Prizes - are they always good?

[Rain Man]

So I was at a business event the other day, and they offered a bunch of prizes to attendees, with the top one being a $1,000 airline ticket voucher, which I would like to have. There were perhaps 500 people there, and only about 250 were eligible for the prizes, so I thought it was worth putting my name in the hat.

They also had about 20 or 30 other prizes that ranged from cool to relatively lame, but whatever.

I got an e-mail today that said that I won $100 worth of landscaping services. I wrote back and said thanks, and then got an e-mail from the landscaping company. They said, "Go look at our website and tell us what you want, and we'll credit $100 toward it."

They do lawn care and landscaping and tree trimming and stuff. From the language of the e-mail, it's pretty clear that they expect any service to exceed $100 in value, likely significantly, and I'm thinking, "This isn't a prize, this is just a coupon", and it kind of ticks me off. I figure that my "prize" is going to be a sales call with $100 off a price that is marked up by $100.

I've written to them to ask if they do lawn raking, because I got my lawn raked for $80 last year. (I have a very small lawn.) Maybe there's some kind of one-time fertilizing or something I could get. Any other services that are $100 or less that I can use?

And am I being too cynical about this? If I can get $100 of free stuff, I'm all for it. Is this a legitimate prize that I should be happy about, or am I (and this organization) being used so these people can get a sales lead? Should organizations offer prizes that are a discount off services?

On a related note, there's a company around town that goes to every charity auction and offers a free "portrait sitting" as a silent auction item. It's incredibly obvious that they're just scamming to get people in the door and then they'll try to sell them prints with no real prize, but some of the nonprofits either don't get it or they don't care. It's kind of sleazy in my opinion, but I'm just a guy in a t-shirt sipping a Dr. Pepper.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Did you actually pay anything to win this?

It was a $5 raffle ticket to some nonprofit, more or less. There were some other technicalities involved. I was really hoping for the airline tickets.

I'll see how they respond to my "do you do lawn raking" question. I told them that we already have a landscaping service so I don't need any big projects.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Send it to your niece or nephew you're so nice to throughout the year.

They might appreciate it.

I wonder what would happen if I said, "I don't need any services, so I'll save you $100 and take $20 in cash."

[cosmo20002]

Yes, some prizes are actually a bill. Sometimes a gift is actually a bill.

[007]

If they don't allow you to just get $100 of services then no, it is not a prize.

[cdcox]

The grounds of the Eastern Headquarters of Sandbox are looking kind of shabby...

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by cdcox

The grounds of the Eastern Headquarters of Sandbox are looking kind of shabby...

I'll have the corporate accountants review the tax implications of shifting revenue from the western region headquarters to the eastern region headquarters.

[ClevelandBronco]

Tell KC Native that he can keep his damn "prize."

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Presumably if it costs less than $1,000. If not, they would apply it as a disco-.

Oh, man. You've now destroyed my faith in humanity.

I just wanted to make sure you can fly first class. First class is the only way to fly. Not worth it if not.

Do they have large rocks in stock?

[Ming the Merciless]

how about plug aeration?