I am an avid bargain hunter. Now, I know that a lot of people say that, but I really fit the description better than most. How can I say that? Well, for one thing, I never go to the store without my coupon box (which is filled with hundreds of coupons, sorted alphabetically by category). Also, I do tons of manufacturer rebates-I send out at least 10 to 15 rebates each month, and some months I send out many more than that. I have helped quite a few other people learn how to save money in these ways as well.
Is that all? Not hardly. I participate in dozens of online surveys each month which earn me paypal, cash, and points toward gift cards. I never purchase anything online without a coupon and sale. You can often find me scanning the racks at local thrift stores and flea markets-I even buy Christmas presents for my kids at these places.
So, when I heard about the Coke Rewards Program that started last year, I was quite excited. My family is a Coke family, not a Pepsi family, so we were a natural to take part in this program. Plus, the items that could be earned looked so good!
The program is very easy to understand. All you have to do is save the caps from certain bottled drink products and the cardboard codes from 12-packs of those same products. Then, after you have registered at the Coke Rewards website (which takes only a few moments), you simply enter the codes at the site. You can bank the codes to save up for a specific prize or spend them right away-your choice.
To know if this program is right for you, ask yourself these two questions:
Does my family drink any of the participating products?
The program has recently added several new drinks to the participating product list. Chances are, someone in your family will like to drink at least one of the choices on the list-but, if no one in your household will drink any of the products, this program may not be a good one for you. After all, you would have to purchase products that would not be used by your household just for the purpose of getting the points, and that would be a definite grocery budget killer. So you can decide, here is the complete list:
–Barq’s Root Beer, Diet Barq’s, and Caffeine Free Barq’s
–Coke Classic, Caffeine Free Coke Classic, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Coke Zero, Cherry Coke Zero, and Vanilla Coke Zero
–Dasani and Dasani Flavors (Lemon, Strawberry, Raspberry, and Grape) –Diet Coke, Caffeine Free Diet Coke, Diet Cherry Coke, Diet Coke with Lime, Diet Coke Plus, and Diet Coke with Splenda
–Fanta (Orange, Strawberry, Grape, Pineapple, Zero Orange)
–Fresca (Original Citrus, Peach, Black Cherry) –Minute Maid Lemonade, Minute Maid Pink Lemonade, Minute Maid Orangeade, Minute Maid Light Lemonade, Minute Maid Light Raspberry, Minute Maid Light Orangeade, and Minute Maid Light Cherry Limeade
–Nestea Diet White Tea Berry Honey, Nestea Diet Lemon, and Nestea Sweetened Lemon
–Powerade (Fruit Punch, Mountain Blast, Lemon Lime, Grape, Orange, Green Squall, Jagged Ice, Arctic Shatter, Strawberry Melon, Black Cherry Lime) and Powerade Option (Black Cherry, Strawberry, Lemon, Grape)
–Pibb Xtra
–Sprite and Sprite Zero
–Vault, Vault Zero, and Vault Red Blitz
Do you have the patience and tenacity for this program?
To be frank, the points add up rather slowly with this rewards program. Here are the point values for the various sizes of drink products that you might purchase:
When Coke Rewards first began, they only offered points for a few of these options (20 oz, 2 liter, 3 liter, and 12 pack). So, now is a better time than ever to join this program-if you have the patience for it. The site allows you to enter only 10 codes each day, so between that limiting factor and the low point value for many of the product sizes, it can take quite a long time to build up enough points for the prize that you want.
Coke Rewards does offer bonuses now and then. Sometimes they have double point days in which (obviously) point values are doubled. Other times they send out a freebie code, valid for 10 or 25 free points (these are usually universal codes, useable by anyone with a Coke Rewards account).
So, I’m sure you are now wondering-what exactly are the rewards? What can these points be used for? The website has two different categories, contests and rewards. Both the contests and rewards change periodically, and there are far too many to list. But, I will give a few examples for each so that you can get a general idea.
Contests
You can enter contests up to 20 times each day, and it takes 3 points per entry. It is your choice-use all 20 entries on one contest, or spread them out. (Or, of
course, you can opt to keep banking your points and not enter any contests at all.) Here is a sampling of the contests offered:
–Win a walk-on role in a TV show or movie
–Win a Pirates of the Caribbean pinball machine
–Win a 1956 replica Coca-Cola vending machine
–Win a Samsung 42″ plasma television and wall kit
–Win a Spa Getaway for 2 in Arizona
–Win a Marmot camping package
Rewards
The site has dozens of choices for which you could redeem your points. They are sorted into various categories: Coca-Cola products, Electronics, Entertainment, Family, Fashion and Beauty, Gaming, Home, Music, Sports, and Travel. When browsing for your reward, you can choose to look under the category or you can search by point value of the reward. Here are some of the choices being offered along with their point costs:
–Kodak Photo Mousepad = 83 points
–Cosmopolitan Magazine 12 month subscription = 180 points
–Coca-Cola Women’s Red Flip-Flops = 214 points
–Limited Edition Remote Control Truck = 429 points
–Coca-Cola Board Beach Towel = 446 points
–Diet Coke Fleece Vest = 557 points
–Best Buy $25 Gift Card = 625 points
–KitchenAid BBQ Set = 937 points
–Coleman RoadTrip Party Grill = 1294 points
–Toshiba Single-Disc Progressive Scan DVD Player = 1500 points
–Nintendo DS Game System = 3250 points
–Acoustic Guitar with Rosewood Fingerboard = 4020 points
–Shopadidas.com $200 Gift Certificate = 5000 points
–Dooney and Bourke Hobo Bag = 5875 points
–Autographed Basketball Signed by the Four 2007 NCAA Men’s Final Four = 10000 points
One of my biggest complaints about the Coke Rewards website is that it is quite slow to load-even with a high-speed internet connection. I have cable internet, and the Coke Rewards site is, by far, the slowest site I visit. It seems to make no difference whether it is loaded through Internet Explorer or Firefox, either-the site is just plain slow! I haven’t tried loading the site on a dial-up connection, but I would imagine that it might be a headache trying to do so.
So, here’s the bottom line about Coke Rewards-if your family already drinks the participating products, you might as well give it a try. Yes, it does take quite a long time to save up enough points for one of the better prizes, but since there is no end date to the program, this is not really a concern. Even if you enter in just a few codes a week, they will add up, and you will be getting something back for the drinks you would have purchased anyway.
