Atlantic Canada — It came as a pleasant surprise to Canadians today to learn that, thanks to a few loophole-savvy sleuths, we now know that it’s possible to waste both time and money without ever rolling up the rim on a Tim Hortons coffee cup.
The popular Roll Up the Rim game includes a “no purchase necessary” clause, meaning, legally, you do not have to buy a coffee to enter the contest. This fact was not lost on Sandra Boudreau of Halifax, a longtime Tims drinker.
“You didn’t hear it from me, but you don’t gotta play Roll Up to win a free coffee,” said said, with a conspiratorial tone. “You just gotta go to the post office, buy some envelopes and stamps, print off a form, fill it out, go back to the post office, send it in, and wait for free cup to come in the mail. I won five bucks that way and it only took me three weeks and $6 worth of supplies. It’s the little secret Timmies don’t want you to know.”
Saint John’s Dale Hargrove found his own way around walking a block to Tim Hortons and shelling out $2.
“See, what I did was I took the bus to Staples, bought some paper, came home, scrounged around for a pen, wrote a letter to Tims’ head office asking for a receipt that counts as proof purchase, borrowed some stamps from a neighbour, mailed that in and before I knew it, they sent me a receipt. So then I logged onto my computer, found the website, filled out some information, clicked ‘submit,’ and I was entered to win! Now, I didn’t win, but I didn’t have to buy a coffee either.
“Canadians are a lot smarter than Tims gives us credit for,” he added.
According to Boudreau and Hargrove, there’s a whole community out there of people who can waste tons of time and money without ever participating in a simple contest in its intended manner.
“Oh yeah, we’re everywhere,” said Boudreau, while sitting at Tim Hortons eating a donut. “Like right now I could really use a coffee, but that’s just what Timmies wants me to do — buy their coffee and have a chance at winning. I’m not playing into their hands that way.”