ORWIGSBURG, Pa. — Your morning cup of joe may look a little different these days as local coffee shops look to find the perfect cup to pour it into.
Market Square Coffee House in Orwigsburg has been struggling to keep plastic cups and lids for iced drinks.
"I've looked on several online outlets and restaurant supplies online. I've gone to all of the local places I can look for. I've gone to restaurant supplies in Allentown and Reading, Wyomissing area," said owner Kristina Sadler.
Sadler says she found one distributor in Canada that sold plastic lids, but it will cost her and her customers a fortune.
"The price of the case of lids is double what it normally is plus a $90 shipping fee," Sadler said. "So it's not cost-effective. I would have to increase the price of a drink just to cover the cost of that by $1.50, and it's just not feasible."
Sadler believes she only has about a month left of plastic cups and lids before she runs out, and raising prices isn't an option.
So she's come up with another idea. She's asking customers to BYORC—bring your own reusable cup.
"I think having reusable cups and reusable-sort china and silverware would help to keep these places in a more financial place," said customer Nick Roman.
Just across the street from Market Square Coffee House sits Hair on the Square.
Employees told us things like cotton and gloves have gone up tremendously, causing the salon to raise prices on all services.
"At this point, you have to do what you have to do to stay in business, and the price increases are across the board from our suppliers to us, and it's anywhere you go now," said Sadler.
Small business owners are asking customers to be patient with them as they work through this.