If you get your Starbucks coffee served to you in your own personal beverage container, you are given 10 cents off the cost of the coffee.

I always thought the purpose of the discount was to encourage people to bring their own cups and to save the company the cost of the paper cup.

As I watched today, the server poured the brewed coffee I ordered into a paper cup of the requisite size (heaven forbid I should get an extra ounce of coffee) and then poured from the paper cup into my mug. The paper cup was thrown away.

So now I'm left wondering why there's a discount for the personal cup.