What are coffee shops facing in delivery coupon abuse?

A milk tea shop employee shared a delivery order containing one cup of milk tea plus three toppings, with a note asking staff not to pack the separately packed taro balls and gardenia jelly because a refund would follow. The customer added the items to reach a coupon threshold, then planned to return them, a pattern known as the add-on refund trick.

The practice began on e-commerce platforms during shopping festivals such as Double Eleven, where shoppers add items to hit full-reduction thresholds and then return the unwanted categories. Its arrival in tea beverage delivery puts merchants in a difficult spot, since platform rules can favor the buyer while staff absorb the cost and waste of preparing and discarding the extra items.

During the Double Eleven shopping festival, many consumers, in order to use platform coupons, adopt a method of adding extra items to reach the discount threshold and then requesting a refund, so as to buy their desired products at a lower price. This practice, known as the "major promotion add-on refund trick," was originally mostly seen on online shopping platforms, but has now quietly appeared in the tea beverage delivery industry. Recently, a milk tea shop employee posted a customer order, with a note requesting not to pack the toppings separately and intending to request a refund afterward, which left the employee and netizens stunned. The incident sparked widespread discussion, with netizens both curious about the feasibility of the operation and expressing sympathy for the merchants and employees. This article will recount the incident and analyze the platform rules and industry dilemmas behind this phenomenon.

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During shopping festivals such as Double Eleven, in order to meet the threshold for using platform coupons, some consumers will first add multiple designated items to their cart, complete the order, and then return the categories they do not need, thereby securing their target products at a more cost-effective price.

This practice, called "major promotion add-on refund," is now commonplace on major e-commerce platforms and is a routine move for many "bargain hunters" when trying to reach full-reduction thresholds. But what was unexpected was that this money-saving trick of adding items and then requesting refunds has actually spread to the tea beverage delivery sector.

Recently, a milk tea shop employee posted on social media a delivery receipt received by their store. Besides 1 cup of milk tea, the order also listed 3 portions of milk tea toppings. At first glance there was nothing unusual, but when the eye moved to the notes column, the sentence "Do not send the separately packed taro balls and gardenia jelly, I will request a refund later, thank you!" instantly stunned the employee, who said bluntly, "I was shocked when I saw it."

Interestingly, this astonishing move by the customer also amazed onlooking netizens. Some netizens analyzed that the customer most likely wrote this note in order to "use a coupon to reach the full-reduction threshold by adding items, and then refund the topping money afterward," thereby achieving the effect of "using the coupon and saving money at the same time."

Unexpectedly, bargain hunters have directly transplanted the "add-on refund trick" commonly seen on online shopping platforms onto milk tea delivery orders, leaving milk tea lovers who usually have to buy a cup of "milk tea eight-treasure porridge" just to reach the minimum delivery amount exclaiming in amazement, while also wondering whether such a request could actually succeed. "This kind of request probably wouldn't be agreed to, right? Otherwise it makes me look silly for adding two or three packs of tissues to reach the threshold."

As to whether a "topping refund" can work, some pointed out that the customer is actually exploiting a loophole in the delivery platform's rules: as long as the refund list does not include the main product, after applying for a partial refund, the order itself and the coupon remain valid. In other words, after receiving the drink, the customer can indeed initiate a "topping refund" through the platform and ultimately drink a cup of milk tea that originally "did not meet the full-reduction threshold."

However, this carefully calculated money-saving maneuver did not win the approval of onlooking netizens, but instead aroused sympathy for the merchant. "The service industry is really too difficult now, there are all kinds of people," "Oh my god, this kind of thing is terrifying." They said that although "adding toppings to reach the threshold and then requesting a refund" allows customers to both enjoy the discount and spend less, for the store it not only means being taken advantage of, but also adds an unnecessary after-sales refund process.

In addition, in the eyes of netizens, this money-saving maneuver is also making things difficult for milk tea workers. Generally speaking, most milk tea shops try their best to satisfy customers' not-too-unreasonable drink requests and provide a good service experience. But with requests like "add items to reach the threshold and then request a refund," if the store agrees, it not only fails to comply with production standards, but may also encourage more people to imitate it.

But if they directly refuse or ignore the note and make the drink according to the order contents as usual, employees inevitably worry about receiving a bad review or complaint from the customer afterward. Therefore, amid the shock, many milk tea workers helplessly said, "Please don't let this spread."

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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