In addition to these environmental benefits, these mugs add convenience and symbolize to college unity.  The mugs (with lids) are a much easier way to take drinks from the commons to classes, rooms, etc. with little fear of leaking or spillage.  These also have the potential for use at study breaks, parties, etc., further reducing costs and waste.

Jones College tested this idea during the 98-99 academic year and the project met with great enthusiasm (130 mugs sold out in 45 minutes).  The following notes are the process and lessons learned from the Jones project.  The whole project takes about 6 hours of time, plus however much time is spent seeking discounts on and off campus.  Many on-campus groups were willing to show support for the project in the form of drink discounts for mug-users.  An arrangement to charge mugs to meal plans was also made with College Food Service.

This project is relatively simple and very rewarding.  Please direct any questions, comments, or suggestions to the Environmental Intern.

How To Order College Mugs

1) Pick mug. After getting a catalog from a promotional items company (Trademark Promotional Products, in our case, (713) 680-3000, Renee Hamilton), decide on a mug. We selected one with a closable lid, large enough handle fit your whole hand in, and a bottom that will fit into a car cup-holder (the "Mug-2-Go", a 20 oz mug). Many colors of mug are available, so matching college colors shouldn't be a problem.

2) Decide on graphics. The screen wraps around from handle to handle, so you can cover about 300 degrees of the surface of the mug. You must pay for a different screen for each color, so the more colors, the higher the price. The company can take a variety of file formats (I used Photoshop format). You can save some art charges if you separate the colors yourself.

3) Decide on amount. The mugs come in cases of 48. The screen and art costs are paid once, so the more mugs you order, the more these costs are spread out.

4) Order mugs. Any company that does promotional items should be able to do mugs. We used Trademark Promotional Products ((713) 680-3000, Renee Hamilton). They will want you to approve the art before they send it to the printer, and the printer will want to send you a pre-production sample (a test mug to make sure it looks good on the mug) to approve before they do the whole order. It'll take 2-3 weeks for the mugs to arrive after you order them.

5) Work out discounts with sponsoring organizations (both on and off-campus). Write down what the exact discounts are to avoid confusion in the future and give each mug-buyer a slip of paper with the exact discounts when they buy the mug. Using meal plans to purchase mugs may also be an option (contact College Food Service).

6) Get mugs and sell them. The selling price per mug will vary with the number of colors, number of mugs ordered, and the subsidy from the college. For ease of sales, it's best to keep the price in $ increments, so you don't have to worry about coins. I would recommend charging at least something for the mugs (like $2), so people will value them. If you give them away for free, people will tend to not use them (but if they paid for it, they want to get their "money's worth").

Sample Order (for mugs ordered April '99):

Graphic: All purple logo on one side, College crest on other (4 colors total)

This comes out to a unit price of $4.86/mug. They were sold for $3 each and the rest was subsidized. Future mugs can be ordered for $3.69 each (in cases of 48), since the screens are saved.

Here's the info on the mug used at Jones:

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