ID Required to Purchase Tea at Shanghai's Most Popular Tea Shop
Hey Tea has been causing quite a stir lately, with long queues and wait times of up to 6 hours. Things have been so crazy they had to impose new regulations at all of their stores, requiring customers to show their ID cards for purchase, and allowing a maximum purchase limit of 2 cups per day.
Requiring ID should help minimize the presence of the many Huang Niu, that have been occupying the line. These scalpers would wait in line, by dozens of teas and then sell them for up to three times the cost to those unwilling to wait. Prices for buying tea from the Huang Niu costs RMB60 for a tea valued at RMB20.
Past regulations to control the long queues include imposing a maximum order of 6 cups of tea per person, and the exemption of queuing for pregnant women.
Chinese social media netizens likened this situation to purchasing an apartment in Shanghai, which has some of the strictest rules in China.
Here are some of the jokes netizens are making:
Queuing is like waiting 5 years to pay off social security before buying an apartment
Single people can only purchase 1 cup of Hey Tea, only married people can buy the 2 cup of HeyTea
Others liken the situation to traffic control
Purchasing hi-Tea on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays if your ID card ends in odd numbers, or purchasing Hi-Tea on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday when your ID card ends in even numbers.
Some even joke the queuing situation is like a lucky draw
Putting your ID number in a large box and hoping to be the winner of a lucky draw
Hey Tea is expected to open its third store tomorrow in Tianzifang at Ase Plaza (618 Xujiahui Lu) , so you better show up early if you want to catch the action.
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