Diet Coke bottle cap promotion - it actually pays off!

Hi, all. I haven't checked into this forum for a while, so I'm not sure if anyone else has already reported on the Diet Coke bottle cap promotion.

Christina goes through about a 2-Liter Diet Coke a day (it tastes like rat poison to me and I gag everytime I accidently pick up her glass and take a sip). She was throwing out the bottle caps for a few months until I noticed the promotion offered and checked it out. If you go online to http://www.giftcertificates.com/dietcoke
and register, then input the codes under the caps, you will receive gift certificates that can be redeemed at about 100 different stores in all types of goods and services! We generally get codes worth about $1.25 each time I enter them (you can only input three codes per day).

In the few months I've been inputting the codes, we've collected about $65 in gift certificates. We used one of the $25 gift certificates to give to Chris' mom to the store of her choice (she chose Barnes & Noble and we got the gift certificate shipped to her at Christmas). We're still adding to our gift certificates and trying to decide how to spend them.

The process is not entirely easy -- you first have to be able to read the fine print inside the bottle caps. I use a high powered magnifying glass for this. It is sometimes difficult to make out the 16 letters/numbers on the inside of the caps (e.g., an H often looks like an N or an M, so I had to develop a feel for which letter is which, and I sometimes input the code several times before I get the letters correctly entered). 0 is always the number 0 and not the letter 0 (that is explained somewhere in the info, but I had to find out by trial and error). Each cap is worth either $0.25, $0.50, $1, $5, $10 or $15. We've had several $1 caps, one $5 cap, but not yet found one of the rare and elusive $10 or $15 codes. Surprisingly, all the codes are authenic and each is unique. The system knows if you have already input a code or if the code is not correct.

After you collect at least $10 in codes, you redeem this for a "Super Certificate" which you can then apply to purchases at giftcertificates.com Most of the gift certificates are for purchases only at on-line stores, but some can be redeemed for gift cards (such as we did with the Barnes & Noble gift certificate for Chris' mom). There are a lot of stores from which to choose.

So, if you are a Diet Cokeaholic or live with one, it may be worthwhile to input the codes from the caps. The promotion has been running for several months, but may be ending soon. I'm also not sure if the promotion is in all parts of the country or just the South. You may still have time to pick up $10 or so in gift certificates.

Bottoms up!

Jeremy





This message was edited Jan 7, 2006 9:12 AM