Current:Home > News$350 for Starbucks x Stanley quencher? Fighting over these cups isn't weird. It's American. -Wealth Momentum Network
$350 for Starbucks x Stanley quencher? Fighting over these cups isn't weird. It's American.
View
Date:2025-04-26 12:46:51
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! (69668)
Related
- Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
- Bipartisan legislation planned in response to New Hampshire hospital shooting
- Peruvian constitutional court orders release of former President Alberto Fujimori
- The Excerpt podcast: Israel targets south Gaza; civilians have few options for safety
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- Maryland transportation chief proposes $3.3B in budget cuts
- The Gaza Strip: Tiny, cramped and as densely populated as London
- Kylie Kelce Gives a Nod to Taylor Swift With Heartwarming Video of Daughters Wyatt and Bennett
- 'Most Whopper
- El Salvador is seeing worst rights abuses since 1980-1992 civil war, Amnesty reports
Ranking
- Could your smelly farts help science?
- Vice President Harris breaks nearly 200-year-old record for Senate tiebreaker votes, casts her 32nd
- Savannah Chrisley Shares How Jason and Brittany Aldean Are Helping Grayson Through Parents’ Prison Time
- Maryland transportation chief proposes $3.3B in budget cuts
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Horoscopes Today, December 5, 2023
- New Forecasting Tools May Help Predict Impact of Marine Heatwaves of Ocean Life up to a Year in Advance
- Argentina’s President-elect Milei replies to Musk’s interest: ‘We need to talk, Elon’
Recommendation
McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
Verizon to offer bundled Netflix, Max discount. Are more streaming bundles on the horizon?
What does the NCAA proposal to pay players mean for college athletics?
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree goes to No. 1 — after 65 years
San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo
Fantasy football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em: 15 players to start or sit in Week 14
Horoscopes Today, December 5, 2023
Israel continues bombardment, ground assault in southern Gaza