Hey! Our local grocery store is offering a deal, where when one purchases three or four 12 packs of Coke--one gets a receipt which says "Congratulations, you have earned one free ski lift ticket at Snowshoe Mountain resort...present this receipt at any ticket window and receive one free lift ticket good any day Nov. 24th thru December 24th and Monday thru Thursday from January 4th thru March 31st 2006.

The ONLY drawback is it's only good once per household. We bought loads (and loads) of coke in order to put several of these on E-bay (to share the good fortune) I've put a .99 cent minumum on them with a "buy it now" of the cost of an early or late season Midweek lift ticket.

(To be brutally honest, I'm REALLY hoping that that's what they'll go for, since this would allow me to buy lift tickets for four days, or for four family members...now that we've got My Dad skiing, as well as three out of four of our kids--the lift tickets are REALLY adding up!)

I found out about this deal when someone else North of us put her receipt on E-bay and I snatched it at her $25 dollar "buy it now" price. I hope I'm not being too "greedy" asking for 35 dollars...but we never would have forked over 4.19 per 12pack and I would REALLY like to get back SOME of the money we put into so much Coke! We've donated several packs to some events going on with the kids activities and STILL have around 11 packs left!

If any of you guys know of anyone who would like to save $10 to $15 dollars on a lift ticket at Snowshoe--send them to E-bay for me PLEASE! (here's a link!)

Elrah's Ebay auction

What grocery store did you find these at? I heard a rumor about them and have been searching but haven't found the deal yet?
Dave

Kroger, Walmart.

Any big name grocery store will do it.

Its been goin on for a little under a week i think...

I hadn't heard about WalMart!!!

Kroger is the grocery store in our area doing it--but of five area stores (all but one "Superstores") the only one actually ADVERTISING it is the one NOTsuper-store...in a tiny little suburb of Charleston called Cross Lanes. THAT Kroger actually has a display of 12 packs set up, with a prominent sign all about the Snowshoe ski lift ticket.

After I first saw the one I bought off of E-bay, I called the 1-800 number from the back of my Kroger Plus card and asked THEM about this promotion--not only did no one there (even at least one supervisor) know about it, but they told me very specifically that the ONLY promotion they had going currently involving lift tickets was out West at Breckenridge!!

I was actually a little worried that I might have purchased a scam! But it's legit, it's just being kept real quiet in some stores.

I also got told by employees of two different Krogers that you had to buy four 12 packs in order to qualify for the lift ticket. The third store I called about it had an employee who told me it was three (too late unfortunately) The first place I found out about it was in Ripley (about 80 miles North of here) That's where the postmark of the one I bought on E-bay came from...it was nearly a week later...after persistent calling and asking employees that I found out it was indeed active in our area too.


*****

So what's the WalMart deal???

This exact scenario came up last year, causing a great deal of debate and discussion on DCSki. For example, see:

http://www.dcski.com/ubbthreads22/showfl...e=0&fpart=1

Last year, people attempted to re-sell lift ticket vouchers they had obtained for free through grocery promotions.

Snowshoe was livid. This violates the terms of the promotion as the vouchers are not for resale and have no cash value. When this type of thing happens, resorts seriously consider ending the promotion and never offering similar promotions again. We all lose out. People considering purchasing vouchers on EBay should also be aware that a resort might end the promotion at any time, making the voucher they paid for worthless.

Elrah: I doubt you knew the hornet's nest you were stepping into, or the fact that this scenario came up last year. And it's great to share tips about lift ticket promotions. But after weighing the issue last year, I made a decision not to allow DCSki to be used to promote the resale of vouchers that are explicitly not for resale. I viewed the activity as ultimately hurting area skiers and boarders as it would reduce the number of resorts offering these types of promotions. And last year, the Snowshoe promotion was immediately canceled when the E-Bay resales started happening. I know you would feel terrible if people spent $35 on a voucher that was denied when they reached the ticket window. Technically, at least, these vouchers become void the second they change hands.

So, folks, please refrain from using the DCSki Message Forums in this manner.

Hmm.

