$329 for a Starbucks x Stanley tumbler? Why it's not weird people are fighting over cups.
Amelia Robinson is the Columbus Dispatch's opinion and community engagement editor.
Who knew pink and red drinking vessels could cause so much commotion?
We all did.
The Starbucks x Stanley Quencher is far from the first product to cause retail madness, and it won't be the last.
That's why shaking your head that people were willing to swarm Target for the limited-edition cup may say more about you than the people willing to battle it out for the cup that retailed for $50 and is now reselling for $329 and more on eBay.
Judging other people's spending is not reserved for cup buyers.
Some shook their heads Taylor Swift and Beyoncé fans who were willing to pay big bucks to see the Eras and Renaissance tours.
Some of those same people will shell out top dollar for Super Bowl tickets or an Apple Watch.
The Valentine's Day Stanley tumbler is not our first rodeo
Long before the tumbler was a twinkle in its creator's eye, I was a little girl who really, really wanted a squashed face doll with yarn hair and big thumbs.
For weeks before Christmas 1983, I remember laying on our living room floor and circling Toys R Us ads for Cabbage Patch Kids that came with my hometown newspaper.
I could only hope my mother or/and Santa would get the hint.
My mom did. She scraped up enough money and fended off ravenous Cabbage Patch Kids seekers to purchase an official doll for me.
Hot cup: The new pink Starbucks x Stanley cup is selling out fast
I still have and cherish it.
It is far less violent, but scenes of frenzied shoppers trying to buy the Stanley cup — the result of a limited Target and Starbucks collaboration — are reminiscent of the Cabbage Patch riots of fall and winter of 1983.
Not sure if anyone lucky enough to get their hand on a Stanley tumbler will cherish it 41 years later, but maybe I am wrong.
It is clear many people really, really wanted the tumbler for themselves — not their kid as was the case with my mother and the rabid parents she encountered (for the record, my mom got my doll fair and square while avoiding the riots).
Still, the so-called "Galentine's Day" tumblers would make wonderful Valentine's Day gifts for water lovers — hint, hint.
Are the limited-edition Stanley cups being sold in Columbus?
Good luck finding one and paying for it.
According to the company's website, they are currently out of stock at Columbus area Target stores.
A representative for Starbucks told PEOPLE that the cups will "not be restocked" where they have sold out.
What do the Stanley cup, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl have in common?
As with the Cabbage Patch Kids doll craze and other fad obsessions, the Starbucks x Stanley Quencher chaos is the result of low supply and high demand. The same can be said about nearly every other hot item from housing to seats at a fancy restaurant.
It is very easy to make fun of people willing to pay that kind of money for a cup, but it is neither fair nor square.
What it is is judgmental and perhaps more than a little hypocritical.
What made Stanley cups so popular? Stanley cups have people flooding stores and buying out shops. Why?
It may seem frivolous to you, but people want to do things that make themselves happy.
That thing maybe drinking from a hot cup, seeing Taylor Swift or Beyoncé perform or cheering on the Brown - fingers and toes crossed- at the Super Bowl.
One woman's Stanley Galentine's Day tumbler is another's Eras tickets.
One woman's Eras tickets is one man's $5,495 Playstation 2 "Call of Duty: Finest Hour."
Who saw the Cabbage Patch Kids, Slinky, creepy Furby robots, iPhone or any of America's other past obsessions coming?
God only knows what will be next.
People want what they want even if it just looks like another pink cup or squashed faced doll to you.
Amelia Robinson is the Columbus Dispatch's opinion and community engagement editor.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Why Target x Stanley cup craze and Taylor Swift have a lot in common
