If you’ve been on social media recently, I’m sure you’ve seen a couple of limited-time drops from a bunch of companies. The first example that came to mind for me was the bear cups from Starbucks. When those cups dropped, there were people lined up outside stores for hours before opening, and literal fights broke out between customers over who would get the last ones on the shelves. To make matters worse, Starbucks didn’t supply each store with nearly enough cups to meet the demand, with some locations only receiving one or two cups total. Despite the chaos, Starbucks did a similar drop in July with a pink bear cup and a third drop on Sept. 15 with Snoopy-shaped cups. Another example of this is the 7brew squishy drop that happened in early September. Similarly, this caused insane lines and wait times at 7brew locations around the U.S.
why do these big companies keep doing these kinds of drops?
These drops are known as LTOs, or Limited Time Offers. This strategy works by encouraging consumers to act quickly by giving a deadline on a drop that seems appealing to them. In other words, if they really want a cute Snoopy cup, and maybe they missed the bear cup drop, they’ll have to wake up early and get to Starbucks before it opens in order to have a better chance at getting this LTO. Usually, a consumer will think before they buy. Some people will compare other options from other companies and take extra time before pulling the trigger on a purchase. By using LTOs, companies limit the amount of time the consumer has to think and look at competitors.
How do these LTOs affect workers?
When the original bear cups dropped at Starbucks, I remember watching countless TikToks (https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPLF9Muyp/ and https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPLF9X8FL/ are just some examples) from different perspectives of people storming the stores. As someone who works in fast food, I couldn’t help but think about the extra work and stress that the situation must have put on the workers. I saw multiple videos of customers yelling at the workers because that store had run out of cups. I also saw videos of shelves being knocked down or other displays being destroyed. The problem with these big companies is that they don’t account for the emotional distress that these drops cause. Instead, what the CEOs and higher-ups see is the rapidly-increasing profit and publicity due to the LTOs. That’s why these drops keep happening. But is it worth it?
I don’t believe that these drops are worth it. These big companies should be more conscious of the stress that they’re putting their employees under. In reality, these drops have happened, and will continue to happen for a long time. So, why is the response so crazy now? Well, in my opinion, it seems crazier because social media increases the public’s awareness of the situation. However, LTOs, such as Black Friday sales, have been around for a long time. When I was younger, my family and I would line up super early in the morning outside Target on Black Friday, and we would rush the store when it opened. Now that I’ve grown up, I’m more aware of the people around me, and I understand that what I would be running to get was just a thing, and it’s never that serious. It isn’t worth the employees cleaning the stores for hours afterwards or pushing through crowds just to get to a display a few seconds sooner.
I know these LTO drops will probably be around for a very long time, but I hope that people don’t lose their humanity over them. Think about that employee you’re yelling at; they’re getting paid minimum wage, and they didn’t choose to be sent a very low quantity of an LTO item. How would you feel in their position? Don’t forget your basic human empathy when running to a Needoh display or mystery dumpling box.