I read the thread. I read the whole thread. I didn't however, read nothing but the thread.

Seriously, I totally bow to your authority here as an editor--and totally agree with that authority to act in righteous protection of dcski. While I am certainly grateful for the opportunity to answer your points, I am none-the-less completely understanding should you so choose to close this thread, or delete it in it's entirety in order to stop any promotions of Snowshoe Ski Lift tickets.

I totally understand your perspective, as it is extremely similar to my own. I would however like to point out--again--what the previous poster (a senior member, I noticed) tried to point out to you last year; namely that this is not a voucher, but a coupon.

I too saw actual vouchers for sale on E-bay last year. My husband and I were tempted to bid on at least one of them--but we refrained for ethical and moral reasons. Exactly as you point out--those are NON-transferable and are supposed to be used ONLY by the employees of specific companies, or attendees at specific events etc etc etc.

The Kroger promotion on the other hand offers the ONE restriction that it is supposed to be used once per household.

No other restrictions are marked on there--nor are there any other restrictions spelled out elsewhere! (I know because we've tried and tried and tried to get more information)

Some of you MIGHT be interested in what we've been told thus far by our local Kroger employees/managers; by Homeoffice Kroger employees/supervisor and most importantly by employees at Snowshoe itself!

Krogers seems pretty vague about details, and claims over and over that EVERYTHING is spelled out ON the receipt. They claim that there is no other information regarding this offer. (There is no collection of "fine print" spelling out that these are in fact non-transferable)

Some employees are unclear as to how many Coke products you must purchase, and are telling folks they must purchase FOUR instead of three 12 packs. (talk about adding to the general obesity of sedentary customers!--which was commented upon by one poster in the thread you linked to)

Which reminds me of a very tangential piece of information, namely that I NEVER would have purchased these Coke products EXCEPT for the "free" lift ticket...however, I know that's neither "here" nor "there" to most posters.

What SHOULD be of import to you and others is that there is a difference between these receipts and actual vouchers, which ARE Non-transferable and CLEARLY MARKED SO. These receipts are equally as clearly marked--the ONLY restriction is that they be used once per household and not in conjunction with any other offers, on specific dates. There is a difference between vouchers and receipt coupons.

Some of you might be at least vaguely interested as to what Snowshoe employees have told us thus far concerning these receipts: Hmmm I don't want to get anyone in trouble here...after all, you say that "Snowshoe reads this"...suffice to say that both my husband and I have individually been encouraged to use these receipts often and for as many family members as we have! Several employees have indicated to us that there is no tracking of this promotion. All employees we have spoken to have offered encouragement. Several have encouraged us to bring multiple receipts...some have suggested bringing Coke UPC symbols--but not a ONE has offered one word of discouragement or caution. Not one has even re-iterated the obvious restriction--namely one per household, in fact several have offered suggestions to "get around" this restriction!

Now....with that said, the reason I offered up our extra receipts was to better enable us to afford to purchase lift tickets for our other family members in the first place! In no way am I trying to "cheat" any system, especially Snowshoe, which we give all the favorable "word of mouth" we can to...nor did I ever intend to offend you Scott, nor any other dcski members...it never even occured to me that others might be offended by my actions. (Short sighted and naieve of me) I have only wished to act in totall accordance with the ONE restriction placed upon this offer, namely that it be used by merely one member of our FIVE skiing members household. (The youngest is only two)

When we DO start teaching our youngest to ski--she'll be getting at least a couple years worth of free ski lift tickets. Both Snowshoe and Winterplace have promotions in place where the very young ski for free.....however, those of us who HAVE taught young family members to ski before KNOW that it REQUIRES at least two people there old enough and stable enough and trustworthy enough to be in charge of that toddler at all times (for bathroom breaks, hot chocolate breaks, tired temper tantrums etc etc etc etc. So, those "free lift tickets" in fact act exactly like any "sale" in that for a lesser profit--they bring in far more buyers--thereby increasing the total profit experienced.

Sales work.

Trickle Down worked too.

(edited to add picture of receipt)