Someone has donated two sets of two tickets to Illini basketball games later this season to our workplace. It was decided that the fairest way to disburse them to the employees is to have a free raffle. Anyone interested merely needs to sign their name on a signup sheet, and the Payroll babe will draw the name of the winner.
I casually mentioned to a cow-orker that if I won, I’d be selling them on eBay. I have zero interest in college basketball, Illini or otherwise (at least, not until March), and I’m particularly not interested in making a 70-mile drive on a work night.
Said cow-orker was appalled, saying that only those who are genuinely interested in attending the games should be in the raffle. She said that my cavalier attitude toward the tickets was unfair to those who really love Illini basketball and want the tickets, and that I should remove my name from the list. I say that the tickets are a commodity, apart from their emotional value, and that if I win them they’re mine to do with as I please, Illini fans be damned.
Nah, screw that. If they are up for a raffle, then whoever ponies up the bucks for the chance gets sole control of the prize. E=Bay those suckers at once, although it might be in your best interests to offer them to the staff first, at a reasonable markup over face value.
Overall, my take is they are yours, so you are free to do with them as you like. On the other hand, if you want to be diplomatic about it, you could sell them to a true fanatic in your office (cheaply… or at least cheaper than they’d get them otherwise).
After all, those who enter the raffle are entering it to get some benefit. It’s just that your benefit differs from the benefit others would derive from it.
Sell em if you win em. I won a couple tickets to a Seattle Seahawks game last season, I had no problem selling them on eBay. That was my intent when I made the phone call to answer the trivia question. For a few years I did Arbitron surveys for the local radio market, fill out a sheet listing what I listened to on the radio each week and wait for the goodies to come in. Arbitron releases the names of those doing the surveys and the radio stations bestow gifts upon us trying to get us to listen to their station. Concert tickets, t-shirts, hats, passes to special events all came my way. I sold most of the stuff on eBay. Ka-ching!
If it was me, I wouldn’t enter the raffle if I didn’t want to go to the game, since the purpose of the raffle was to fairly distribute a gift to your workplace that many people want. Since you don’t want the tickets, it seems a little gauche to try to get them anyway just so you can sell them.
I should note that the key point for me is the fact that they were a gift to the workplace. If it was your employer who was offering the raffle as some sort of incentive/motivational thing, I’d say you have just as much right to them as anyone else.
I think it depends on the intentions of whoever donated the tickets. If it was just a friendly gesture from a grateful client, I would decline, since I presume that person wanted someone from the office to actually go enjoy the game. But if it was part of promotion, like racer72 described, the giver probably doesn’t care, they just want their name to get tossed around.
Where exactly did these tickets come from? Did someone just drop them off in reception, or were they given to a specific employee to distribute as he/she sees fit? If the latter, I think that employee gets to decide the rules of the raffle, and “only enter if you can go to the game” is a perfectly reasonable restriction.
I agree. I’m sure that you have co-workers who would enjoy going to the game. Leave the raffle to them.
Edited to add that you said that “Anyone interested merely needs to sign their name on a signup sheet” to apply for the tickets. I’m sure that the implication is that you’re actually interested in attending the game.
How about asking the “payroll babe”? Something like this, “I’m not interested in Illini basketball. Is it OK if I enter the raffle with the intention of selling them should I win?”
That does not solve the ethical question. The PB’s opinion is not necesarily more valid than the OP’s. Now I am waffeling. If it was a gift from a gratefull client then presumably it was meant to be a reward for a job well done. I presume the OP is equally responsible for the clients gratitude and therefore don’t see why he should not get a chance to get the tickets then do what he wants with them. I guess I am just a waffeler.
Aw, man. I recently participated in one of those Arbitron surveys, and all I got was five one-dollar bills through the mail. No fair!
Re the tickets, I’d sell them but keep my mouth shut about it due to whiners.
If I wasn’t interested in the prize, I wouldn’t enter the drawing. I suppose that you have a “right” to enter anyway but it would be a serious asshole thing to do if you intend to sell the tix.
I think the intent of the person giving the gift should be honored. Assuming the donor gave the tickets to the company with the intention that they be enjoyed by some of the employees, then I think that it would not be right to sell the tickets for a profit. I’m not sure it crosses the line to unethical, but I do think it would be tacky, and rude to the client.
I would think that signing up for the drawing, rather than putting every employee’s name in the hat, would be a clue as to the intention of the drawing.
You think there might be a PR angle to this—a photo on the bulletin board of the grateful winner and a little story about how great the game was?
“I didn’t go but sold it for 200 bucks on eBay” won’t get you any promotions.
Ah, in that case, only enter the raffle if you intend on using them. If everyone was in the raffle like it or not, then you coudl sell them, but entering the raffle seems to be a statement of intent that you will attend.