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A Starbucks employee posted an ordering hack that will keep cash in customers' pockets. Or did she?
The barista, who goes by the TikTok handle @imshayyyyyy2, posted about a drink that customers can order for less than $1.
The short video gets straight to the point: Customers can simply order a venti water with peach juice. She is seen filling up the cup with peach juice, ice and water.
The video ends with the message, "So cheap and so good."
The website RealMenuPrices.com lists Starbucks' food and drink items and costs as of this month. All the venti-sized tea drinks run between $2.65 and $3.45.
People are split on whether the employee's "hack" was actually a hack at all, or if it is just a location-specific savings deal.
One TikTok user named sheistrulyiconic posted that she also works at a Starbucks and had the same drink on the date the video was posted. However, she added that "customers are definitely getting charged for a custom tea."
Another user named Sam said she tried the method and only paid $0.86.
Serababii, also a TikToker, said the Starbucks locations near her don't even have peach juice, so she couldn't give the hack a try.
While over 730 individuals discussed the hack and its merits, others pleaded with the original poster to delete the video so she wouldn't get fired.
"Girl, please take this down before you get fired," user Eboni Blockum said. "If the siren finds out you're not marking this out as a custom tea that's your job boo."
That comment was met with a response by the video poster, who said she does this all the time and it hasn't cost her job—at least not yet.
Some even chimed in to defend the company as a whole, saying the employee was encouraging patrons not to pay full price on menu items.
One user believed that because the video was posted and received over 186,000 views on the platform, Starbucks changed its entire policy.
"Because of people like you Starbucks changed their policy so this is now a custom tea," Leslie wrote.
It's how you ring it up, Shay said in a subsequent video that didn't receive nearly as many views. She stated that rather than using the "custom tea" button, a cashier should choose "ice water" with an added tea base. It reduces the cost by over $3, allegedly.
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek investigative reporter based in Michigan. His focus includes U.S. and international politics and policies, immigration, ... Read more