Coffee lovers, rejoice! Dunkin’ Donuts is giving away free 16 oz. cups of iced coffee today—unless you look under 18 and don’t have identification. Tipster Carolyn watched with disbelief as workers at the Dunkin’ Donuts at 1433 2nd Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side refused to serve two high school seniors who didn’t have identification.
Carolyn writes:
I walked into the Dunkin’ Donuts and there were three people ahead of me in line. The first two were two girls, who were together. One asked for a free iced coffee, and the guy behind the counter asked her for ID.
She asked why he needed it, and he responded that she had to be over 18 to receive the free coffee. She asked if he was serious, and said she didn’t have any ID.
At that point, those of us behind her in line started saying that we’d never heard of that rule, and I said that I’m a high school teacher and many of my 14-year-old students today had gotten free iced coffee.
He replied that he didn’t make the rules, and the girls left.
The woman ahead of me and I then pulled out our IDs to get our coffee, but he said he didn’t need to see them, it was just that those girls looked so young to him.
How odd! Let’s look at Dunkin’ Donuts Brand Marketing Officer Frances Allen’s description of free iced coffee day:
We look forward to treating everyone to a free cup of our delicious, freshly brewed iced coffee on May 15.
Not everyone who look over 18. Not everyone with ID. Everyone!
We called the Dunkin’ Donuts on 2nd Avenue and said that we were 17 and in need of free iced coffee. They told us to get lost, adults only. For the hell of it, we called two more Dunkin’ Donuts’ down the block. Neither is carding customers, and one told us to “bring the kids.”
According to the corporate office, free iced coffee day is for everyone. They’re trying to track down the franchisee to work out a solution. Another free iced coffee day seems in order. Kids only.
(Photo: cheesebikini)
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Ridiculous. I would have told the cashier to shove it as soon as they asked me for ID. I refuse to show ID for anything unless required by law. That includes video games, coffee, correction fluid, permanent markers, and whatever other bologna stores have come up with.
Talk about rule-bound (idiots)! And there was no rule…
WTF! It’s only coffee!
At the D&D in Jersey city’s journal square today, they were out of ice. we brought our own.
@mrearly2: Sorry buddy, I wasn’t raised by wolves. Where I came from and when I grew up (you must be young no doubt) kids sipped Ovaltine not Maxwell House.
Yawn…to each his own really. If you find nothing wrong with it then by all means get the Columbian tankers flowing and serve your kiddies up a double shot of Espresso with their mac n’cheese and chicken fingers. Your little Juan Valdez, Jr. will love you for it.
The’ve got every right to ask for ID. Customers have every right to refuse, but they aren’t entitled to a free iced coffee if they will not comply with the terms of the promotion.
@Git Em SteveDave:
It’s not a “rule”. Please try to read the article before you comment.
ClayS, it wasn’t in the promotion in the first place, they’re just spewing a bunch of BS because they don’t want to lose money.
Saydrah, It was more than one Red Bull, and it can happen anywhere. In my opinion, the kids lucky it was in school where there was someone who could treat him.
All it was is a cheap a** franchisee and/or manager that realized they were giving away a lot of coffee to minors and decided and came up with an excuse to not have to anymore. I’m sure they could care less about your allergies or espicially your health at Dunkin Donuts.
I saw a couple of kids who could not possibly have been older than 8 drinking iced coffee outside a Dunk’s last evening.
EIGHT!
my mom would have slapped me if I tried to drink coffee when I was 8.
@Saydrah: Hmm… some parenting can take care of that.
@Git Em SteveDave: And thus violated his agreement with DD.
@linbey: I don’t think so. If that was the case, then shouldn’t the teacher writing this be at work at the time? And even if it’s lunch time, when I was in HS, we were allowed to leave school property to get lunch that wasn’t cooked in the dungeon.
@B: Hang upside down for a while each day, you’ll be fine.
@Lambasted: Ovaltine tastes nasty.
@ClayS: Show me where it said that you need to be a certain age or show ID to get your free iced coffee.
Everyone who is wigging out over coffee for kids:
Isn’t it much much better than them chugging soda? I believe soda/coffee have similar amounts of caffeine and at least coffee doesn’t come loaded with sugar (unless you add it) or chemicals.
