You Get What You Pay For. Especially When It's Free.

  A little while back, we got a flyer from our local Toyota dealer with scratchers on it. We got to scratchin' and--SURPRISE!-- we won! Of course we knew it had to be too good to be true, a scam of some sort. There were only four prizes listed--a new car, $5000 in cash, $100 in gift cards (with a picture showing itunes, Starbucks, and Walmart giftcards), and another awesome-looking prize I can't remember. Anyhoo, we called the dealership and we were assured that we did in fact win one of those four prizes, we didn't have to listen to any car sales spiels, etc. So we figured, hey, why not?

  I drove down to the dealership and, after being questioned for a few minutes about my car (I quickly informed them I love my car and couldn't afford a new one even if I didn't), they awarded me my prize--gift cards! It was the worst prize listed, but hey, I wasn't going to sneer at free money-like things on a card.

  Unlike what was shown on the flier, however, the giftcards were not for itunes, Starbucks, Walmart, or any other place I might actually want to spend money. They were $25 for four different internet shops. A leather one, a pots and pans one, a electronics one, and one that could be SkyMall's inbred cousin. I figured, okay, I'll just buy one cheap thing at each store. I'm getting free stuff out of this, I don't care, whatever.

  Looking at the websites (which I refuse to list because I'm not giving them any traffic), it was obvious they were all owned by the same company, since they were all the exact same layout. They were all also hecka expensive. Not that you didn't see that coming. But, McKay and I managed to find a little something at each place.

  Here are the goods:

  A set of speakers, a hair trimming set, a leather bracelet, a cheese grater, and a duster.

  The good:

 I quite like the bracelet, actually. It was $27 dollars, so I ended up paying about $5 for it including the shipping (that's where they getcha), but I feel like it was worth five bucks. I can swing that.

 

  Whew. It took me WAY too long to get these two pictures next to each other and be able to type underneath them again. Get your crap together, blogger, that should not have been so difficult. And all of that just to say, I have no quarrel with these objects. They both function as they should. Carry on, cheese grater and duster.

The Bad:

  McKay picked the hair trimmer set because his current hair-buzzy thing (can't think of the name right now) is dying. This one, however, has never worked at all. Lincoln currently uses it as a cell phone, holding it up to his ear, walking around the living room and laughing/garbling to himself. The scissors are also reminiscent of what you give to first graders with Elmer's glue and tell them to get crackin' on a collage. McKay said they (the scissors) don't really cut at all. They're pretty good at bending hair, though. If that's what you're into.

  Here is a video of the speakers: 

And, yes, we were listening to a Dave Barry book audio-style. Dave Barry audiobooks remind me of long car drives to Utah as a child.

   So, yeah. Mixed bag there. But when car dealerships are giving away hundreds of giftcards, I guess your expectations shouldn't be too high. You can live vicariously through me, though, I've done the work so you don't have to wonder about those scratcher flyers ever again. Unless you're in the market for a moderately satisfactory cheese grater or duster. Then by all means, go for it.