Non-cash prizes you have won

[Helen]

A ride in the goodyear blimp:

I went to the Zeppelin museum in Lake Constance Germany in 2019. It was huge and very interesting.

https://www.bodensee.eu/en/what-to-do/map-of-lake-constance/zeppelin-museum-friedrichshafen_poi69


My big win was in grade school when my postcard was selected. Mr. Magic called from the local TV station and because I was watching and new the name of the girl who drew my postcard I won a Capture Hill 79 game. The box came damaged and the game itself sucked but hey, I won and my voice was on tv!

 

[Mmm Rrr]

Back in the late 90's when tech staff was hard to hire, the firm I worked for put everyone whose referral was hired into a lottery every two weeks. The third time I was entered I won (I had a 20% chance each time I think). I won a $10,000 trip - the only stipulation was you had to use it all at once.

After a lot of dreaming about possibilities, the $10,000 nearly paid for a week in Barbados and another week's sailing cruise around the Grenadines for 2 adults and 2 children.

 

[Walt34]

I once won a free Coke at Jerry's Sub Shop.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

This brought back memories of one of my favorite TV shows, WKRP in Cincinnati, when they had their disastrous turkey giveaway ("As God is my witness... I thought turkeys could fly."). Every time I see that episode I'm (the ending is on YouTube, I'm too lazy find and post a link right now).

Yep. Loved that show and was drove some of my fascination with the radio business in my teen years.

WKRP was based on a station in Atlanta back in the day (WQXI and nicknamed "Quixie") and the turkey drop was inspired by a fella who worked in the ATL radio industry by the name of Jerry Blum who did all sorts of pranks in his days...including throwing live turkeys from a tractor trailer truck. Here is a quick story on it: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/71610/remembering-wkrps-turkeys-away

If you are a WKRP fan, here is something pretty entertaining about the lyrics that ran at the end of the show. Useless to know? Yeah. Fun for trivia? I think so. https://boingboing.net/2018/03/18/the-wkrp-in-cincinnati-clo.html

 

[braumeister]

I didn't win this in the traditional sense as it wasn't a contest of some sort that I entered. However, I was fortunate in being in the right place at the right time to take advantage of an offer of a free trip to the 98 Winter Olympics in Japan.

Similarly, as a result of my writing about beer, I was given
an all-expenses paid week in Munich for Oktoberfest
two weeks in Germany and Belgium
two weeks in Germany and England
a week in Munich
a week in England
a week in Belgium

All were 100% free, flights, hotels, and meals. No obligations, just appreciation for my work and the unspoken hope that my future writing would be favorable about them. Some of the trips were paid for by beer importers, but most were covered by the national equivalents of our chambers of commerce.

I really miss those days!

 

[steelyman]

I got an H-P digital camera at a conference that I used for several years.

A girlfriend won prime seats for a Cubs-Cards game at Wrigley Field. I later learned we were on WGN in crowd shots (she was quite photogenetic).

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I guess I “won” an employee of the year award back around the year 2000 while working for a high tech company. I was given a Cartier watch that was beautiful. I was afraid to damage it, so I never wore it. After a year in the drawer, I sold it on eBay and used the proceeds to go on a trip to Hawaii. Much more my style.

 

[CardsFan]

I got an H-P digital camera at a conference that I used for several years.

A girlfriend won prime seats for a Cubs-Cards game at Wrigley Field. I later learned we were on WGN in crowd shots (she was quite photogenetic).

OK, but who did you root for?

 

[steelyman]

OK, but who did you root for?

Root root root for the home team!

 

[Jerry1]

Did a number of golf outings while working. Mostly won money on skins or golf paraphernalia. However, one time I won a night at a nice hotel at Mackinaw. We added an additional night and it was an enjoyable fall get away.

 

[brett]

We used get many calls from 'The Captain' informing us that we had won a cruise. Complete with a simulated fog horn in the background.

That was our signal to hang up. Free trips are usually quite expensive by the time one returns home.

Alas,,,he does not call any more. Guess our luck ran out.

 

[Aerides]

Oh I remembered another one. I think I followed a local very bougey magazine site on facebook, and one day they promoted a raffle at a very very nice local high end Palm Beach mall. It was for one of two gift baskets. When I entered there were only something like 15 entries, and I won!

It was super nice, with multiple gift cards to nice stores, a fancy pair of champagne glasses, a $75 candle (!!), bunch of skin care products... really over the top.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

I won an enormous stuffed duck (or chicken?) When i was a kid and entered/ won a coloring contest at the local drug store. Enormous.

 

[disneysteve]

So, what memorable non-cash prizes have you ever won?

I once won a 3-night stay at the Walt Disney World Swan/Dolphin from a Disney podcast we listen to. That was nice.



