I drink one, maybe two mugs of coffee a day. I have three mugs that I drink out of, all were part of one office gift bag or another and all are over 15 years old. Today I decided to buy myself a new coffee mug. It needed to be at least 12 oz, ceramic and straight-sided. I had a hard enough time drinking out of those curvy-lipped cups before my face fell, now they are impossible. So I popped over to Amazon, put in my parameters and. . . $22? For one single mug? Sorted low to high and the cheapest mugs were $7-- all white with the dumbest “humor” printed on them.
This brought me to the realization that I have never actually purchased a coffee mug AND I have pretty specific requirements for one considering I have never purchased a coffee mug: Straight, ceramic and not dumb. I would also like to add pleasing to look at. And for it to be under $5. Beggars can’t be choosers they say and I say ‘fuck that noise!’ Am I the only one or do most people drink out of to-go cups and couldn’t care less?
We have a lot of mugs. Some were as little as $1 found many years as a Dollar Store in Freehold Mall. Good ones with Grateful Dead pictures on them. We still have 2 of those. We’ve picked up mugs over the years as vacation/business trip trinkets. So upwards of maybe $15.
The Halloween & Xmas stores post-Holiday is actually a good place to pick up a fun bargain coffee cup.
It really depends on how much aesthetics matters to you. If all you want it a big straight-sided mug, go to a second-hand shop like Good Will. They might have a logo on them but they still hold coffee just fine.
Also, shop sales, in places like Target. $22 is an average price for a single mug, but I pay more, for a handthrown pottery one, and my husband, who likes cheap multiples of such things, drinks out of $12 generic white mugs I got at Cost Plus.
We, too, have a lot of mugs. My husband does a lot of community work in Brooklyn and venders are always giving him gift bags and gift bags a whole lot of times come with mugs. About 5 years ago I had had enough with all the dang mugs. We had no room in our cupboards for anything BUT cups, so I threw away every single mug with even the littlest ding, chip or crack. This was before I found the cheapskate’s pleasure that are thrift stores. I don’t need a new mug, I just want one. However $22 seemed a bit much for an unnecessary whim.
I have never paid for a coffee mug. I’m 52, and I have probably that many mugs floating around the house, and I don’t drink coffee. My folks got me a dozen LL Bean mugs, oh 10-ish years ago, back when I drank coffee.
Maybe back in college I got a winnie-the-pooh mug for a girlfriend. I still have it. Honestly can’t remember if I got that or she did. Poor Winnie got scorched by being too close to a welder at a set construction shop and now is kinda charred. But looks cool. BTW, welding slag in coffee is not tasty.
There is no real reason I stopped with coffee. Not worth the bother to me.
Honestly, neither have I. I have coffee mugs from gift bags, gift coffee mugs that came filled with cookies or hard candy, coffee mugs I got from speaking to groups (my sentimental favorites), and so on.
I understand the dollar store carries them, though.
I’ve a huge collection of free/gifted mugs that I never use, because I get this style of mug instead:
16 oz and double-walled glass. $22 for 2. Totally inappropriate for your requirements, of course. But the glass looks nicer, keeps things hotter for longer, and stays cleaner. And it doesn’t have any cutesy sayings or pictures on it, which I find a bit tedious now.
