Target employees say they’re being fired for strange reason: Stanley cups

In another chapter of the Stanley cup saga, Target employees are now the latest casualty of a trend that is skyrocketing in popularity. The retail giant has allegedly been firing its workers for purchasing limited-edition Stanley cups, a beloved drinkware product customers have been throwing hands and earning mugshots for.

A user on reddit, who claims that they work for Target, made a post on the platform alleging that a plethora of their co-workers have been fired for purchasing a Starbucks Stanley cup, which is a rare edition of Stanley’s famous insulated Quencher tumbler.

“Was just walking into work today and a fellow coworker started walking with me,” wrote the user in the post. “They were telling me about how they posted their shift and no one picked it up and I made a remark that it’s crazy since hours are low, you’d expect someone to pick it up. They then informed me that four or five of our fellow coworkers were also just fired for purchasing Starbucks x Stanley’s. I guess they hid them and then purchased. Remember team, is a cup really worth your job?”

On Jan. 3 Starbucks x Stanley Quenchers were released in a few Starbucks stores inside Target locations across the U.S., causing large crowds and chaos from customers looking to purchase the novelty cup. The cup sold out at multiple locations in minutes, and Starbucks has confirmed that it will not restock the product.

The sold-out cup is originally priced at $49.95, but resellers are reportedly selling it online for hundreds of dollars.

A chunk of other users have recently taken to X to share that Starbucks Stanley cup has also been the source of their firing from Target.

A user on X, who claims that they were a Target employee, revealed that they were fired for purchasing the Starbucks Stanley cup while they were on the clock.

welp I got fired from target for buying the stanley cup while working ��

love working double my schedule constantly, not calling out, to be terminated over a cup bc I was unaware of the policy

Princess Peach still sipping tho �� pic.twitter.com/jv3uxqVu9L— Sunay�� (@PrincessSunay) January 11, 2024

The user also claims in another post that the company considers the cup to be “high profile” and that it did not make its employees aware of that. They also allege in a follow-up post that Target doesn’t give its employees a “physical copy” of the extended version of the policy in the employee handbook.

According Target’s employee handbook, which was obtained by Business Insider, employees “cannot use their status to gain an unfair advantage over guests when it comes to purchasing merchandise.”

Insider also reveals that Target’s employee handbook bans employees from making purchases when on the clock and that the “unacceptable purchase of promotional and/or high demand merchandise” is not allowed.

Target did not immediately respond to TheStreet’s request for comment.