Playing bingo on a Carnival cruise, we won the grand prize of a free cruise for 2. That one turned out to cost us a lot, though, because we had to pay for our daughter, taxes and port fees, gratuities, airfare, excursions, etc., all for a cruise we hadn't been planning to take. I think our "free" cruise set us back about $3,000. And the prize value was taxable.

 

[disneysteve]

I won an enormous stuffed duck (or chicken?) When i was a kid and entered/ won a coloring contest at the local drug store. Enormous.

Ah yes, we won a giant plush Winnie the Pooh from Sears. It was quite appropriate as we are huge Disney fans and have an extensive collection of Disney memorabilia, my wife is a major Winnie the Pooh fan, and our daughter's nursery was decorated in a classic Pooh theme (she was a baby when this happened). We still have it in our Disney display room almost 26 years later.

 

[aja8888]

Golf Tournament - Won 2 First Class airline tickets to London (just the tickets) took DW, and the rest of the trip ended costing me $5000.

High school raffle - won a 32" TV set - this was before flat screens. What a PIA to get this monster home.

 

[DaveInMi]

I entered a contest sponsored by a local conservation club. A $5 ticket was the lucky one and I won a custom Ruger 10/22, .22 cal. semi-auto. Since I already had one, I sold it to a co-w*rker.

 

[jollystomper]

Yep. Loved that show and was drove some of my fascination with the radio business in my teen years.

WKRP was based on a station in Atlanta back in the day (WQXI and nicknamed "Quixie") and the turkey drop was inspired by a fella who worked in the ATL radio industry by the name of Jerry Blum who did all sorts of pranks in his days...including throwing live turkeys from a tractor trailer truck. Here is a quick story on it: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/71610/remembering-wkrps-turkeys-away

If you are a WKRP fan, here is something pretty entertaining about the lyrics that ran at the end of the show. Useless to know? Yeah. Fun for trivia? I think so. https://boingboing.net/2018/03/18/the-wkrp-in-cincinnati-clo.html

I never knew that, thanks. Learn something new every day!

The show was on during the years I was a radio DJ "personality" at my college radio station (which broadcast FM and its audience went well beyond the campus into the local communities), so it was very popular among us. We saw the characters in flesh at our station .

 

[skyking1]

Mine was a funny one from my youth. A new local audiophile shop had a giveaway based on the last digits of your SS number. Big prizes = more numbers to match. I wrote down my family's numbers and went down there. I was 14 and very much into music.
I scoured the place and I think the only match was 2 digits for a blank audio cassette. Pfft.
Then I realized MY number was not on my little master list.
I opened my wallet and took out my new card, and searched anew.
There it was. My last 4 matched the numbers on a belt drive Pioneer turntable.
I took my summer's earnings from working on the farm ( hence the social security account) and purchased a Marantz amp and a pair of speakers.
Now I am sitting here watching a PBS program on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.
It was my first album

 

[jabbahop]

Corporate Ski race in lake Tahoe decades ago. Won my category and a new pair of skis!

 

[Dawg52]

Nothing major. Won a bicycle at a grand opening of a pizza joint. Gave it to my nephews. And a few minor prizes in golf tournaments.

 

[Yoheadden]

I’m in a group called Best of the Biltmore for the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. They periodically send out questionnaires about possible marketing//Branding ideas and future events. For answering the questionnaires, they put you in a drawing. So far, I’ve won cash 2x and tickets to the house.
Once on a trip from NJ to Okinawa, Japan, I was flying commercial with a stopover in St Louis. Somehow my bags looked identical to a passenger in First class and got mixed up. To make sure we each received the correct luggage when we arrived in Okinawa, they put me in First class so we could be close. This wasn’t a contest win, but definitely a win in my book. Lol

 

[athena53]

My luck in these things fizzled out when I was a kid.

Once Dad bought tickets for a Thanksgiving turkey raffle in each of our names. I won so that was the source of our Thanksgiving turkey that year. In grade school sometime between 1960 and 1964, we had an annual candy bar sale- big, chunky ones studded with almonds for 50 cents each. My class had a raffle for one of them- entry was one penny. I could manage that. I won it. My siblings were quite jealous.

I'm happy to see, though, that so many people have won those "fill out this survey and you'll have a chance to win.." prizes. I've been skeptical about whether they actually award them even though I know the law requires it.

 

[Badger]

It was early summer and I was 12 yrs old playing Bingo at the town carnival when I won. I had my choice of prizes and picked out a 2-ring inflatable plastic pool for my 3 year old sister to play in that summer.


Cheers!

 

[ncbill]

Tivo HDXL direct from Tivo...150 hours recording time in HD.

Since it had two ATSC 1.0 tuners I added a HDTV & dropped cable.

Later switched to a couple of base Tivo Roamio DVRs...upgraded their hard drives to 3TB...so 450 hours HD each.

So I've got no problem finding a show or movie to watch if the internet goes down...for weeks.