MacDonald's Coffee & My Religion

Brenya Green of Toronto was disappointed when McDonald's wouldn't serve her coffee in her reusable mug. (Submitted by Jenn Derbach)

Three years ago I wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper expressing my frustration that a MacDonalds fast food outlet had refused my request to have a coffee poured into my travel mug. The excuse was that they don't do this because the travel mugs can be too tall for their dispenser, even though the two guys ahead of me ordered jumbo coffees which were in disposable cups much bigger than my mug. Those cups appear to be paper but are lined with plastic so they aren't recyclable. 

In the letter and in a subsequent blog I claimed that it was "against my religion" to create waste unnecessarily. To do so was an affront to the Creator and I would be taking my business elsewhere, either to Tim Horton's or to independent coffee shops which seem to have no problem accommodating clients with mugs. 

That's what I did, rarely stepping through the door of a Mickey Ds, other than for the occasional kids meal for the grandlads. Unfortunately we had several experiences at Timmy's where the server poured the coffee into a paper cup, then transferring it to a mug. Arghh! At one take-out window I heard the supervisor telling a trainee to just pour it into a paper cup, then into a mug in a tone which made the request sound like an imposition. So, we seldom get coffee there either, and we don't go for other food either. 

This seems to be a dumb business model or practice for both chains. I notice, though, that MacDonald's is making noises about changing its  policy. Here is an excerpt from a CBC:

McDonald's Canada plans to change its general policy of rejecting reusable mugs, a practice that has angered customers for years. On Tuesday, the restaurant chain told CBC News that it hopes to have a new national policy in place by the end of February, which will allow customers to be served coffee or tea in their personal mug instead of a disposable cup. 

"We listen to our guests, and we know this is an area of growing importance to Canadians," said spokesperson Ryma Boussoufa in an email. The statement comes after CBC News first reached out to McDonald's in October, inquiring about customer anger over its current policy.

Hmm. They listen? I suppose they have, but not in a hurry, When I phoned MacDonald's customer service three years ago I was dismissed politely but quickly. I will congratulate the chain for finally coming around. Repentance, forgiveness, and grace are all essential to the Christian life. And seeing is believing. 

I should note that I got lots of positive response about my letter at the time, including from people who recognized me and stopped me on the street to express support. The lone negative response was a lengthy diatribe from a member of my congregation who claimed I had besmirched the sterling reputation of the local MacDonald's owner, even though I hadn't identified a location (it was Picton.) Hey, you win some...

Here is the link to my blog from 2017

http://lionlamb-bowmanville.blogspot.com/2017/02/why-im-hatin-macdonalds.html