Promo

Dr. Pepper is my beverage of choice. I drink Mountain Dew and Vault on occasion, but Dr. Pepper has been my favorite caffeinated, carbonated cola since High School. You can imagine my excitement when I observed the most recent promotion on the label of 20 oz bottles of Dr. Pepper. It says, “1 in 6 wins!”. Now I know that when it says “win” that doesn’t mean it’s always something big and special, but when I opened up my bottle of Dr. Pepper (purchased at my local Sinclair) I was surprised to see the letters “uwin” among the number and letter combination in the code under the cap. I quickly went to www.drpepper.com to enter my code. I was congratulated in my promotional victory and the webmaster promised to send me a coupon for a free 20 oz Dr. Pepper. I was thrilled.

Then, to my surprise, I opened my second 20 oz’er and again found the letters “uwin” under the cap. I quickly entered this new code into the Dr. Pepper website and was ecstatic to learn I had won another free Dr. Pepper. My fingertips tingled when I thought about how awesome it was that BOTH drinks I had purchased had ended up being free.

About 2 weeks later (4 days ago) I received both coupons in the mail for my free Dr. Peppers. I carried them around in my back pocket for about three days, savoring the enjoyment of having actually won something... twice. Then yesterday on my way to work, I stopped at the same Sinclair where I had bought the original Dr. Peppers. I walked back to their coolers and grabbed two more Dr. Peppers that were offering the same Indiana Jones promotion. I walked up to the counter with a small grin on my face thinking about how great it would be if I won two more Dr. Peppers with my coupons. I almost started laughing as I envisioned the greatness of never having to purchase another Dr. Pepper my entire life. I thought about winning over and over again and always being able to get my free Dr. Peppers until I’m 70 and my Geriatric Doctor tells me I need to have my spleen removed because of the toxicity of 60 years of drinking the poisonous “carmel color” contained in thousands and thousands of Dr. Peppers.

It was kind of busy at the Sinclair and by the time I reached the register there were several other patrons behind me in line… mostly construction dudes who always stop at gas stations in the morning to fill up their 5-gallon jugs with some miscellaneous Pepsi product. I was smiling when I handed the cashier my two coupons. She looked at them… then at me… then back at the coupons. “I’m not sure about these.” My smile started to fade. “Well, I got them from entering the codes under the caps from Dr. Peppers that I purchased here.” She replies, “Let me check with my boss.” Then she walks away. I hear a few sighs coming from some dudes wearing those thick beige trousers that always have white paint stains on them. Then the lady reappears and says, “Sorry we don’t accept these, but the Stop and Shop down the street will take them.” I didn’t have the energy to explain my frustration at having purchased the original Dr. Pepper’s at this exact establishment. I thought briefly about putting the Dr. Peppers back and driving to the Stop and Shop… but instead I found myself saying, “I guess I’ll just buy them then.” My heart hurt a little as I watched my dream of never buying another Dr. Pepper being shattered as she slid my debit card through her machine. My head hung low as I walked to my VW Golf and drove to work.

When I got to work yesterday, I cracked open my first 20 oz Dr. Pepper and didn’t see the letters “uwin” under the cap. I entered the code anyway, but was informed by a template created by the webmaster that I had not won anything. The template did tell me that I was “so close” to winning, though I’m not sure how it could have known. It was probably just a clever ploy to get me to buy more Dr. Pepper. They assumed I might think, “Oh man. I was soooooo close to winning. I need to try again.”

This morning when I got to work I saw my second unopened Dr. Pepper on my desk. I had forgotten to put it in my fridge and I knew it was warm… but I was thirsty. I decided to open it and drink it since I’d rather drink warm Dr. Pepper than Sprite or Country Time. I looked under the cap and noticed the letters “uwin”. I felt a little smile creep across my face. Even though I had to buy this Dr. Pepper, I still had the two coupons in my drawer and now it looked like I was gonna have a third coupon to take to Stop and Shop this weekend.

I went to drpepper.com and entered the code. To my surprise, I received a note from the webmaster telling me I had "done it". I had won an Indiana Jones/Dr. Pepper hat. That is so extremely AWESOME! I patted myself on the back for choosing to buy this Dr. Pepper instead of putting it back in the cooler yesterday. I’ll be getting my sweet prize in 6-8 weeks. I guess the webmaster was right yesterday when he told me I was “so close”. I’m not sure how he knew, but he did.