Every year at this time Tim Hortons runs a promotion called "Roll-up-the-rim." The idea is that you roll up the rim of the paper cup to reveal a prize. There are even special tools to make rolling up the rim easier [Roll Up the Rim]. (As you can see in the photos, you usually get to lose in two different languages.)This year I only won a single free coffee whereas in previous years I won several cups and several free donuts. (In 1993 I won a stereo system.) I attributed this to bad luck.
Maybe not, according the Globe and Mail. There are lots of customers who think their wins are below the levels of previous years [Coffee junkies say it's a lean 'Roll Up the Rim' season]. Tim Hortons says your chances of winning should be one in nine. According to the article in the Globe and Mail, even Stuart McLean was disappointed that his crew didn't win more often.
For five of the eight weeks that Tim Hortons ran the promotion, CBC host Stuart McLean and his 12-member tour bus drove from Fort St. John, B.C., to Fargo, N.D., perhaps braking for more Hortons outlets than any other vehicle on the road during that period.This is getting serious. Tim Hortons should not be making Stuart McLean upset [The Vinyl Cafe]. Before you know it, there will be a story about Dave and Morely at Tim Hortons and it won't be pretty watching two Canadian icons duke it out.
“We had logged about 8,000 kilometres on the Vinyl Cafe tour bus,” Mr. McLean, who doesn't drink coffee, later reflected on his show. “[We] made some new friends and rolled up enough rims to make you wonder if anyone ever wins anything.”
[Hat Tip: Jane]
Wasn't there a custody battle in court last year for a winning cup?
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine once asked if there was an alternative way to enter the competition for eco-friendly people like him who bring their own mug. They gave him his coffee in his metal mug - and an empty paper cup so he could join in the competition.
You don't actually drink the coffee, though...right?
ReplyDeleteDennis asks,
ReplyDeleteYou don't actually drink the coffee, though...right?
Of course I do. I love Tim Hortons coffee. That's why I go there every day along with a million other people. Why do you ask?
Try Moonbean in Kensington Market. You will never have Tim's again.
ReplyDeleteCheers
tim hortons (here anyways) pre-rolls thier rims so they sell it to their friends so they win. this is not a lie. i havent won anything this year and last year i won atleast three small things. you might be able to see that it is pre-rolled. there isnt a clean and perfect rim adn there is a little gap. they do not roll it all the way up, just enought to see the colour; red is no winnings and green is a prize. check next time you get a coffee...
ReplyDeleteyour stupid. I am an employee of tim hortons and we do not "Pre-Roll" our cups, do you really think we have time to sit around and do that? Not to mention the mandatory cameras in every store that would catch us doing it. Seriously, some people win, some lose. At my store we gave out 4 Garmin Navigators, and one was to an asshole who never tips and it always rude!! So unless it was part of out evil plot to throw people off.... winning is tottally random!!
ReplyDeletePeople tip at Tim's? I get several pre-rolled cups each year. Just because Tim's employee "Anonymous" doesn't pre-roll doesn't mean it isn't common. Maybe everyone should start tipping at Tim's so the employees don't have to sell winners on the black market to get ahead. Even getting an occasional unfresh coffee at Tim's is not a big deal compared to getting a pre-rolled-to-lose cup.
ReplyDeleteWhen the roll up the rim contest first started, chances of winning were 1 in 3. A couple of years ago, having won far fewer cookies and things, I read the fine print again, and that time it was 1 in 7 chances. And now it seems that it's 1 in 9 chances -- that's less chance of winning than for many lottery tickets!
ReplyDeleteWhere I live we have even a smaller chance of winning because the small size cups are out of the contest. You get a game cup for medium, large and extra large -- not the small.
ReplyDelete