Stephen Yeargin

Last September I wrote a bit about starting out with the MyCokeRewards program, a marketing scheme by Coca-Cola to encourage customers to enter in 12 or 15-digit alphanumeric codes into a Web site to accumulate points that could be redeemed from merchandise. Half a year later, the time has come to abandon the project.

Aside from being an exercise in futility, it was also a pain. I collected the caps but would go long stretches without visiting the redemption Web site. It uses Adobe Flash for the interface, and it was slow and unresponsive at times. It would take 20 minutes to enter a days allowance of 10 caps. If they would raise the allowance and change to either an AJAX or Mac-compatible widget, I might still be entering them.

So, with my 1,400 or so points (which means I entered in over 450 stupid caps, depending on how many codes I entered from 10 point 12 packs), I have these two things to show for it.

• $25 Gift Card from 24 Hour Fitness — The trouble is that their nearest fitness center or pro shop is in Memphis. I have e-mailed their customer service department, but I think I have just received a worthless piece of plastic. Estimated value $25 to residents near a center, $0 to me.
• Sandwich Maker — This is a bit of a misnomer. It does not actually make the sandwich, rather it presses an already made sandwich into a nice, toasted slab with melted cheese. Estimated value $18.

In conclusion, any marketing endeavor that requires manual labor to reward frequent purchases is utter crap. The notion that you can somehow recoup even a fraction of the money spent with said company by redeeming points for merchandise is an exercise in insanity. I am ridding my desk of these Red Demons and likely making more of an effort to drink less of their product. That might be a stretch, but at no more caps.

So the lesson learned here go something along these lines:

1. Redemption programs are garbage
2. I drink entirely too much Coke
3. The value of giveaways are inherently overstated
4. Coke caps do not make great desk accessories

Take it from a fool.