Current:Home > Finance$350 for Starbucks x Stanley quencher? Fighting over these cups isn't weird. It's American. -ProfitPioneers Hub
$350 for Starbucks x Stanley quencher? Fighting over these cups isn't weird. It's American.
View
Date:2025-04-15 21:28:11
Who knew pink and red drinking vessels could cause so much commotion?
We all did.
The Starbucks x Stanley Quencher is far from the first product to cause retail madness, and it won't be the last.
That's why shaking your head that people were willing to swarm Target for the limited-edition cup may say more about you than the people willing to battle it out for the cup that retailed for $50 and is now reselling for $300 and more on eBay.
Judging other people's spending is not reserved for cup buyers.
Some shook their heads at Taylor Swift and Beyoncé fans who were willing to pay big bucks to see the Eras and Renaissance tours.
Some of those same people will shell out top dollar for Super Bowl tickets or an Apple Watch.
Apple Watch wasn't built for dark skin.We deserve tech that works for everyone.
Galentine's Day Stanley quencher is not our first rodeo
Long before the tumbler was a twinkle in its creator's eye, I was a little girl who really, really wanted a squashed face doll with yarn hair and big thumbs.
For weeks before Christmas 1983, I remember lying on our living room floor and circling Toys R Us ads for Cabbage Patch Kids that came with my hometown newspaper.
I could only hope my mother or/and Santa would get the hint.
My mom did. She scraped up enough money and fended off ravenous Cabbage Patch Kids seekers to purchase an official doll for me.
I still have and cherish it.
It is far less violent, but scenes of frenzied shoppers trying to buy the Stanley cup – the result of a limited Target and Starbucks collaboration – are reminiscent of the Cabbage Patch riots of fall and winter 1983.
Not sure if anyone lucky enough to get their hand on a Stanley tumbler will cherish it 41 years later, but maybe I am wrong.
It is clear many people really, really wanted the tumbler for themselves – not their kid as was the case with my mother and the rabid parents she encountered (for the record, my mom got my doll fair and square while avoiding the riots).
Still, the so-called Galentine's Day tumblers would make wonderful Valentine's Day gifts for water lovers – hint, hint.
Are the limited-edition Stanley cups still available?
Good luck finding one and paying for it. According to the company's website, they are out of stock at many Target stores.
A representative for Starbucks told People magazine that the cups will "not be restocked" where they have sold out.
What do the Stanley cup, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl have in common?
As with the Cabbage Patch Kids doll craze and other fad obsessions, the Starbucks x Stanley Quencher chaos is the result of low supply and high demand. The same can be said about nearly every other hot item from housing to seats at a fancy restaurant.
It is very easy to make fun of people willing to pay that kind of money for a cup, but it is neither fair nor square.
What it is is judgmental and perhaps more than a little hypocritical.
It may seem frivolous to you, but people want to do things that make them happy.
That thing maybe drinking from a hot cup, seeing Taylor Swift or Beyoncé perform or cheering on the Cleveland Browns – fingers and toes crossed – at the Super Bowl.
Who will win the Super Bowl?2024 predictions: An asteroid won't save us. Maybe an AI Taylor Swift/Beyoncé fusion will.
One woman's Stanley Galentine's Day tumbler is another's Eras tickets.
One woman's Eras tickets is one man's $5,495 PlayStation 2 "Call of Duty: Finest Hour."
Who saw the Cabbage Patch Kids, Slinky, creepy Furby robots, iPhone or any of America's other past obsessions coming?
God only knows what will be next.
People want what they want even if it just looks like another pink cup or squashed faced doll to you.
Amelia Robinson is the opinion and community engagement editor at The Columbus Dispatch, where this column first published.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Shohei Ohtani joining Dodgers 'made too much sense' says Stan Kasten | Nightengale's Notebook
- A Rolex seller meets up with a Facebook Marketplace thief. It goes all wrong from there
- 2024 Super Bowl: Odds, TV, date and how to watch San Francisco 49ers-Kansas City Chiefs
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- 70 Facts About Oprah Winfrey That Are Almost as Iconic as the Mogul Herself
- Lenox Hotel in Boston evacuated after transformer explosion in back of building
- Caroline Manzo sues Bravo over sexual harassment by Brandi Glanville on 'Real Housewives'
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Report: California officers shot in ambush were not verbally warned that suspect had gun, was on PCP
Ranking
- Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
- Police ID man accused of fleeing with suspect’s gun after officer shot, suspect killed
- Americans don't sleep enough. The long-term effects are dire, especially for Black people
- 2 are in custody after baby girl is found abandoned behind dumpsters in Mississippi
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- U.S. pauses UNRWA funding as U.N. agency probes Israel's claim that staffers participated in Oct. 7 Hamas attack
- A Klimt painting that was lost for nearly 100 years after being confiscated by Nazis will be auctioned
- The Super Bowl is set: Mahomes and the Chiefs will face Purdy and the 49ers
Recommendation
Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
52 killed in clashes in the disputed oil-rich African region of Abyei, an official says
A Costco mirror, now a Sam's Club bookcase: What to know about the latest online dupe
Walmart’s latest perk for U.S. store managers? Stock grants
As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest
USA Hockey will mandate neck laceration protection for players under 18 effective Aug. 1
Americans don't sleep enough. The long-term effects are dire, especially for Black people
Tom Selleck reveals lasting 'Friends' memory in tribute to 'most talented' Matthew Perry