C-Store Coffee & Fountain Refills: Your Experiences?

[thenetwork]

In my current job (not sure for how much longer), I tend to travel 750-1100 miles per week in my company vehicle. 

I am not a coffee drinker, but I try to balance out between water and pop on the road, with an occasional energy drink here and there when needed.

I find that I can save money recycling my giant plastic cups vs. buying actual bottles/cans or purchasing a new glass/cup.

What is even more bizarre is how refills are treated/charged.

Most of the time if I fill up my "recycled" cup with just ice water, about 99.5% of the time, the cashier waves me thru once I say it's just an ice water refill. 

As far as re-filing up with a Pepsi (etc...) using my own recycled cup, if I get charged, it's likely at a discount.

But this is where it gets interesting.

Here is a rough estimate on what I get charged for a refill:

10% of the time:  Full price, regardless of new or used cup.

50% of the time:  Discounts anywhere from 10-50% off vs getting a new cup.

20% of the time:  getting waved through as a freebie, since I didn't use any of their cups/lids/straws...

10% of the time:  getting waved through because I had to wait in a line.

10% of the time: I just get charged for the smallest refill size, even though I use a 52 Oz plastic cup.

If you never tried the refill route, consider this as a helpful travel tip -- especially if you are by yourself.

If you have tried to refill/recycle, either to save the planet or to try to get a discount, what seems to be your success rate. 

If you are a coffee drinker, do they discount or comp you if you bring in your own mug like they do a fountain drink?

Just curious.

[jeffandnicole]

I haven't done this for years. Buy when I have refilled a cup for coffee, usually there is a published price for refills. The clerk would ask what size cup I had and charge me appropriately. It was more/less on the honor system. I could tell them any size cup and they would just charge me based on whatever I said.

[Rothman]

In this edition of, "Just How Cheap Are You?"...

That is an interesting breakdown of reactions to using your own reused cup, though.

[thenetwork]

In this edition of, "Just How Cheap Are You?"...

That is an interesting breakdown of reactions to using your own reused cup, though.

Maybe refills are a regional thing.  Here in Colorado, many C-stores display pricing for both new cups and refills on or near the fountain dispensers.

About 6 years ago up in Metro Detroit, when I walked up to the cashier with a refill, he didn't know what to do or what to charge.

I'm not looking for a cheap way to get drinks, but when you drink over a gallon of water each day including a fountain drink or two to keep up with hydration in the higher elevations, using new bottles/cups/etc every time leads to a lot of waste.

[Dirt Roads]

I've never been keen on refills in convenience stores, but it seems like most locations here in North Carolina stopped the refill programs during COVID and it seems to me that the refill programs have been slow to restart.  We just got around to lifting the mask mandates in Orange and Durham counties back in early-March 2022 (most counties in North Carolina lifted the mandates in Summer 2021, soon after Governor Cooper dropped most of the restrictions in May 2021).  Anywhoosit, folks around here are still slowly becoming less uncomfortable about things like self-serve drink machines, self-serve hot dog rotisseries and other activities where germ-sharing might be problematic.