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From: mom@sfmag.UUCP (M.Modig)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Question about Sweepstakes
Message-ID: <844@sfmag.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 22-Jan-86 01:33:06 EST
Article-I.D.: sfmag.844
Posted: Wed Jan 22 01:33:06 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 23-Jan-86 20:29:54 EST
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Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Summit, NJ
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> > You know how those $10M magazine sweepstakes always come with some
> > bank's gearantee of "sufficient funds on deposit"? Most of those
> > sweepstakes are also $X per year for 20 years, so "sufficient funds
> > on deposit" is nowhere near $10M.
> 
> Furthermore, the big swwepers like Publisher's Clearing House
> keep the big prizes in the pot for many mailings so the get to
> crow about them for a long time before they have to give them
> out.  Next time you get one of those envelopes try to find
> anywhere that tells just *when* the winners will be notified!
> Furthermore, although it may be a couple years between the time
> you mail in your sweat-dampened entry and the time they decide
> that you should get a prize, if their notification is returned
> by the post office you're outta luck.

The big giveaways have three general defects:

The payoffs are given out over a long period of time (30 -40years), or
they have balloon payments good only to the original winner- (e.g.,
$10,000/year for the first 24 years and $1,010,000 for the 25th)

The copntests stretch out over a long period of time (the current
Publishers Clearinghouse game will stretch over 26 months!)

There are no guarantees about exactly how much will be given away--
if any. Nowhere does it say something like " all prizes will be awarded",
at least, not on most of these things.  One of the last sweep said,
"Over $2,000,000 in prizes will be given away." They gave away a
total of less than $2,100,00 in the whole promotion.
All in all, it's a real scam.

Mark Modig
ihnp4!sfmag!mom