Ideally, sure, we want them drinking water/orange juice/V8, but if they are going to drink something that’s bad for them, I’d rather it be coffee than soda.
@Brewtang: Of course, franchisees looking to save money had other options as well. In an echo of the recent Ben & Jerry’s story, the normally-open-until-9PM Dunkin Donuts nearby was closed at 7:45 PM when my wife stopped by.
How close was the outlet to a high school? I could just see what would happen to a DD across from a school once word got out about free anything. No one else would be able to get anything, free or not. Just a way to keep the HS crowd from overwhelming the place. Not cool, but kinda like the malls that limit the hours teenagers can hang out.
i was done with dunkin donuts when i found out they were fucking small franchisees out of their businesses. i hope this added bad pr takes out the third engine and they tailspin into the ground.
fuckers.
@catnapped:
1. Do not feed the trolls.
2. Do not pretend to be the trolls to feed the anti-trolls.
3. Don’t confuse the new posters who don’t understand the joke.
That is all.
I’m confused. I didn’t even ask for a free cup of iced coffee and I most certainly don’t look under 18.
Damn these headlines.
/sarcasm
This kind of shit just pisses me off. Someone, ANYONE, near this asshat store…please stop by, buy 3 coffees, and then ACCIDENTALLY spill them all over the counter!
@Git Em SteveDave: That doesn’t make sense. If someone knew that they had a peanut allergy why would get get coffee in the first place? As long as somewhere it is posted that it may contain peanuts then there is no liability. It’s free coffee for everyone so by checking their ID, to me that’s a form of discrimination. That’s the liability they should watch out for!
@Git Em SteveDave:
LOL. What is wrong with you?
Too far yet, slaves?
@takotchi:
YOUR PAPERS PLEASE!
The dude was trying to get thier address so he can stalk them.
@takotchi: But some stores are required to check ID for video games, which is the law, so, by that definition you do show your ID for video games.
@jsttheman: Actually, it isn’t the law. If it were a law, they could be fined for allowing children to buy M rated games. The ESRB is a non-government sponsored body that provides recommeded ratings for games. It is the same as for movies. It is only enforceable in the manner of kicking the person who “violated” the “rule” out of your establishment. No one can be arrested for it (unless you didn’t pay for the 2nd movie you were trying to watch…in which case it is considered theft if you get caught)
@midwestkel: I rather think you may have a good hint there…although, they did verify with the store’s management that this was their policy (and not the policy of Dunkin’ Donuts corporate)
BTW…not sure why anyone consumes anything from DD…their stores are typically the filthiest I have ever encountered…
Correct me if I’m wrong, but are there any U.S. jurisdictions where you can’t legally serve minors coffee? I think in this case, it’s more a truancy/anti-teen issue than an unspoken “coffee drinking age.”
If the idea is to keep caffeine away from kids and teens, then you’ve got the entire soft-drink industry to deal with.
I find miserable people who have crappy jobs LOOOVE asking for ID.
I think it makes them feel important, I guess.
I was in my school’s computer lab, and this lab “tech” demanded to know why I had my laptop plugged into the ethernet switch on the wall.
“Because I just rebuilt my kernel and I haven’t gotten my wireless drivers working yet.. but don’t worry, this switch is on the same network segment as the school’s wireless network, so it doesn’t matter since I am authorized to have my laptop on -this- network.”
He replies “Uh, umm, that use of a computer resources is illegal! Lets see some id or I am calling pubic safety!”
“LOL, you’re funny. I am done anyway, keep it real, dude”
“Come back here and show me ID or you’re in trouble!”
“Bye!”
Why aren’t you carrying ID? Come on.
I’m surprised the teacher isn’t freaking out over pumping kids full of caffeine and sugar. =)
Still screwed up though. When I was still a teen I always got discriminated against because I looked too young to ever take anything seriously. -_-
@dequeued: Good response! LOL!
Coffee is a drug.
Cheap franchise owners, what’s the big deal?
Corporate makes a promotion.
Franchise doesn’t like it.
Franchise tries to find ways to get out of it.
Customer probably doesn’t notice.
Franchise keeps a liiiiittle more money.