It is not just a packaging material to be thrown away, but it is treated like a limited edition brand goods, and used transactions are actively taking place.
On the 11th, local media such as Chinese Network and Hongseong Newspaper reported, “Recently, Chinese MZ generation has been steadily collecting milk tea cups, holders, and paper bags from brands.”
When you search for “Milk Tea Cup Holder” and “Milk Tea Cup” on used platforms, hundreds of posts appear. Prices range from low-priced products of 1 yuan to 50 yuan, and limited-edition paper bags are so popular that they are traded at 100 yuan.
Zhou Dong, a college student who is an animation fan, said, “I’m only collecting the ‘Naza’ series separately,” and his friend Wang Xiao Xiao said, “Crayon Shin-chan can’t stop me, so it’s fun to collect the series.”
An office worker named Jusz started collecting paper bags last year and has collected more than 1,000 pieces. “When a brand introduces a new product, I purposely bought three to four cups of paper bags,” Jusz said with a smile. “These days, I don’t even drink milk tea when I don’t see a new product.” Jusz said he earned 800 yuan by selling his collected paper bags. Limited edition is said to be traded at around 15 to 30 yuan.
Another office worker, Mr. Fox, has more than 200 paper bags. He described it as “a hobby of collecting unique designs like stamp collecting,” and said, “I made about 100 yuan by selling unique limited edition paper bags.”
As milk tea brands strengthened their collaboration and limited-edition strategies, packages began to be consumed like goods, said Shun, an advertising industry worker. “This craze has created a new marketing direction for the beverage industry.”
Psychologist Ning interpreted these hobbies of young people as a way to relieve emotions. He explained, “Blind boxes, gold collections, milk tea cups, etc., are natural psychological phenomena that try to alleviate anxiety or stress through daily collection activities.”
SAM KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
