Proper lid-seam positioning

It never surprises me how many times I go into a coffee shop and the person behind the counter puts the lid on with the mouth hole right next to the cup seam (pictured below). I don’t understand how someone can work in a coffee shop and not know that the leading cause of cup leakage is due to poor lid positioning. The most likely spot for lid failure is the point where the cup seam interfaces with the lid. To put that intersection right next to the mouth hole of the lid is just asking for trouble, and screams of ignorance. Once coffee breaches that point and gets outside the cup, there will be nearly an infinite stream of drips following it.

To help educate the people of the world, I have made a chart of the possible locations of the cup seam relative to the mouth hole. The regions are:

1) This is the best possible location for the seam. The drip-prone region is far from any exposure to sip level changes (mouth hole) and sloshing back motions caused by walking. There are two areas in region 1; right-handers should use the left position, and left-handers should use the right position. In the event of a leak, the coffee will then drop harmlessly to the ground instead of dropping on the carrying hand.

2) While not ideal, these locations are acceptable. The effort to change lid positioning (described below) is too much work to justify the benefits of moving the lid to position 1.

3) This is a danger zone, and should be fixed right away. The front two zones of region 3 will be problematic when initially drinking your coffee, as these regions will likely get submerged in coffee while the cup is full during sips. The back zone is also a poor position for the seam, especially if you are going to walk any distance. The sloshing back caused by walking will submerge this region and most likely lead to drips.

4) This is the worst possible scenario. The lid seam will almost always leak if it’s right under the mouth hole due to constant submersion in coffee. If an employee gives you a cup of coffee like this, immediately change the position and suggest the employee find another line of work.

There are ways to recover from bad lid-seam positioning. The best thing to do is remove the lid completely. Next, wipe down the rim of the cup and the inside of the lid with a napkin. Then, simply place the lid back in a better position. It is crucial to have a dry surface before putting the lid back on; if there is any coffee where the lid and cup form a seal, a leak will probably form.