It's kind of the same thing as having everyone's coffee come
from the same pot on the brewer.

Why would it be unsanitary? You aren't using the paper cup yourself,
by lifting it to your mouth or touching it at all.

I think a quick rinse at most would suffice between uses of this paper
cup, which I'm sure was used to measure portion sizes. I guarantee you
plenty of people showed up with their Bubba Kegs trying to make the
most of a discount on a travel mug, and were disappointed it wasn't
filled to the brim.

Good Point.
I doubt it would be quite unsanitary to re-use the cup. If this is a
one day thing, they most likely had no adequate portion control
procedure. Maybe they had multiple cups for different types of
coffee... (ie. Double/Double, Cream, Sugar, Black, etc.), and if they
didn't mix the types and changed the cup frequently, I bet they could
have pulled it off.

Or did you consider that maybe it was an error, and a staff member
read the display screen and put it in a paper cup not realizing it was
an "earth day coffee"? This could have been operator error.

Since it was the manager that served you, you should have asked her at
the time. However you have a valid complaint based on your
observation.

And you made me hungry for some Timmies!! :)
I wish we had some here where I am now in Michigan.
And is it just me or have the holes been constantly increasing in
size?

This was entertaining, though I know you didn't intend it to be. This
shows the differences between a concept, a plan and its execution.

To make this happen for one day was probably not practical. So they
tried to keep up appearances. I am guessing they reused the cup, but
it is as easy to imagine they simply threw each one away (what a
thought). Either way, poor execution.

thank you for making the Earth a little better today!