Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

Post by Dylan16807 » Wed, Jun 27, 2018, 5:16 AM UTC

ben509 wrote: post #253

djsumdog wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of these promotion companies pay a lot of money just to have their cars as part of promotions (and the sweepstakes companies can get into big trouble if their systems are not setup to give away x cars. Most of them are time seeded so someone is guaranteed to win one a week). If your already investing that much money, can't the company also cover the taxes, or do most states have laws forbidding that? It seems li…

You're paying income tax, not sales tax, because winnings are income. (Think about professional gamblers...) Income taxes are progressive, of course, and then there are a mess of deductions. But they could still make an estimate by just assuming the person is in the $37K to $92K bracket. So that's 25% [1]. > It seems like bad publicity if your "winners" have to pay several thousand in sales tax to get their "prize ca…

Post by franze » Wed, Jun 27, 2018, 6:35 AM UTC

rrauenza wrote: post #318

technofiend wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There'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.

I'm trying to recall the Mancini Mattress (Bay Area) ad -- something like "If we can't beat the price, the mattress is free!" I'm thinking ... ohhh... I bet they always somehow manage to beat the price!

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 27, 2018, 7:43 AM UTC

jsjohnst wrote: post #156

asfdsfggtfd wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the advice given by banks and anti-fraud agencies. NB in some countries landlines can remain on a call for several minutes after the call receiver has hung up. A phisher will play a dial tone etc to make it seem realistic. The advice is to either wait 10 minutes (longer?) or preferably call back on another line if you receive a suspicious call.

> NB in some countries landlines can remain on a call for several minutes after the call receiver has hung up. Source for this? I find it highly suspect from a technical perspective (1-3 seconds, maybe, but not several minutes) and nothing I can find online even remotely seems legitimate / real.

Post by macca321 » Wed, Jun 27, 2018, 8:30 AM UTC

dluan wrote: post #30

Back in the 90s there was a hilarious trend of winning the car in the mall by being the person to be in the car the longest. This was when SUVs were becoming a really big thing. People were sleeping in the car with 5 other strangers to see who could outlast the others, with only short bathroom breaks allowed. I'm not really sure what the advertisers/dealers won in that exchange.

Post by mkbkn » Wed, Jun 27, 2018, 10:38 AM UTC

alasdair_ wrote: post #446

logfromblammo wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$3000 on a mattress? WTF? How is that even possible for such a highly commoditized good?

>$3000 on a mattress? WTF? How is that even possible for such a highly commoditized good? I paid close to $3000 for a sleep number matress with adjustable firmness for each side. Still use it every day fifteen years later and think it was well worth the money.