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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!lll-crg!qantel!hplabs!hp-pcd!daver
From: daver@hp-pcd.UUCP (daver)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Question about Sweepstakes
Message-ID: <26400004@hpcvrd.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 6-Jan-86 20:51:00 EST
Article-I.D.: hpcvrd.26400004
Posted: Mon Jan  6 20:51:00 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Jan-86 06:25:02 EST
References: <474@iheds.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard - Corvallis, OR
Lines: 16
Nf-ID: #R:iheds:-47400:hpcvrd:26400004:000:906
Nf-From: hpcvrd!daver    Jan  6 17:51:00 1986

Now that the big magazine sellers are giving away $10,000,000 as their top
prize it's interesting to note that the prizes still make up only a small part
of the cost of the sweepstakes.  If you look at the postage on the envelope you
received, add something for the contents, printing and stuffing, multiply by
the number that are sent out and then add in the cost of TV time for the ads
you can see that $10 million is not such a big part of the total expense.

Last time I received the entry forms I computed the expected value for the
Readers Digest and Publishers Clearinghouse entry and, in both cases, the value
was under $.05.  Since the cost of an entry is $.22 for postage, it's not a
very good bet.  In fact, Readers Digest sent out $.20 worth of stamps (back
when that was all it took), and your best bet was to throw out the entry form
and keep the stamps.

Dave Rabinowitz
hplabs!hp-pcd!daver