What if the bring-your-own-mug discount actually motivated coffee shop customers to do so?  The $0.10 discount (Seriously?) offered by Starbucks doesn’t do much to change customer behavior.  If I’m paying more than $2.50 for a cup of coffee, that’s not any kind of incentive to change my habits.  As it happens, I do usually bring my own cup and have made a resolution to only get coffee out when I have my travel mug or have the time to sit in the cafe and drink the coffee.

Here are some reasons I use a travel mug:

1. I am a VERY slow coffee drinker and the mug keeps the coffee hot (enough for me) for a couple hours or more. Also, no soggy cup issues.
2. I feel better not producing more waste.
3. I like my travel mug.  This deserves more consideration than most people give it. My travel mug DOES NOT leak, even when it’s upside down. It also has a great custom designed image from this guy.

Obstacles to bringing your own mug/travel cup:

1. You have to carry it.  While I usually have a bag with me, this becomes a nuisance when I don’t.  I prefer to travel light when walking around a city, slim wallet, phone, keys, and maybe headphones.
2. Your travel mug might fail to keep your coffee hot or in the container, it might be too flimsy, or all of the above.

Solutions:

1. If you need caffeine, get an espresso shot and drink it on the spot.  (It’s faster and more flavorful, IMO) Move on to your next activity. OR If you’re not in a rush, stop, sit down and sip your coffee while you do some reading or have a conversation with a friend or friendly barista.  Don’t underestimate the value in getting to know your barista.
2. Get a better travel mug.

Now we could go as far as to create a collapsible travel mug, but that ignores the main obstacles and fails to make optimal use of existing resources.  (This could be a great idea, but only if you’ve resolved the leaking and insulation issue. It would have to be light, so made of a plastic which could affect the flavor of the coffee, or it might be coated aluminum and compromise on weight.)

Why is this so important?

Coffee shops create mountains of paper waste from to-go cups.  I’ve worked at Starbucks for a brief stint, and the mountain of paper waste is insane.  While many establishments like Peet’s and Starbucks brag about their fair trade coffee and sustainable sourcing, this is strictly limited to the coffee and doesn’t speak to the paper waste, and energy diverted to recycle a portion of that waste.  In addition, your average latte doesn’t include sustainable or locally sourced milk, though that’s another discussion entirely.  A relatively small shift in consumer behavior can have a massive effect on paper consumption.  Most cafes will readily accommodate the customer’s request wherever possible, so don’t be shy about asking to use your own mug, or for a for-here mug, or a sustainably sourced milk product.

This might be radical, but I propose slowly raising coffee prices, and offering a higher discount on your coffee for using your own travel mug, or drinking your coffee from an in-house mug.  Say you pay normally $3.50 for a medium latte, and prices increase by 25% ($4.37), but you can still get the same coffee drink for $3.50 by using the in-house mug or personal travel mug.  Would you find a way to bring your mug in, or willingly pay the additional $0.87?  No one is forcing you to pay the higher price, and that additional 25% adds up to just over $17 a month if you get that drink 5 days a week each month.  Many small shops already offer customers the choice between the mug or to-go cup, but the franchises don’t seem to push the concept even where it’s available.  Alternatively, stores could donate a percentage of the cost of coffee to a charity, or to coffee bean farmers, when customers use travel mugs.  I’m not sure which is the better option, but the current system certainly isn’t sufficient to change customer behavior in any meaningful way.