Whilst The Nation panics on the price of petrol and pasties, it’s the increase in stamp prices that has got Britain’s compers up in arms. From the end of April a first class stamp will rise from 46p to a whopping 60p whilst second-class stamps will go up from 36p to 50p. That’s a massive increase of at least 30% so we expect to see queues of compers panic buying their stamps on the 29th April!
We do wonder whether these price hikes could mean that the days of sending in postcards and coupons to enter competitions are coming to an end? These increases could well impact the number of entries postal competitions receive – and it may well be that promoters start to consider alternative ways, such as online and text, for running these kind of giveaways.
For Just £3 A Month..
Of course, many promoters already do a lot of their competitions online but that doesn’t stop them looking at new ideas and options – especially if there’s an opportunity to generate revenue. One such company is Good To Know who have been emailing people inviting them to join their Competition Club. In the email they say .. “We know how much you love competitions, so we’re excited to tell you about our brand new subscription service that means you’ll never miss out again! For just £3 per month we can automatically enter you into all our competitions – that’s over 30 quality competitions every month and you don’t have to lift a finger.”
Is It An Automated Entry Service?
First of all this isn’t the same as the automated entry services that we regularly blog about. In this case you’re paying Good to Know to enter Good to Know competitions. You’re not paying a service to spam 20,000+ emails into prize draws, annoy site owners so they pull their competitions and on occasions get you disqualified. What it is is simply a way to get your details in to the prize draw of the competitions run by Good to Know. According to the terms “the service costs £3 per month, plus your standard network charge. You will receive two messages per month charged at £1.50 each. This is a subscription service”. We think this means that in exchange for getting one entry into every competition GTK runs in a monthly period, you will get two marketing messages sent to your mobile. Essentially it’s a way for GTK to generate revenue from their competitions. Presumably they will earn a share from the text messages that are sent out – and possibly from the any responses to those marketing texts?
The Pros & Cons
The pros of joining such a service is that it saves you time. We know that Good to Know regularly offer decent prizes and for £3 you know you’re going to be in the draw. However, the downside is you can’t control which competitions you enter! On top of that there’s cost and that may well put people off. But, comparatively to postal competitions (£10.80 rising to £15 for 30 x 2nd class stamped entries) the £3 is cheap. Of course, you can still enter the Good to Know competitions every day for free – you just have to do it yourself. The one concern that compers have is will other sites follow suit? Sites will always explore ways to generate revenue.
Purchase Necessary Competitions
HMV, for example have competitions that are open exclusively for purehmv members and that costs £3 to join, whilst Pushchair Trader offer VIPs entry into all their competitions for £10 a year. Purchase necessary, keep your receipt and code required competitions are also on the rise. But, we’d be surprised to see this kind of thing over take the standard free prize draw, Facebook, Twitter etc. However, given all these price increases now may be a good time to look at what you spend on stamps, mobiles, magazines and other comping services and see what you’re spending – and what changes you could make to it. It may be less stamps means more text entries or ending comping subscriptions means more stamps! You might even have a few pence left for a hot pasty!