Roll Up the Rim to Lose but Win Elsewhere?
It's that time of year again. Look up, look down, look all around and you'll be sure to find more discarded coffee cups than usual strewn upon our streets. I've had my gripes about the annual Tim Horton's "Roll Up the Rim to Win" contesting in the past, and every year I feel compelled to write about it for some reason or another. So here we are again.
While I did find the special camouflaged contest cups being sent to Afghanistan "in support of the troops" noteworthy (i.e. kind of ridiculous and embarrassing), it's actually a promotion that's being run concurrently by a competing coffee shop chain that takes the (coffee) cake this year.
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Toronto-based marketing agency Rennick Marketing Solutions, working with Country Style, has come up with a sly promotion in response to the annual Tim Horton's contest. In addition to running their own similar "Turn Up a Winner" contest, from March 3rd to 9th, Country Style will be redeeming *losing* Tim Horton's cup rims for free coffee.
Some might call it piggybacking or sniping, and most people will simply see it as a battle of the crappy coffee chains (queue the "who cares, it's crappy coffee" comments), but if it has any effect on the amount of litter on our city streets then I might have to call it a good idea.
Comments (30)
As someone who spent many years living in rural Canada with coffee-addicted parents, Roll Up the Rim i is a hard time of year for me. One of my new year's resolution was to never ever buy tea unless I had a mug with me, but my heart raced a little when I saw the cups with those yellow arrows pointing up towards potential victory.
I know it's wrong and that it causes a lot more waste as people upsize and buy more coffee just for the chance of winning, but my parents have an awfully spiffy Tim Hortons bbq that weakens my resolve to be good ever so slightly.
I too prefer to buy coffee or tea only when I have my starbucks mug in tow... but I will be the first to admit that I will most certainly be trying to win something this year with Tim's Roll Up the Rim to win. I'm sorry!!
I've also griped about the increase in litter of Tim's cups during these promotions. It's shameful that they don't have a contest alternative for those wishing to dine in or use personal travel mugs. They're encouraging wasteful practices by not doing so... and their annual 20-minute Community Clean-Up program does not make up for it.
LOL..yes, Tims sucks...because if it doesn't cost over $2.50 it must be crap.
People really should bring their own thermal cups to all coffee shops...but then, you couldn't "roll up the rim".
If they wanted to win over the environmentalists AND make a huge contribution to the eco movement, they'd make only those bringing their own mugs eligible to play the contest. Instead of "roll up the rim to win" it should be "bring in your own reusable mug to get a very small game card to win".
"LOL..yes, Tims sucks...because if it doesn't cost over $2.50 it must be crap."
No, it sucks because it tastes like watered-down poo. It being cheap seems to be the main reason that people drink it.
Instead of cups to roll up... how about digital touch-screens? You go in, when you purchase your beverage, the screen has the roll-up contest on it, you use your finger to roll it up, and there you go... if you win something, a little card/receipt prints out with your prize.
Also, why don't they sell better and higher-end travel mugs? Instead of those cheap brown/black plastic ones, go with those steel ones.
And they should start using those sleeves... rather than double-cupping.
"And they should start using those sleeves... rather than double-cupping."
I don't think either are necessary, actually.
I like the idea of the on-screen roll-up.
The sleeves actually cost more than a cup! Tim's is being economical [not eco-friendly] in double cupping. The second cup is usually not a contest type. Some locations in the Toronto area are not doubling their cups, whereas I always find non-Toronto locations supply napkins and double-cup. Note that some of the hot cup sleeves are plastic foam which would be worse than having a box-board cup. It is always better to have your own to be refilled.
It is more irksome that the cost of the tea was raised so much when the steeped tea was introduced in the Toronto area market. [Last year in Montreal they had no clue about a steeped tea - not on the menu.]
To each his own taste, Jen.
I don't care who buys coffee from where, but sometimes it just seems like a pretentious pissing contest when discussing coffee.
The last time I checked, the high end coffee houses use paper cups as well.
Surely the problem is not with Horton's but with the customer.
The fact that they give you a chance to win is a reward for being a loyal customer, the fact that you throw them away instead of in a bin is just plain ignorance.
Don't blame the faceless machine just because its easy, the blame lies solely with the lazy customer :-(
But Ross! The faceless machine is responsible for all evils in this world. Anything bad that has ever happened to you? It's 'the man's' fault. So we have to be strong and show them we aren't going to take it anymore by buying our things at other, trendier places backed by similar faceless machines, but with better marketing strategies!
That'll teach 'em!
I want the chance to win a Tim Horton's bicycle again. No bike this year, no bike last year. This year it's a effing boat. wtf am i going to do with a boat?!
I win so rarely with Tims that I actually started a kind of "pool" with friends a few years back about who could go the longest without winning. It's dubbed "Roll Up The Suck" (I know, we really busted out the creativity).
Someone once went nearly 40 cups without a win, at which point the conspiracy theories about large having better chances then mediums come 'rolling' out (ha).
Point being, we throw out all our cups like at least any half-intelligent person would, despite the frustration that comes when you turn up that 25th straight losing cup. I agree with Ross, it's entirely the littering customers to blame. Even if Tim's provides the situation, if grown adults can't handle not littering, then to blame Tim's is just avoiding the real problem of stupidity.
Queue, used as a transitive verb, works just fine here I think. As in "line up the comments". At least that's what Merriam-Webster tells me. :)
So now Tim Horton's is responsible if I throw garbage on the ground despite the fact that each cup says "Do Not Litter" on it and that they have created a "Do Not Litter" campaign in the past? (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2005/07/06/ns-timhortons-trash20050706.html)
Has ANYONE heard of personal responsibility?
The Tim Horton's in my office building gives you a 5 cent discount if you bring your own mug... but when I brought in my Starbucks travel mug they wasted a paper cup measuring the correct amount of coffee... yeah I don't bother bringing my travel mug anymore.
You actually can bring in your travel mug for roll up the rim. They will give you an empty roll up the rim cup and fill up your mug.
I FOUND A FUCKING HAIR IN MY COFFEE AT FINCH STATION...I FOUND IT WHEN I WAS IN THE OFFICE..SO I EMAILED CUSTOMER SERVICE AND I GOT THIS BULLSHIT RESPONSE " WE HAVE A STRICT HAIR NET POLICY, BLAH BLAH BLAH.....WE ARNT GIVING YOU A COUPON FOR A FREE COFFEE!!!!"
WTF!!!!
LONG LIVE COFFEE TIME
Do you split your bill when you buy coffee and a sandwich at Tim Horton's? If not read why you should
http://frugalcanadianliving.blogspot.com/2008/01/provincial-sales-tax-in-ontario.html
I won a Timmies* bike spring 06...it was beautiful....if you wanted to look like Pee-Wee Herman. TH's claimed it was worth $480.*** It's really only worth what someone will pay for it !!! I just sold it -Unused,mint condition for $200
hey hairnet guy...wtf!
are you crazy...I pity your implication that because tim hortons didnt want to put up with your bs complaint by admitting any affiliation with your little "hair-in-a cup" situation that they are bad guys...though i do agree coffee time is the same crap, different brand...you mhy friend, will always be a victim...
williamfigures
Starbucks mug?? Who is stupid enough to pay $7 for a cup of coffee?? That would buy you at least 6 coffees at Timmy's...must be an American...
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