Confessions of a milk thief – What’s wrong with 7-11′s coffee bar?
Posted by rondostar on June 4th, 2010I have a confession to make.
I’m a milk thief. That’s right, today I stole milk from my local 7-11… and four other times in the past couple weeks.
See, recently, I’ve really grown an affinity for 7-11′s coffee experience. It’s not just the brew options or the fact that I’ve grown a bit sick of Starbucks. I also like:
- The array of fresh pots (in the morning – can’t speak for evening freshness)
- The individual (real) sugar packets, so you know exactly how many sugars you are using
- The empowerment and ritual of self-service – there’s just something about pouring your own cup of fresh, hot coffee
- The slew of optional flavors in the form of creamers and syrups
- The range of cup options and designs (I particularly like the self-insulated ‘Cup with a Cause‘ cup)
- The well designed and functional WAKE UP protector sleeve thingies (should you choose not to buy the self-insulated ‘Cup for a Cause’ – asshole)
- And the price, c’mon
Yeah. I really, really like 7-11 coffee. But, even with all the awesome features I mentioned above, there is one major component missing to complete a truly great cup of coffee. That’s right, milk. 7-11 does NOT offer milk at their coffee bars.
So what did I do about it?
I’ll admit, the first trip I made to 7-11 for coffee a couple weeks back, I settled for the creamer.
Problem a.) If you are buying a very large cup of coffee you need about 7 creamers to make it work – if you are me
Problem b.) Creamer is not milk
So, the next visit to 7-11 for a delicious cup of coffee I took matters into my own hands and got a little vigilant. When I walked into the store I made a B-line to the drink cooler, grabbed a pint of milk and toted it over to the coffee bar. Then, I poured my coffee, opened the milk, poured in a splash, replaced the top and slid the rest of the milk over by the creamer caddy. You know, so others could also use some tasty milk if they wanted. Plus, In this economy, who wants to buy a whole pint of milk if they only need a splash?
This quickly became habit. I used the same technique 3 or 4 more times and it worked. Until it all came to a crashing halt today.
What? You got caught?
Yes. I got caught.
I went through my normal process (this time it was even more thrilling because there was a cop inside), got the milk, poured my coffee, poured the milk, left the milk for others to enjoy and walked to the register to pay. Just as I was paying for my hot, delicious, milked coffee the store manager walked up and told me that I had to pay for the milk. He also told me that he had seen me do the same thing 5 times. Dude was pissed. He also instructed me that I would need to buy my coffee elsewhere from now on. That’s right.
I was banned from my local 7-11 – just for being the neighborhood MilkenHood for the past couple weeks. Gah.
I made good and voluntarily (if that counts for anything) paid my restitution for today’s pint and the previous 4. But, I am still left with an empty feeling about this whole situation.
What needs to happen?
If 7-11 wants to compete with the major players in the coffee business they are going to have to step their game up and start offering milk at their coffee bars. As I’ve already stated, everything else is amazing!
7-11 needs FREE milk at their coffee bars. This isn’t just for the people. This offering will transcend the 7-11 coffee experience past the “convenient store coffee” genre and into the upper echelon of coffee shop experiences. I mean, you can’t get Skittles or Funyuns with your coffee at Starbucks can you? You can at 7-11.
Join the movement
So, please join the movement and help us to get FREE milk at 7-11 coffee bars. You can leave comments below showing your support or you can join the Facebook Page here.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Colin Alsheimer, rondostar, ITE?, ITE?, Derek and others. Derek said: RT @inthiseconomy Confessions of a milk thief – What’s wrong with 7-11’s coffee bar? http://bit.ly/aTwqTQ #free711milk [...]
cute article. I never even realized that…due to me not being a coffee drinker..
Rondo….I used to look up to you as a pillar of the community….but now I’ve lost all respect for you. You are no longer my idol….now I look up to OJ Simpson…at least he doesn’t steal from 7-11.
You should become the milk vigilante. RaceTrac has real milk at their coffee bars, but 7-11 is so awesome for so many reasons.
I’m sure if it became clear that people were ditching 7-11 in favor of places that provided real milk, something would change. I also wish I still had my 7-11 corporate connection. I could’ve sent a whisper their way!
7-11 doesn’t offer milk with their coffee because they don’t know how to keep it fresh for more than 24 hours. You see, they don’t believe in refrigerating it. It’s true, ask anybody who works there!!
Rondo, Like we really need another choice at the 7-11 coffee bar. Whatever happed to just regular and decaf. Now we have so many to choose from Hazelnut, vanilla nut, Blueberry (yuk) only for yogurt and pies. And to top that you have flavored creamers to boot additionally flavored syrups as well. Come on, recently 7-11 made a move to eliminate their grinders for the exclusive regular brew. Now it comes prepackaged and in no way does it taste the same. I have been drinking 7-11 Brew for over twenty five years. The biggest and most disappointing move next to the grinders was changing from Styrofoam to paper cups. I can imagine some corporate eco freak got a big bonus for that idea…(green BS) Well anyway I only drink 100% Columbian now with a little creamer and sugar and BTW I don’t like milk in my coffee.
I was at my local 7-11 when I noticed a man going over to the milk section of the fridge. I waited to see if he was going to be a milk thief
Instead, I saw that he grabbed a half-gallon of milk labelled “For Coffee”, poured some into his coffee cup, then returned the milk to the fridge. Must be a local store decision to offer that option :/
Betty, no way!
My local 7-11s most definitely don’t have that feature. I will suggest it though.
Craig, I understand your frustration. I dig the regular coffee too. But, milk is a fundamental condiment compared to the flavor syrups and what-not.
I need me some milk.
I’ve also come to love 7-11 coffee. Stopped paying bukoo bucks for Starbucks years ago. Yay for my neighborhood 7-11! They keep a quarter gallon of milk in an iced canister. I agree, milk with coffee is a must!
I know who you really are! You’re Barrack Obama! Low -life extraordinaire. You need to be convicted and deported.
Where the hell do you live that 7-Eleven doesn’t have a Milk Caddy? You poor befuddled man. Visit NYC and enjoy the awesome goodness of Pakistani run 7-Elevens. It will make you weep.
Too bad for that 7-11. The manager had a chance to keep a happy customer. Someone who would be more than just a cup of coffee. It now includes the loss of sales of funyons and doritos. He would have made more money keeping a happy customer. It’s not like the milk you left would go bad. Someone else would still use it. Might even put them in a good mood to have milk for their coffee that they would buy some cheetos to snack on. Too bad for that store. Their loss.
I must confess—You are my hero!
learn to drink it black u pussy