A video showing a Starbucks employee dumping out a bevy of various unclaimed beverages sparked a viral debate about food waste.
TikToker @angryelmo‘s clip has garnered over 379,000 views as of Sunday, leading to a discussion on folks nabbing free beverages as a result of mobile orders that were never picked up.
The TikToker writes in a text overlay of the video, “Starbucks worker pours out 25 fresh drinks” as they record an employee for the coffee chain dumping a slew of beverages, presumably ones that were never picked up by customers, into a bucket.
@angryelmo this was a mobile order that was not picked up☹️ #VozDosCriadores #screammovie #starbucks #drinks #waste ♬ fukumean – Gunna
This appears to be confirmed by a caption for the video which reads, “This was a mobile order that was not picked up,” suggesting that all of the drinks were part of a single order.
In @angryelmo’s clip, another overlay in the video reads, “Girl I’ll take one,” and several commenters who said they work for Starbucks claimed they would gladly give away the beverages to customers instead of just pouring them down a drain.
“When I was a manager at Starbucks I’d give away drinks all the time. Like it’s a waste to just throw them out,” one person said.
A customer said that they too enjoyed nabbing free unclaimed drinks whenever they visit a Starbucks.
“Whenever we go to Starbucks and there are drinks that weren’t picked up they give them for free,” they said. “If it’s dairy they throw them away after 20 minutes.”
But there could be a reason why these drinks weren’t being handed out to thirsty patrons—and it sounds like it’s to keep people from downing liquids that could potentially make them sick.
“I work at a Starbucks and most of our drinks sit from 7 am to like 3 pm,” one person wrote. This is especially true for any beverage that contains dairy—Coffeeness says that “any hot coffee that includes milk is only going to be safe to drink for around two hours at room temperature.”
But one Starbucks employee said in the comments section that at their store, they don’t even give milky beverages a fraction of that amount of time to rest on the countertop.
“Whenever we go to Starbucks and there are drinks that weren’t picked up they give them for free,” they said. “If it’s dairy they throw them away after 20 minutes.”
Although a number of viewers questioned why so many drinks go to waste, one person said that they have a hard time giving unclaimed beverages away.
“I will yell to a cafe full of people DOES ANYONE WANT THIS before pouring it out and 90% of the time they look at me and say nothing,” they said.
However, it does seem like there are folks who know that there’s a possibility they’ll be able to nab themselves a free beverage at Starbucks if they just bide their time.
“I call in drinks and then show up thirty minutes late so I get it for free,” they confessed.
Starbucks has been the subject of food waste controversy in the past. TikToker Aidan Stockin went viral after showing tons of baked goods being dumped into a shopping cart at a Target Starbucks location.
Many outlets have offered lengthy explanations as to why many businesses don’t donate excess food. This Medium post states that the majority of donated food lawsuit cases are so minimal right now because the majority of the food that is donated is non-perishable, i.e. canned goods.
The piece speculates that if more businesses, like Starbucks, began giving away perishable items like freshly made beverages or pastries/protein boxes that have expiration dates, there may be an increase in claims that people became sick from said food, which could potentially open the businesses up to legal headaches.
However, Via Nola Vie reported that in 1996, the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act exempts companies from any legal ramifications if the grub was donated in good faith, barring any outstanding evidence that the company knowingly and intentionally gave away food that was inedible or could cause injury to whoever ate it.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Starbucks via email and @angryelmo via TikTok comment.
