Niles Canyon Railway sells hot cocoa, hot spiced apple cider, and coffee on our holiday season "Train of Lights". These are served at 140F to 160F, in 8 oz hot cups.

Last year we tested 6 different brands of insulated paper recyclable hot cups. Only "Ripple" insulated double-wall paper hot cups could be comfortably held for 10+ minutes without separate insulating sleeves. So we switched to Ripple cups and matching recyclable-plastic sip-thru lids.

The problem is that the lids are surprisingly difficult to apply. This is OK for many but not all of our volunteers. Does anyone know of a similar product with easier-to-apply lids?

Thanks! - Doug Debs
Commissary Manager
Pacific Locomotive Association DBA Niles Canyon Railway
Sunol, CA 94586
cell 650-704-1487

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-20261KRFT/Cups/Uline-Ripple-Insulated-Cups-12-oz-Kraft?pricode=WB1332&gadtype=pla&id=S-20261KRFT&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4OybBhCzARIsAIcfn9lRoWUgg4u78E7aUavJwefUFXv9S-RD-bCxzNwZ7EACm1ga5SSa3gkaAjNQEALw_wcB

As a retired person whose day job was working for a paper cup company (not the one you use), I have a couple of thoughts.

1. You probably don't want a lid that is too easy to apply, especially on a hot cup, because it might leak or come off.

2. Try this for applying the lid: don't try to push it down all at once. If you are right handed, hold the cup with your left hand, place the lid on top of the cup, and go around the outside top of the lid with your fingers, or with part of your palm, slowly pushing it down. You probably won't get it completely down the first time. You might have to do it 2 or 3 times, or until you feel that the lid is completely seated. That is ok because it will also serve as a check that the lid is completely on.

Hope this helps - Geoff

Is part of the issue that the lids are made of excessively-thin plastic and tend to "flex off" when the cup is picked up (and probably bent slightly out of "circularity" as it is lifted)?

A problem with those ripple cups is that there is very limited area for the 'skirt' of a proper lid to fit after the groove is seated down over the rim. That might imply that the lids have to be made 'tighter' for retention, which would make them difficult to get seated all the way around without trying to spring off at the other edge.

What happens if you put the cup on a firm surface and push down evenly with the fingers spaced around the circumference? That might be a quicker way to get lids to stop trying to escape during 'the rush'...

You might experiment to see if the dimension across the mouth of the ripple cup matches one of the other manufacturers' lids. That's not really much of a help, unless you have a supplier that would sell lids separately... but if you have volunteers who use cups but not lids at home, they might be able to 'stockpile'.

My method that works on different styles of cups - set the cup on the counter and place the lid over it. Using your thumbs together, press the lid down on the side closest to you and run them around the lid while pressing down a bit until they meet on the opposite site. Do a quick recheck running your thumbs back around toward you to make sure it’s completely down and… voila!

Support the cup with your fingers while pressing and don’t press hard enough to buckle the cup. After a few cups practice, you’ll be slamming’ lids like nobody’s business.

We have had trouble in the past with some cup manufacturers who make lids that are just a bit too tight to go over cups -- probably with the idea that it's a tighter pop-proof seal for very hot take-out beverages. Those can have a depressing tendency to 'derail' if the cup is squeezed and then fly off under tension, which is No Fun At All if you were trying to sip through the ridiculous hole at the time.

Something we found was that if the tops are stored in a very warm place, they soften a bit and are easy to get situated.

It is amazing the multitude of situations where a little heat make things work better.

Heat and Cold hold the industrial world together.