February 2
...serving up your daily dish.
A Montclair man’s dumpster diving has paid huge dividends: free airline tickets to Orlando for his wife and two friends. Hamburger giant Wendy’s was offering a free one way ticket on AirTran in exchange for 32 coupons, found on medium or large soda cups, in a contest last December. The 25-year-old diver, a vegetarian, dug his way through left over chili, fries, chicken and burgers, to collect over 800 coupon bearing cups. It was more than enough for four round trip tickets, and he pocketed a bunch of cash by selling his extra coupons on Craigslist, reported Tuesday’s Star Ledger.
"It was a little gross the first time. I'm not (usually) a big fan of Wendy's, but right now I am." said the man, who requested anonymity out of fear AirTran wouldn't honor the coupons.
The dumpster digger remains anonymous because his friends might think he’s a little weird, smelly once the airline found out about other dumpster divers, they started scrutinizing all winners. Dude, enjoy your anonymous 15 minutes of fame.
February 2, 2006 in Really Freaking Weird | Permalink
Seriously, did Wendy's marketing/corporate offices really expect customers to patiently make 800 individual trips to the restaurant to get the free ticket?! All this for a ride on an AirTran plane ... imagine what would happen if the offer was good for a Continental or American ticket?
Posted by: Jim | Feb 2, 2006 11:15:14 AM
"The 25-year-old diver, a vegetarian, dug his way through left over chili, fries, chicken and burgers..."
Would it have been less impressive for a carnivore to eat his way through the dumpster?
Posted by: walleroo | Feb 2, 2006 11:24:40 AM
At first I felt this was hypocritical but then I remembered that Wendy's DOES sell some non-meat dishes. So more power to him.
Posted by: Miss Martta (8T) | Feb 2, 2006 11:34:52 AM
Good for him. I wish I had known about the promotion; I may have done the same thing. Where's MY free vacation? Ahhh, if only.....
Posted by: Erin | Feb 2, 2006 1:39:16 PM
Why does my cynical antennae rise whenever I hear one of these urban ... tales? If I were a Wendy's marketing muckety-muck (and I could be, if they ever develop a painless laser lobotomy), I would love to have the world hear these kinds of things -- as long as the divers don't find any digits.
Posted by: Conan the Grammarian | Feb 2, 2006 1:45:13 PM
