7-Eleven Slurpee Fans Will Love This Big Announcement

Last year, the global pandemic brought with it so many closures — some of them permanent — not to mention a whole world of heartbreak, so it seems kind of petty to mention the cancellation of one small ritual. Nevertheless, 7-Eleven customers still mourned last year's announcement that July 11, 2020, would not be celebrated as 7-11 (aka Free Slurpee) Day, or at least not in the usual way.

In pre-pandemic days, every year on July 11, Slurpee fans, as well as anyone who just loves a good Freebie, would crowd into their nearest 7-Eleven store to take advantage of the free small Slurpees that were handed out to all comers (no purchase required). As they didn't exactly check you off a list or anything, people who lived in 7-Eleven-rich areas could suck down free Slurpees all day long. Even in 2020, though, 7-Eleven didn't want to let their special day pass unobserved, so they loaded a coupon for a free small Slurpee into their app for anyone already a member of their 7Rewards loyalty program (via USA Today).Well, we have good news for those who appreciated the way 7-Eleven chose to celebrate Slurpee Day last year. This year, they've decided to keep up the new tradition.

The 7-Eleven corporation touts the new 7-11 Day as a month-long celebration, seeing as how the free Slurpee coupon can be redeemed at any time in July. While their press release says they're spreading the celebration out over 31 days for the perfectly legit reason of "avoid[ing] having millions of Americans crowded around Slurpee machines on a single day," they also somewhat disingenuously say, "it's obvious that [Americans] also just love to party for days." Seeing as how that coupon can only be redeemed once, even if you consider one small Slurpee to be a party, you won't be enjoying this treat over multiple days. Okay, you could just take a sip and then put the cup in the freezer for later, but as anyone who's ever tried to reconstitute a Slurpee knows, it's impossible to restore the original texture without access to 7-Eleven's Slurpee machines.

Another requirement that some may be reluctant to comply with is that of having to join the rewards program, when free Slurpees used to be available to anyone who walked in the door of a 7-Eleven on July 11. Also, what's up with the coupons only being available in-app? Do we really need an app taking up room on our phones for every business where we might redeem the occasional offer? Well, we can only hope for the return of Slurpee Day proper in 2022, but we won't hold our breath.