Thursday, 10 January 2013 03:35 pm
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deckardcanineThis week I got my first mail from Publishers Clearing House, offering a chance to win $5,000 a week forever plus bonuses for meeting certain criteria. I'm not sure whether to enter.
I don't kid myself that the odds are as good as they make it sound ("Someone with your first and last initials will win!"), but I trust something as famous as PCH not to scam. While I've had no dealings with PCH before, it certainly doesn't look like the work of an imposter: The included envelope leads to their headquarters, they don't ask for any new personal info, and I don't have to pay even with a stamp. The most suspicious feature was that all the bonus cards -- two for scratching and one bingo square with stickers -- just "happened" to yield ostensibly positive results. It took me some time to figure out how PCH could afford such seeming generosity.
The mail contents hint strongly at the answer: ads that wouldn't look out of place in a Sky Mall issue. PCH appears geared toward people older than me, probably watching a lot of daytime TV. In all likelihood, submitting an entry, with or without victory, would lead to an increase in such mail. Even if I won, I wouldn't want what they're peddling. They'd just waste trees on me.
"Oh," you may say, "but isn't that a piddling price to pay for the potential prize?" To which I reply, first, nice alliteration; and second, I'm not sure I want the prize. I like to think I'd spend the bulk of it on charities, but you never really know what choice you'll make until the opportunity arises. Whatever I did with it, I'd garner unwelcome attention and further complications in my life, perhaps especially in the current climate. I'd feel funny about myself for having the bulk of my wealth come from a sweepstakes that appeals to a low common denominator. (I can just imagine the awkwardness if PCH brought the giant check and a TV camera to my house and didn't know to knock on the side door, but that's a poor reason to decline.)
Seeing as the deadline is February 28, I decided I'd be overly hasty to send or toss the envelope yet. What do you think?
I don't kid myself that the odds are as good as they make it sound ("Someone with your first and last initials will win!"), but I trust something as famous as PCH not to scam. While I've had no dealings with PCH before, it certainly doesn't look like the work of an imposter: The included envelope leads to their headquarters, they don't ask for any new personal info, and I don't have to pay even with a stamp. The most suspicious feature was that all the bonus cards -- two for scratching and one bingo square with stickers -- just "happened" to yield ostensibly positive results. It took me some time to figure out how PCH could afford such seeming generosity.
The mail contents hint strongly at the answer: ads that wouldn't look out of place in a Sky Mall issue. PCH appears geared toward people older than me, probably watching a lot of daytime TV. In all likelihood, submitting an entry, with or without victory, would lead to an increase in such mail. Even if I won, I wouldn't want what they're peddling. They'd just waste trees on me.
"Oh," you may say, "but isn't that a piddling price to pay for the potential prize?" To which I reply, first, nice alliteration; and second, I'm not sure I want the prize. I like to think I'd spend the bulk of it on charities, but you never really know what choice you'll make until the opportunity arises. Whatever I did with it, I'd garner unwelcome attention and further complications in my life, perhaps especially in the current climate. I'd feel funny about myself for having the bulk of my wealth come from a sweepstakes that appeals to a low common denominator. (I can just imagine the awkwardness if PCH brought the giant check and a TV camera to my house and didn't know to knock on the side door, but that's a poor reason to decline.)
Seeing as the deadline is February 28, I decided I'd be overly hasty to send or toss the envelope yet. What do you think?