Sun 6 April 2008 - The scheme
How’s this for a scheme?
1. Buy discounted Kit Kat Chunky chocolate bars for $1.29 at Safeway. (On special only until closing time tonight; normal price $1.88)
2. Eat bar.
3. Use code inside wrapper that gets me a $1.69 song from iTunes.
4. Profit!
I like chocolate, and I already have an iTunes account.
And in fact I’d been planning to buy a few songs, such as a couple of those David Bowie tunes used on Life On Mars (wasn’t the ending utterly brilliant!) including the title track, and Starman, also used to good effect on Torchwood. It’s cheaper to buy once-off songs for $1.69 than splash out and buy whole CDs full of other tracks I don’t really want. (How come the David Bowie best-of I already have didn’t include these two anyway?!) Even cheaper at minus 40 cents.
So what’s the catch here?
- According to the terms and conditions, you can only do this up to 5 times per iTunes account. Damn.
- They’re Nestle bars. I’ve long boycotted Nestle. But the costs of the discount and the promotion are likely to be borne by the manufacturer, which hopefully means they’re earning nothing at all, or even losing money on the deal.
- I have to eat the chocolate. Bummer. (I’ll pace myself.)
Life On Mars trivia: Sam Tyler was named after Rose Tyler from Doctor Who.
April 6th, 2008 at 10:43pm
Sam Tyler named after Rose from Doc Who. Interesting. Being of a certain age, I love Bowie. But I am sure there was some T Rex thrown into Life on Mars too.
April 6th, 2008 at 11:28pm
itunes songs are A$1.69!? That would imply an exchange rate of 0.58, it’s been a while since it was that low. Maybe Nestle buys the songs in the US (or Europe) and “sells” them in Australia at a mark-up. Not quite the “Big Mac Index” but another example of exchange rate distortions.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:19am
Ah yes Rose, she just can’t seem to disappear…. or can she…. mwahahahaha…
April 7th, 2008 at 10:39am
Good on you for boycotting Nestle, even if this is an exception. Those scumbags don’t deserve anyone’s money.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:59am
Ah, the good old (very old) ‘boycott Nestle’ trend. That campaign helped steer me towards a job in research. I remember sitting on the floor in an assembly in Year 11 (15 years ago), being fed some lines from an activist who was telling us how bad this food company was.
At that moment I was thinking, “Where’s the evidence? Where are this guy’s references?” Such a thirst for actual facts has led me to be quite ruthless in accepting or rejecting the findings of whatever research paper I happen to read on any subject. And I won’t follow chanting hordes on whatever crusade they’ve latched onto. Unless they have evidence and present it when they give their spiel.
And that’s why I still eat Nestle stuff.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:31am
Speaking of Doctor Who, were you up like me at 5.20 AM Sunday Morning watching “Partners in Crime”?
This new series is going to be Brilliant, all I can say.
April 7th, 2008 at 2:12pm
Loved Life On Mars and I’m hanging to see the sequel series Ashes To Ashes
April 7th, 2008 at 5:11pm
$1.69 a song that is bloody unbelievable. Go to one of those Russian sites. They are as low as $0.10 a song with no digital rights management. Apple is so god damn evil!
April 7th, 2008 at 9:58pm
An interesting link between Who and Life on Mars. And Owen’s theme in Torchwood is superb as you would expect. Very fitting for the somber occasion.
SPOILER……………………………………………………………………….
……………………….
……………..
[Spoiler removed --Daniel]
April 12th, 2008 at 11:51am
Kit Kat Chunky discontinued? I think I prefer the normal ones better anyway.
Yeah I’ve bought a few regular Kit Kats from the Salvo’s honesty shop at work to take advantage of this deal. I’ve got three so far. I opened an iTunes account just so I could redeem the first one. It’s a good scam really.
Speaking of Rose Tyler, the first season of Doctor Who is being currently being replayed on ABC 2 on Friday nights at 8:30.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:58pm
It may be a cheap shot, but I have a question to Phillip - where’s your evidence? The real problem is actually deeper. It is not possible to maintain the high standards of evidence that Phillip would seem to ask for. And not just in everyday life but even in science. A lot has to be taken on trust if we are to be able to build upon the achievements of others. This does lead to all sorts of problems and I am not saying that the Nestle case isn’t one of them (or that it is, for that matter). The trick is to know what can be taken on trust at any given moment and what should be looked into in greater depth. And I am sure that Phillip, being a researcher, does realise this.