But at least now I can't use it closer to home · 5:08pm Jun 22nd, 2017
In the time since I joined the program, My Coke Rewards has offered amusement park tickets every single year. Some businesses have cut off their corporate partnerships: I used to get Universal Studios offerings, but... well, the value of points-to-ducat might have been a little too good. Others, however, have maintained. But with the current stage of the program approaching its final death (still set for June 30th), there isn't much left of anything, and those holding out for last-minute sales only have a few days they can cling to.
I wasn't one of those who emptied out my account at the moment the program announced an end date, and so I've had points waiting just in case something new came along: closeout sale is just about out of probability. And as it turned out, I was sort of right to do so. Because as spring went on and summer approached, the Cedar Fair tickets appeared as a one-day discount: 250 points each.
For those outside their general realm, Cedar Fair is a company which owns twelve separate amusement parks, and typically ones of decent quality. I mean, they're no Traction Park, but what is? Their tickets, like those for many high-level U.S. amusement parks, are nightmarishly overpriced, and exist in that state because it's so much easier to start at the ridiculous and then pretend the consumer is getting a huge bargain for approaching with that 50% off coupon they received for ordering a burger. The facility gets it all back from parking anyway.
I usually get the tickets every year, to the limit of what my account can acquire. Sometimes they cost points: other seasons have seen 'enter twenty codes from any product for one free entrance.' But there's a family I know whose kids were still at the age where parks were fun, so I could generally give them away. And if I couldn't... well, it wasn't as if they didn't have a little value, so I could trade them online, typically for Amazon credit. Or, if I wanted to go the risk route, sell them through eBay: higher payback, but a stronger chance of buyer fraud. It's what I did with the Universal tickets, and I was lucky enough to get paid.
So I picked up the tickets. It was something to spend on, and 250 each didn't hurt my balance too badly. A lot of people were moaning about having brought themselves down to zero too early, but I? Still had that balance, and now I had tickets too. Time to contact that family --
-- and they told me they weren't going. The oldest boy had moved out of his roller coaster phase while having yet to figure out that water flume rides equaled near-infinite chances to get slapped in the face for openly goggling. They didn't need the tickets.
Okay. Now what? I'm not in the mood to go. So maybe it's time to try my eBay luck --
-- and no.
Unlike paper Universals, the Cedar Fair tickets are awarded as digital codes: you redeem under the name of your choice and then print them off. It makes them easy to sell. And because they're codes, it also makes them easy to scam -- for the buyer. Apparently a lot of eBay purchasers had been picking up the codes, redeeming them within seconds, then going to PayPal and demanding a refund because the seller had given them a used code. This accusation conveniently left out the minor detail of the buyer having been the person who used it, but the site almost automatically comes down on the consumer's side. And rather than keep dealing with the screams of sellers who'd been ripped off, they made a simple move: banning the sale of digital codes. Just about any digital codes. Such listings still go up, but the site takes them down on first sighting, and any sales which might take place before that are at the seller's risk. Being caught trying to sell a banned item, however...
...fine. So I'll trade them. Off to the official MCR swap thread!
Which is dead.
Well, you'd expect it to be, wouldn't you? It's not as if anyone's trading for points, because points are worthless now. Not going to trade for MCR codes because no one knows what they'll be worth at the July 1st reboot. The swap thread's also been cracking down on big trades: you're technically not supposed to ask for anything of more than $5 value back in exchange for anything else (which becomes comedic fast) and while a large number of trusted people trade bigger numbers under the table, the mods are keeping their eyes a little more open during the last days. Open asking for Cedar Fair ticket swaps, which always surged when the Coke offers went up, is gone. I can't trade for gift card credit because there doesn't seem to be anyone I can trade with.
...right...
So there's a bunch of Cedar Fair digital ticket codes in my Inbox, and there they sit until something happens.
But not all is lost, really. Because as MCR slowly dies and the "action" shifts to Coke.com, a few new offers have been appearing. Most of them have required smartphones for any degree of participation, and so I've been closed out -- but there have been a few instant win contests. $5 Walmart credit, which I was closed out of. And starting a couple of days ago, Six Flags tickets, an amusement park chain whose biggest achievement in corporate life might have been filling for bankruptcy at a time when it cost Daniel Snyder money. When you take funds away from the Martin Shkreli of sports, that's a public service.
I played a little today, mostly out of habit -- and, much to my surprise, won a single ticket. Or rather, a PDF file of a ticket.
Which I can't give away, sell, trade, or directly use.
...
Consistency!
Well, if it's already guaranteed to be zero-profit, make it a giveaway and score life karma points?
Try to trade them for an art commission?
Tape them to a lamp post and wait nearby with binoculars and see how long they last?
Literally eat them?
4579938
Digital codes.
0001101000111100111100001111...
I live near one of Cedar Fair's biggest properties. Maybe di a giveaway to people who would use them?
4579984
I dunno: I'm kind of liking this 'trade for art' idea Spectrumancer came up with. How good are you with straight lines?
I've also been wondering about the feasibility of taping a digital code to a lamppost when said code has been fully expressed in binary. How much room would that take up? Probably not much for the Cedar Fair: I haven't looked at it yet, but if it's the same as prior years, it'll just be a short alphanumeric sequence, plus a link. But with the PDF of Six Flags...
Twilight Sparkle had been properly skeptical when Rainbow Dash had presented the tickets to her, and had suppressed her properly skeptical stance throughout the entire train trip, but now that the ending train station was within sight, some of that snark leaked out around the edges.
"When we get there and you find out this was all a scam, I'm going to say 'I told you so' no matter what. Nopony, and I mean nopony gives out free amusement park tickets for only sending in twenty bits and five box tops off Sugar Frosted Blammo cereal, no matter what kind of promotion they're running." She paused as an unexpected though surfaced. "What is a Blammo, anyway?"
"Sugar, I think." Rainbow Dash shrugged and went to hover anxiously by the door of the train car. "Just one more short train ride and you'll see. Super Mega Funland Park is going to be a blast."
"One more train trip?" Twilight Sparkle checked her map of the Equestrian train network. "We're literally at the end of the line, and I mean that in a literal sense. The train doesn't go any further."
"That's what you think." Rainbow Dash smirked and darted out the open door, calling back over her shoulder. "We get the Deluxe Supreme Package, since I sent in an extra twenty bits. It comes with a private car, a catered lunch, and a commemorative t-shirt. Come on, Twilight!"
Ten minutes later, Twilight Sparkle had to admit that Rainbow Dash was right, in the worst possible way. There was a train, at about quarter-scale to a normal train, with the engineer straddled over the 'engine' and his legs to either side, which was quite convenient for him, because that was where the pedals were that propelled the tiny contraption. There was a catered lunch, although Pinkie Pie was probably having a fit back in Ponyville at the small bowl of grass clippings, topped with a single dandelion that had been left on their seats. And the t-shirt... Well, it would look good on Flurry Heart, she supposed, once the spelling errors were corrected.
4579997
Well, I can't draw straight lines, so I'm out of the running when it comes to an art trade.
4580048
At least it's not Sharks on a Rollercoaster.
4579997
If given several hours notice I could probably attempt a straight line, so I'm probably out. Also, I actually have a Cedar Fair Platinum Pass, so I don't need the tickets, but I have broke friends who'd love them.
I've been meaning to go to knotts for a while now...