One of the main complaints about McDonald’s collectible cups is that customers end up receiving the same cups over and over again, which is especially frustrating for customers who want a specific design or all six of the designs. One TikTok user even went so far as to bribe a McDonald’s employee to get a Hello Kitty cup.
TikTok user Leighton (@leighton742) thinks there’s another way to secure the cups you want, and she shared her method in a video that’s now had 3 million views.
“Are you looking for a specific McDonald’s cup?” she asked, pointing to a pile of collectible cups on the table. “I’ll show you how to tell which is which without opening the bag, so you can exchange it for another cup.”
She pointed to the numbers on the bottom of the packaging. “There’s a number on the bottom of the bag,” she said. “Each cup has a number on it.”
What are the six codes?
The content creator shared the codes for all six designs.
- Ty Beanie Babies: 55069724
- McDonald’s: 55017624
- Shrek: 55059324
- Coca-Cola: 55029924
- Hello Kitty: 55038324
- Hot Wheels & Barbie: 55049324
hacking
“So the trick to how you get those is to go into the store and say, ‘Hi, I’m looking for a specific cup, I just need a couple more,'” Layton instructs.
She says being polite to the employee and asking if she can see the code worked: “Look at the code and put it back in. Be careful as a lot of codes have misaligned numbers so be careful you don’t get a duplicate. Good luck,” she concluded.
Leighton explained how she came across the hack.
“My boyfriend and I bought three different cups and I wondered if there was a way to tell the packaging apart – and there was! I then Googled it and found that someone on X had posted all the cups and their codes,” she told Daily Dot in a direct message on TikTok.
This trick ensures she doesn’t accidentally receive duplicates, she says.
“Luckily, I didn’t have any duplicates the first time I went, and then after I learned the ropes, I was able to get as many duplicates as I wanted! (Hello Kitty x Snoopy),” she said.
She said she is always mindful of her employees’ time. “It’s easy for me because I’m a very outgoing person and I’m not afraid to ask for something. I try to ask when they’re not busy. If it seems like too much of a bother, I say, ‘Don’t bother,'” she added.
Layton I hope this helps someone #McDonald’s #CollectorCup #Hello Kitty #Shrek ♬ Original Sound – Layton
The Daily Dot reached out to McDonald via press email.
Some viewers even tried out Layton’s tricks.
“It worked! Yay!” one of them said.
“They wouldn’t let me exchange it yesterday,” said another.
That said, requests for different cups appear to have different success rates — it all comes down to which location you go to and which employee you ask.
Internet culture is a mess, but we’ll give you the lowdown on it every day with a daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. hereWe deliver the best (and worst) of the Internet straight to your inbox.
