In a game like McDonald’s current Monopoly game, where it takes assembling different pieces together to win the big dough… how does McDonald’s account for the fact that some people don’t play the game and simply throw their game pieces away? Is only one Boardwalk (assuming that’s the million-dollar piece) made? Do they know where it goes, approximately? What if no one gets it? Is someone guaranteed to win?
I need to know!
H
McDonald’s pockets the money.
No.
Insurance companies will take out policies on some games for small companies that want to run similar contests. For McDanld’s, it is simply more economical to say screw it and pay up, if, on some off chance, somebody wins.
Well, my conspiracy theory is that, yes, there is only one. Furthermore, it’s at the very bottom of the “write in with a self-addressed stamped envelope for your game piece” pile in a vault in McDonalds headquarters.
If someone actually lands up winning , It’ll probably someone from a small vilage of which apparently no one herad of and his name will be Jack Smith
I worked at McDonald’s for seven years and found that the big prizes (ie those were there are 3<) will be given to a specific store at a specific time. There is nothing random about these ones. They have to do this so that they know if the claim is legit, that someone actually gets the prize and that none of the employees cheat it.
A friend of mine was also a store manager at a large supermarket. The chain had an easter egg promo where one of the chocolate rabbits had the keys to a car inside it. His store was chossen by the regional manager to have the rabbit with the key. The regional manager bought the rabbit to the store personally and put it on the shelf. We didn’t think at the time but we should have just bought ALL the rabbits, only they would have been a bit suspicious.
Well in Australia I thought they had to guarantee the prizes were awarded. So, if no-one claimed the prize by the ened of the competition they were given out in the 2nd chance draw. Isn’t that how it’s done there?
No such requirement in the US as far as I know, but you are obligated to do a fair contest where it’s actually possible for someone to win, and even if the probability of someone winning is incredibly small you have to be capable of paying the prize.
It seems to me that McDonald’s has a pretty strong impetus to make sure that the winning piece is given at a store in a large metropolitan area. Undoubtedly the store that gives out the million-dollar piece is going to generate a lot of publicity locally. If the winning ticket is given away in some one-stop-light town such as Dunkleshnort, Pennsylvania, the resulting publicity won’t generate nearly as much revenue as it would in, say, greater Chicago.
I’m sure the store that McDonald’s brings it to (assuming that is true) is chosen randomly, whether weighted by customers there or not. The essence of any contest is for any participant to have an equal chance, and if McD’s violates that, they get their ass sued every which way.
I guess they could pick a random store, or weight the stores on the basis of how many people went through it every day, but they certainly couldn’t just pick a store that seemed nice.
On occasion, my company will be contracted to place the winning game pieces in with the “commons” (i.e. the loosers). The consulted travels to the printing company that is printing all the pieces and now and then throw a winner in the mix. It’s impossible to know where it’s going to go. We then sign an affidavit that we placed so many winners in with the commons.
I’ve been told by several of our clients that many times the big prizes are not claimed. One time Colt 45 was giving away 5 caddys. Only 3 were claimed. I’d hate to think I threw out a beer can that was worth an expensive car.
When I was in college, I worked for a beverage-type company that gave away cars, money, motorcycles, etc.
The prizes were not given out at random. They always seemed to go to the nephew of the owner of a grocery store in a nearby town. Coincidently, within a couple of months, the store put on a big promotion trumpeting the owners product over the competitor as their loss leader.
I always wondered why they weren’t investigated. I’m sure there was enough tips to the state (heck I did one). One time though, a rep from a state agency showed up at the drawing (always done in private), tipped with the time I guess from someone inside, and watched. The owner was so nervous that the drawing was honest :). He was pissed and vented that whoever notified would be fired when he found out.
I’ve been skeptical of any large prize contest since. They are probably all rigged.
Blink
I don’t mean they all went to the nephew, but always seem to go to someone related/friends.
McDonald’s has been offering a million dollar prize each summer for what, like twenty years now?
Has anyone actually won it?
Yes. A winning million dollar piece was anonymously mailed to Saint Jude’s a few years ago. I believe it was past the deadline, but McDonalds payed anyway.
They always put out at least 2 million dollar pieces. One on food and one in sunday newspaper inserts.
Two points I’d like to add to the discussion, when I worked for the golden arches, (for four months, almost twenty years ago), it was during one of these promotions. What the store manager told us at that time, was that the increased business basically paid for all the prizes by the time the promotion was half over. (Something like 3 weeks.) Any extra business after that was gravy, and that all the prizes had to be given away eventually, (second chance drawings). I also heard the theory that the anonymous donor to a church/religious charity happened because the ‘winning piece’ had been found by an employee that knew he/she couldn’t collect it, so rather than have no winner, they sent it to the church.
I have often thought that as much as you hear about forging money, forging things like game pieces, collectables, etc., would surely be easier and more profitable. One could make a carrer selling winning game pieces to other people.
My conspiracy theory is that Park Place is the most common piece.
Just to keep folks interested.
Go to http://www.mcdonalds.com for details. Yes, there is only 1 Boardwalk. McDonald’s has printed nearly 500 million game pieces (498,980,000 to be exact). So, what are your chances of winning? Pretty darn slim. The odds chart is also on that webste. (See the “Rules” section to find it)