i bought this candy called “mallow-cup” and on the inside, there is a little cardboard insert, you know the kind that holds the candy together so it doens’t break in half on the shelf… on this piece of cardboard it says, “YOU MUST COLLECT 500 MALLOW-POINTS
in order to receive a $1.00 check” (yes, thats ONE WHOLE U.S. DOLLAR) … So i’m thinking one of these bad-boys must be about 250 mellow-points… then i look down at the bottom, and it says “5 mallow-points”… So i’m like… what the hell? That would mean you would have to
- actually purchase this product at least 100 times, (which would cost $85 at the price i got it)
- actually save all the cardboards
- mail them
- after you’ve received the check, drive to the bank and cash it, declaring your victory of winning the $1.00
there are a few problems here…first, is mailing. even under optimum circumstances (pretending the cardboards weigh nothing), it would cost at least 39 cents to mail, which means you would only get a 61 cent “profit”. The problem is, these things don’t weigh nothing. they are pretty big, i’d say the size of two business cards, and a little bit thicker. now I’m just estimating here, but let’s say it weighs .01 ounces, well… 10 of them = 1 ounce, 100 = 10 ounces. that’s over half a pound. any idea how much it will cost to ship half a pound via postal mail? i think it’s too heavy to put in an envelope, and it’s definitely more than a couple of stamps. So the shipping cost is probably in the range of $2. Plus the cushion mailer (another dollar) Which has already exceeded the “profit” by a factor of three.
But there’s also the problem of redemption. Unless you walk to the bank, you will have to spend gas money to get there to redeem your prize. Let’s assume an average bank-distance of 3 miles. Including the return trip home, this will be a 6 mile drive. Let’s say your car gets an average of 20 miles per gallon, this will be 30% of a gallon of gas. With Gas prices around $2.30 right now, the trip to and from the bank would cost about 69 cents in gas.
This means you will have spent approximately $4.08 (on average), to redeem your $1, which results in a net gain of negative $3.08
and that’s not including the fact that you bought 100 chocolates.
what the hell, mallow-cup candy marketing guy? is this your idea of a way to excite/motivate people and encourage them to buy more of your product? dude, you’re stupid. the prize should be like $10 or $20 or at least something cool like an autographed picture of you with your head up your boss’s ass.
what the hell?
Well I guess with your wars over oil to keep the prices down you can all afford it 
