Let's Be Honest: Starbucks' Dome Lids Are A Crime Against Customers And Workers Alike
If you're a Starbucks Frappucino lover with a vendetta against dome lids, prepare to be oh-so-validated. We all have our personal preferences for to-go cups, straws, and lids as offered by our favorite coffee joints; however, a TikTok proves that Starbucks baristas wish you knew that they, too, take issue with the chain's dome lids.
One Starbucks barista, TikTok user @emmalaflair, has gone viral for demonstrating just how difficult these lids are to get on, and we're in awe of how much baristas have to struggle every time they serve up a Frappuccino. The creator calls their video "a plea to Starbucks to make the tall dome lids differently." In the video, which has garnered over 70,000 likes, the creator struggles so much to pop the plastic lid in place, they have to call over a fellow barista, and the pair battles against the lid together before finally snapping it into the proper position.
The comments on the video were full of other employees commiserating and sharing their own stories of what working at Starbucks is really like. Other folks noted that, despite how difficult the lids are to get on, they don't even manage to stay securely once they're in place.
Will the cups ever improve?
The concern about dome lids among Starbucks employees isn't new, nor is it unique to the ones who took to TikTok to share their struggle. Two years ago, a post made the rounds on Reddit by voicing the same concern. The post, which gained over 100 upvotes, was titled, "dome lids are my worst enemy," and a newly hired Starbucks barista outlined the trouble they have when using dome lids. "No matter how many times I try, it always takes me forever to get it on or to the point [that] I have to ask a coworker." In the comments, plenty of folks, once again, echoed this difficulty — just like in the comments section of the TikTok.
@emmalaflair If you see your local baristas struggling, it's the dome lids @starbucks #help #fixit #starbucks #sos #fypage
Luckily, change may be coming. Starbucks introduced its now-standard strawless lids in 2018, so the company is clearly open to improving upon the cups it's used for years. Furthermore, in May 2023, Starbucks' CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, shared: "Currently, we have over 1,500 cup and lid combinations across our network" — per Yahoo! News. "As we streamline, we will create a portfolio of fewer, more sustainable and less costly cups while further simplifying operations in our stores," he added. So, if Starbucks cups are to be overhauled someday, we can only hope its pesky dome lids will become a thing of the past.