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About 30 years ago in Australia There was a competition at the local shopping centre. Spend $20 at any shop in the centre, show your receipt and you get a chanc
by lysp 8y ago
About 30 years ago in Australia There was a competition at the local shopping centre. Spend $20 at any shop in the centre, show your receipt and you get a chance to win the displayed car.
The chance involved folding a paper plane, and then trying to get it into the car through the sunroof. Which was only open a small crack.
A friend of the family tried about 5 times over the day and never got close.
They came back quite drunk at the end of the day to have one last go. Threw the plane and instead of going over the top of the car, it accidentally slammed directly into the front windscreen. It then rebounded straight up in the air and then dropped straight down through the sunroof.
They walked away with the car.
- rayiner 8y ago> They came back quite drunk > They walked away with the car. Hopefully they did walk.
- oconnor663 8y agoI believe the contest rules require you to floor it straight out of the mall (the "Left4Dead 2 clause").
- chipperyman573 8y agoWhat is the L4D2 clause? Google didn't return anything.
- KJKingJ 8y agoOne of the 'campaigns' in Left 4 Dead 2 involves driving a car that is on display in a mall through the doors. At speed. http://left4dead.wikia.com/wiki/Dead_Center http://left4dead.wikia.com/wiki/Dead_Center
- dragontamer 8y agoAny joke that revolves around driving cars inside of a mall needs a mandatory reference to the Blues Brothers mall chase scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l3CGibsWT8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l3CGibsWT8
- nocman 8y agoLOL! "this place has got everything!" Thanks for linking to that -- I've always gotten a kick out that scene. :-D
- bluGill 8y agoIn the rare case you win (there are legitimate win a car contests that are not trying to get your private information) there is a lot of paperwork to fill out. In the best case you would be sober before the paperwork is done.
- gregpilling 8y agoThere are companies that specialize in insuring risks like that. It is a whole sub industry of insuring unlikely to win contests. https://www.holeinoneinsurance.com/how-much-does-it-cost.html https://www.holeinoneinsurance.com/how-much-does-it-cost.htm...
- mathattack 8y agoIf I recall, there was a basketball one where the insurance company didn’t want to pay because the shooter had paid college ball. The team wound up paying to avoid the PR disaster.
- cobbzilla 8y agoYES! This was at a Chicago Bulls game in the late 90's iirc. I watched the game on TV. The shot was from the free-throw line to the basket on the opposite end of the court. The guy shot one handed, wheeling his arm around wide to throw the ball with a great arc. It took a few seconds to travel through the air, and from the moment he released the ball the crowd was silent - we could all see it was looking on-target. It went through the hoop! It barely nicked the rim on its way down, so after it went through it ricocheted hard to one side, in my memory it was a near 90-degree turn. The crowd went wild. Everyone was thrilled to finally see someone win that prize. I don't remember how much it was, but I do remember it was a very large cash prize. And then, like you said, the next day the prize company said they wouldn't pay because there was some stipulation that participants could not have played any pro or college basketball. Public sentiment turned harshly on the team - you see, to take away his prize would be to invalidate the joyful moment we all shared watching that shot. If he didn't win, what the heck did we just see? I don't know if the insurance company changed their minds or if the team just ate the cost of the prize, but it didn't take long for the Bulls to realize what was the right thing to do, and do it. Thanks for bringing back these fun memories.
- mathattack 8y agoThank You! I was pretty sure it was the Bulls but I couldn’t find it after 3 or 4 Google searches, and chalked it up to too much drinking in college.
- technofiend 8y agoThere's a furniture salesman here in Houston who makes heavy use of that sort of promotion. His latest if you spend $3,000 on a mattress and the Astros win the "2018 baseball final championship series" you'll be refunded the purchase price. Not sure why it's worded so formally; must be a legal thing.
- logfromblammo 8y ago$3000 on a mattress? WTF? How is that even possible for such a highly commoditized good?
- floatrock 8y agoFreakonomics podcast did an episode on it: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/ http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/ That's also exactly why Casper and a half dozen other upstarts have come out with the memory-foam mailed-to-you-in-a-vacuum-tube online mattress sales.
- mrbill 8y agoMy current mattress is a $900 kingsize Casper. It replaced a 10-year-old Tempurpedic that cost around $4K. The Casper is a better mattress in EVERY WAY so far (had it since 2015).
- fwip 8y agoThe conclusion of the podcast was "If you spend $800 you're probably safe, below that it's hard to know if it's good or awful. Above $1500 is too much."
- lotsofpulp 8y agoConsidering Marriott/Hilton/IHG requires their hotels to use a 10 year warrantied mattress that only costs $250-$300 each, I'd say even $800 is too high. Even though that's wholesale price, doubling should be enough to get a single unit price. People would be better off investing in some HIIT cardio excercise if they're looking for a good night's sleep. And eating less / more nutritious food.
- skizm 8y agoCrumple paper and throw? Or do they have to approve your paper plane design?
- sandworm101 8y agoTechnically, that is a different type of competition. That is an event at least partially based on skill rather than a pure-chance lottery. In places like Canada, and I suspect Australia too, such rules draw lines between competitions for prizes and a lottery subject to gambling rules. I'd bet that a suburban mall couldn't got a gambling license, but a paper airplane throwing competition is something else. It may seem silly but that small requirement does negate many of the evils associated with gambling. You aren't going to see someone dropping thousands on lotto tickets if they have to throw a paper airplane each time.
- lysp 8y agoI suspect 2 things. 1) Being Australia, the laws required it to be actually a competition and not a "chance for a chance for a chance". 2) Being 30 years ago, there is a less of a chance that people were simply trying to rip you off.