It is three months into 2024 and the Stanley craze is over. What is happening to the prized cup that had people running through the aisles of Target? And why are they being spotted in local thrift stores?

The year began with a boom as Stanley dropped their limited-edition Valentine’s Day cups and their collaboration with Starbucks. It had people waking up at odd hours of the morning just to get in line. If a person was not aware about Stanley cups, they would have thought it was for a Black Friday sale. This craze got so big, that the tumblers started to resell on various resell sites for huge amounts of money. But now three months in, these cups are now being spotted in thrift stores like Goodwill, for as low as $5.99. And it is not like the cups look used or damaged or anything of that sort. The cups look new, like it had just been bought.

For these reasons, the cups are now spotted at thrift stores, but one of the reasons could be the fact that lead was found inside the cups. Yes, the prized cups that had everyone, both old and young going absolute bonkers for, had lead in them. It started when a mother tested a three-year-old Stanley cup for lead and discovered that her test came back positive for lead. This fact alone caused a ruckus as a lot of people have these cups on hand, so others decided to test theirs and the cups tested positive for lead. This information got so big that the company came out to reply to these allegations saying yes, its cups do contain lead but the cup needs to be damaged for the lead to be exposed.

Since the experts and the company now say that it is safe to use, as the lead is almost inaccessible, it should still be talked about as 1.) exposure to lead can and will cause a lot of problems from reproductive to cardiovascular problems and 2.) a lot of children are involved as a lot have gotten this cup as Christmas and New Year’s presents. So ultimately, though it is not a major worry, it should still be a cause for concern.

With these allegations comes the competitors. Due to these allegations, a lot of companies that are in competition with Stanley have brought up their own tumblers. These companies are now promoting them as lead-free as well as solving the other problems, such as that the quencher tumbler has leaking when tipped over and the loud noises it makes when placed on any flat surfaces. While I think it is a normal occurrence when steel meets a surface, this in turn shows that there are alternatives to lead which could be used.

All in all, it caused a debate online. Some people switched to other tumblers while others continued to use them as there was no alarming risk to using the cups. And the company themselves have said that they are testing and finding other avenues to replace the lead in their tumblers.