Refillable cups have grown scarce

If you wanted one of those refillable drink cups from Kangaroo Express, you might be out of luck.

The cups, which cost $6.99 and give you refill rights to all the sodas and slushies you want through Sept. 5, are nowhere to be found in the Triangle.

Now the cups are going for as high as $40 each on craigslist.

Sarah Elliott, 24, of Raleigh is one of the craigslist resellers. A college student and waitress, she is something of an accidental entrepreneur. "My dad really wanted one for Father's Day," she explained.

When she came up empty-handed in the Triangle, she started dialing Kangaroo stations near and far until she found one in Lexington that had cups in stock.

"It was ridiculous," she said of the time and gas she spent.

Elliott hopes to recoup her gas money and pay for a semester's worth of textbooks with her profits.

She has had numerous inquiries, and no one is quibbling at her $20 price.

The Pantry, which owns Kangaroo Express, offered the promotion to raise awareness for its Salute Our Troops campaign. The Cary-based company's goal was to raise $1 million for the USO and other military support organizations through donations from customers who came in for the cups - or to get their free refills.

Scott Yates, who is handling public relations for the Pantry, said the promotion has exceeded expectations. Yates added that a quarter of a million cups were produced for the promotion.

The last 36,000 cups were shipped this week, Yates said. No word, however, on which of its more than 1,600 stores in 13 states will get them.