Every once in a while generous consumers will “pay it forward” by buying their fellow customers coffee, diapers, lunch, or other items. These feel-good chains usually peter out after a few customers, but not for dozens of customers at one Pennsylvania Starbucks. [More]
pay it forward
Texas Man Hands Out $100 Bills To McDonald’s Employees
By 11.14.16
’Tis the season for random acts of kindness (not that you can’t do nice things for people all year): from the so-called layaway angels that will no doubt pop-up at retail stores to the coffee drinkers who will pay it forward. A man in Texas recently got the ball rolling on the 2016 season by handing out money at a McDonald’s. [More]
Dunkin’ Donuts Customers Pay It Forward Every Single Friday At Pennsylvania Drive-Thru
By 8.10.15
We’ve heard a good share of “pay it forward” stories at coffee shops and elsewhere, where customers ask to pay for the next person’s order, sometimes leading to a chain of people willing to brighten up a stranger’s day. But one Pennsylvania Dunkin’ Donuts has probably seen more of these pay it forward acts than others: the manager says it happens every Friday, no matter what, like clockwork. [More]
Alaska Airlines Employee Buys Ticket For Stranded Delta Passenger
By 3.23.15
Generally when people decide to pay it forward, it involves purchasing the coffee for the vehicle behind them in the drive-thru or covering the cost of diapers for the woman ahead of them at the register. For an employee of Alaska Airlines in Seattle it meant taking out her own credit card to buy a new plane ticket for another airline’s stranded passenger. [More]
400 People Continue Starbucks Pay-It-Forward Chain For 11 Hours
By 8.21.14
For about 11 hours, the customers of a Florida Starbucks kept a pay-it-forward chain going. Almost 400 cars each paid for the order of the customer behind them in line, continuing the chain from morning rush hour until dinner time. Are these chains inefficient? Sure. Do they brighten the day of both customers and employees? Generally. [More]
Stranger Offers To Pay For Fellow Walmart Shopper’s Diapers When They Cost More Than Expected
By 7.2.14
Usually when one hears a shopper has been caught on tape, the mind leaps immediately to troublesome behaviors we’ve seen in the past from bad consumers. That makes it all the more refreshing to see a stranger offer to pay for her fellow shopper’s purchase, after she’d realized she couldn’t get a price match on all four boxes of diapers and thus, could only afford one. [More]
Chick-Fil-A Pay-It-Forward Chain In Florida Lasts For 36 Cars
By 6.5.14
Very few things other than kittens warm the cold, hard hearts of Consumerist editors like in-store pay-it-forward chains. You know, where each customer in a drive-thru line offers to pay the bill of the person behind them in line. This miffs some people, but most take it in the spirit of community and awesomeness with which it’s intended. It’s happened yet again, at a Chick-Fil-A in Florida. [More]
450 Starbucks Drive-Thru Patrons Pay For The Next Customer’s Order
By 12.26.13
At a Starbucks in Connecticut, almost 450 drive-thru customers set off a chain reaction of caffeine and generosity over Christmas. A mysterious customer started the chain early on Tuesday, and it kept going until this morning. The store opened with $45 in the pay-it-forward fund this morning. [More]
Would You Order Something More Expensive If You Knew A Stranger Would Pay For It?
By 11.19.13
Upon first reading, the tale of woe from a person who is upset at getting a free coffee from a stranger — because he would’ve ordered something way more elaborate and expensive if he knew he wouldn’t have to pay for it — makes my face feel like exploding into a thousand tiny pieces of rage. Each of those pieces is screaming, “YOU UNGRATEFUL PIECE OF HUMAN GARBAGE!” But let’s think about this. [More]
