Would you rip someone off for sixty four cents? How my morning Coffee will be forever changed

I stop at a Gate gas station on my way to work every weekday and Saturday to get my morning cup of coffee, I do not do well without my morning coffee. Now I have been stopping at the same Gate for nearly 10 years, I have seen five managers come and go and a countless number of clerks pass through. So many in fact, that I feel when I get a new manager or new clerk they are coming into MY Gate station. So you can see how I feel obliged to give them some instruction on how things in my Gate station are supposed to work. I have made more pots of coffee in that Gate station than the current manager has, I got that routine down pat and could probably do it in my sleep.

Now Gate, as do many stores of that nature, offer a discount on a refill as compared to a new cup. I have purchased a countless number of Gate travel mugs, I have received another countless number of travel mugs from vendors and various trade shows. I am not sure why but I can never seem to keep one with me, I left it at work, it is in the dishwasher, I left it in someone’s office. I have some suspicions about the why but that is a story for another day. Anyway I have found that when I get their Styrofoam cups I seem to always have one handy. Don’t know why but I seem to have a few in each car, a few at home and few in my office.

The way my morning works is as follows, I go in, walk around to my left, away from the counter and pour the cream in my cup and then walk around to where to clerk can see me pour the coffee into my cup. I then get in line to pay, 1.60 if I need a new cup, .96 if I am refilling an old cup. Seems like an insignificant amount but let me explain, I get a cup of coffee from that gate station 312 days a year, 6 days a week. I have found that the Styrofoam cup can be reused, after the initial 1.60 cost, at least 5 times. With a bit of simple math you quickly see that is almost $500 a year if I used exclusively all new cups and close to$325 if I refill each one 5 times, that is about $175 a year I save reusing my cup. I have had a cup last as many as 11 refills so the $175 savings is very realistic and I usually come out even better than that.

So you may be asking why doesn’t he just make his coffee at home, that would save even more money. We used to brew coffee at home and we still have a machine but here is the deal. We both enjoy the flavored creams in our coffee and we found that we always had to have “our” cream in stock or we just did not want to have a cup. I know we are spoiled little sissies, can’t have coffee with out fancy cream. I have no defense, I am a sissy and have somehow been trained by corporate America to believe I must have flavored cream, as much as it pisses me off, they got me, it worked. So you can see why I do not make it at home, to risky – I could hardly afford to run out of cream and due to shelf life and limited refrigerator space I could not guarantee my coffee would “right”

Anyway, the other day I go in to get my coffee on my way to breakfast and low and behold, I had a new clerk working. You can imagine my surprise, I was not even involved in the interview process. I was rung up at 1.60, I calmly reminded my new clerk that I had brought my cup back with me so that would actually be .96. I was directed to a small sign on the front door indicating that any cup for refill need to be shown to the clerk prior to refilling. I was stunned, amazed dare I say dumbfounded and most importantly I had not had my coffee so it all seemed surreal to me. Instead of making a scene with a new employee and with customers in the store I paid the 1.60 and went on my way.

So after I got my coffee down the cob webs cleared and I really became concerned. I immediately wrote on all my Styrofoam cups “this cup is used” in large letters with a black sharpie. I was sure this would eliminate any problems that might arise if I forgot to travel to the right and show the clerk my cup prior to filling it with cream and coffee. Keep in mind the whole operation is auto piloted for me, I have not had my coffee yet and I have been doing the same thing for a long time. Oh no the next trip in the manager is at the register and I forgot to show my cup prior, accidently of course. Well she wanted to know which pocket the Sharpie was in, I had taken a sip while I waited in line so I had a snappy comeback for that. I told her that I left it on a string over by the new cups so others could use it. Well as snappy as I thought that was with only one sip of coffee I neglected to realize I had not gotten the refill price yet. I have since changed my answers with the manger.

So I tell you all of that to tell you that they implemented that rule because people were ripping them off .64 cents by saying they had a refill instead of the new cup it actually was. What kind of person rips off a Gate station for .64 cents??? I have done the math and unless I have a better than 98.7% chance of getting away with 16.8 million dollars I am not ripping it off. I am still not happy about having to show my cup but I understand why they did it, what I do not understand is what kind of person would steal a cup of coffee. Knowing how important coffee is to me I would buy anyone a cup who needed one, at anytime. I joke with my new manager but she is good to me and provides me with a very consistent cup of coffee, 6 days a week, 312 days a year, what more can a man ask for.

Where do you get your morning coffee?