One
USPS
worker’s experience at Starbucks has created a massive controversy online. She revealed that she was denied a free cup of iced water after delivering a package to the coffeehouse in scorching heat. The woman shared that she just wanted to cool down a bit, but she was also denied that.
The mail carrier, who goes by @melaninglowaesthetics on TikTok, shared a bombshell video in which she filmed herself inside the postal truck with the overlaid text: “Imagine working out of a tin can in 100 [degree] heat, trying to stay alive, and walking into Starbucks for a cup of ice water, and they tell you NO!”
It is to be noted that
Starbucks
changed its open-door policy earlier this year. The establishment now requires all customers to purchase at least one item if they want to receive a complimentary cup of water or use the restroom.
In a follow-up video, the postal worker explained that it was really hot outside that day, and she was delivering the package to Starbucks only, so she requested the barista bring her a small cup of iced water.
“I am human. I show up everyday in extreme heat in my uniform in a truck with no A/C. I love my job, I love my customers, and I love my route. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have bad days,” she says in the TikTok video. She also revealed that when the barista stated the reversed open-door policy to her, she decided to buy some bottled water instead.
Although her first video has since been deleted from TikTok, it already sparked a massive backlash online. Many of her followers were shocked to learn that a frontline worker was denied a small cup of water at the establishment despite working in extreme heat for their package.
@Starbucks
during COVID everyone & they momma was calling our farm workers and our delivery drivers
@USPS
@UPS
+ Hero’s. fast forward and this is how y’all treating them in 2025! Excuse me?
OVER WATER.
#boycottstarbucks
not buying anything until you apologize and make it right
pic.twitter.com/CeLIsEuiCN
— Maritza (@maritzarosas25)
July 15, 2025
“A couple of years ago, we were all calling ‘essential workers’ heroes. Now we can’t give out a cup of water?” one person commented. The other wrote, “I think Starbucks can afford a cup of water!”.
A third raged, “A postal worker being denied water speaks so much to how low we have gone in humanity. I used to give mine Christmas gifts.” Another TikTok user wrote, “A carrier died from the heat we need to show each other more compassion.”
Starbucks got embroiled in another controversy recently over a cup of iced water. A barista at a Richmond, Virginia, Starbucks asked a woman to “get in line” when she asked for water for her husband, who was having a medical emergency.
Following the recent incident, Starbucks representative Jaci Anderson stated that although the new open-door policy remains unchanged, the company trains its employees to treat people with “empathy and kindness.”
