UPDATE: Dunkin' Donuts Mystery Lid Design

It's been several years since the last Dunkin' Donuts Mystery Lid post and I feel the need to look into this mysterious Dunkin' Donuts lid once again.

I have just one question that drives me NUTS about these lids: WHY???? Why is there such a need to overdesign such a simple, utilitarian object, the lid of a to-go cup?

Since I have lots of time to kill, I visited the Dunkin Donuts website and looked around to find some information that would satisfy my curiosity. First of all, I was wondering if they use the same lid for tea and other hot drinks of theirs. For this reason, I visited several popular places in Orange County, NY, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy airport where hot products, coffee, tea, etc., are sold.

At JFK, every kiosk had the same type of lid for both coffee and tea. Specifically, I visited one of the many kiosks at JFK's Delta terminal 2. Here they offer hot coffee and tea, cold drinks, and donuts.

On the left side of the kiosk, you can find the hot drink cups and lids.

Here is a top view of the lid. It is exactly the same one as all the other lids I've seen around NY state.

Say What?

I spend more time at the supermarket and it should be illegal. I loiter about the butcher or fishmonger's station and I strike random conversations with the employees there. I know, I have issues.

Today I was shocked with the language used to describe a type of cut of meat.

Please pay attention to the label because it says "Beef Round Round Cubes Boneless"

First of all do not throw into the mix Roundcube, the open source webmail software because it has nothing to do with meat and message I am trying to convey here. Keep reading if you want to learn more about the issue I am dealing with.


First of all, as a former math student and ancestor of many great mathematicians I was insulted with the notion of "round cubes." What would Euclid say? Minimally, as a former Greek citizen, I am OUTRAGED!

Dunkin Donuts Mystery Lid Design

I have been a Dunkin' Donuts fan and customer for 36 years, basically since I came to this country. I love their products, especially their coffee. I have been wondering, though, for several years already, about the functionality of their cup lids. Please keep reading and try to help me answer a question that has been bothering me for many years already.

Most people go to Dunkin' Donuts, buy coffee, consume their coffee and throw their cup away. Well, I don't do that. After having their coffee I hold on to the cup and I try to understand the mechanics of it by trying to get into the mind of the designer(s). What were they thinking when they were locked in a room designing the lid? What questions were formulating, their arguments, their counterarguments. their fears.

When I drive and I see a new Dunkin' Donuts store that I haven't visited before I always go in and buy a coffee and I try to mingle with the employees in an effort to learn more about the mystery behind the design of their coffee lids.

Here is a typical, traditional coffee cup with the lid attached to it available for customers that is simple and to the point. Please pay attention to the lid and the pull-back part that exposes a hole where you can sip the coffee. You pull back that part, push it onto the top surface of the lid and snap lock it there. The lid was designed to make the process easy by having perforations strategically placed along the pull-back part.

Here is that pull-back part locked onto the lid. The design is simple and to the point. You can drink your coffee time after time and you will not have any questions to grapple with. Period. 

Here is another coffee cup design from Dunkin' Donuts. Please note the pull-back part that is very different looking from the previous design.

This design is very similar but it is different. This lid has no perforations because it is separate from the lit itself. The floppy thing you can be pulled back AND pulled away form the lid! This is the lid that drives me nuts. The more I look at it, the more it bothers me and the more questions I generate.