Why do Luckin Coffee paper bags fail in heavy rain?

Persistent heavy rain across southern China, including Changsha and Wuhan, has left roads waterlogged, and customers picking up orders at Luckin Coffee stores report that paper takeaway bags tear and spill drinks before they get home. Complaints have flooded social media, with consumers asking the brand to improve packaging while store staff also struggle with flooded shops.

Luckin has long used paper materials for drink packaging. Under normal conditions customers rarely object and often call the choice eco-friendly, but during the rainy season the paper bag becomes a concentrated pain point, since delivery fees tend to run high on wet days and more people choose to collect orders themselves at the coffee store.

Southern China has recently been hit by persistent heavy rain, with severe waterlogging on roads in cities like Changsha and Wuhan, making it difficult for residents to get around and causing serious trouble for street-front shops. In such weather, a cup of coffee is a small comfort for office workers to stay alert and keep going—yet many customers who chose to pick up their orders at Luckin Coffee stores found that paper takeaway bags are extremely unviable in the rain, with coffee spilling into the downpour before they could even take a sip. Complaints and grievances about paper bags tearing have flooded social media, with consumers calling on the brand to improve its packaging, while store staff are equally miserable. This article examines the reasons behind this phenomenon and the voices from all sides.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

Recently, multiple regions in the south have been hit by heavy rainfall, with cities like Changsha and Wuhan shrouded in dense rain, severely disrupting residents' daily lives and often forcing them to wade through water to go out. Street-front shops have been equally hard hit, with water from the roads continuously pouring into stores. Office workers have had to find ways to drain the water to prevent large, immovable appliances from being soaked and damaged, while also standing in the water to make coffee for customers.

In such continuous rainy weather, office workers who can barely muster any energy especially need caffeine to perk themselves up. But delivery fees tend to be high on rainy days, so many people choose to pick up their orders in person, hoping to give themselves a little comfort as they commute to work or school through the downpour.

Yet no sooner had they stepped out of the Luckin store than the coffee in their hands slipped quickly from the rain-soaked paper bag, hitting the pouring rain with a "plop"—the entire drink was gone before they could take a single sip. Similar mishaps play out every rainy day, and many consumers sigh that it is simply too hard to safely carry a cup of Luckin home in the rain.

Luckin has long used paper materials for packaging drinks. Normally, consumers do not have much objection to this practice and would even praise it as "eco-friendly," but during the rainy season, paper bags become a concentrated pain point for users. Judging from feedback on social media, many customers who pick up drinks on rainy days have experienced coffee "escaping" from the bag, left to watch helplessly as their money goes down the drain.

Some also point out that even without the negative factor of rain, Luckin's paper bags are not particularly durable to begin with. As long as the drink is cold, condensation forms on the cup wall, and the moisture gets trapped inside the bag. Over time, the already mediocre paper bag gradually softens, and the coffee inside may successfully slip out of the bag under the force of gravity.

Summer is inherently a season of frequent rain, and suddenly encountering a downpour while walking on the street is common. Under such weather conditions, Luckin still using paper bags for packaging leaves many consumers puzzled. They have suggested that Luckin could learn from other chain brands like Manner by putting a "plastic raincoat" over the paper bag when it rains, or simply switching to bags made of other materials, to prevent serious damage during use.

What leaves customers helpless, however, is that feedback and complaints about paper bags being damaged by water are everywhere on social media, and Luckin staff also say they are on edge every rainy day, often receiving negative reviews about takeaway bags getting soaked and falling apart. But the brand seems to have never adopted suggestions for improving the bags. In response to consumer complaints, it merely has staff remake a cup or refund the order as an apology, without addressing the root problem reflected in the complaints.

Admittedly, compensation methods such as remaking a cup or issuing refunds or coupons can make users who could not take a single sip of coffee due to a ruined paper bag feel somewhat better. But consumers believe Luckin should also listen more to their demands, consider users' actual experience, and upgrade the paper bags that cannot withstand the weight of rainy days.

Luckin's employees also hope the brand can find ways to make these takeaway bags more durable, so that offline stores can have fewer complaints and negative reviews this rainy summer.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet. For some content on the website, such as images, we will respect the original authors' copyright and credit the source. However, due to the large volume, some images and text may not have been credited in time; we ask for your understanding. If the original author has any disputes, they can contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will correct it immediately. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Workshop." Please indicate the source when reposting. If there is any infringement, please inform us for removal. Thank you~!

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.