Asked To Audition For The Sweepstakes TV Pilot

missunder

missunder

Active member
I turned it down and am now concerned, after hearing what others had to say, that they will cut back on sweepstakes like they did on couponing after after their show aired. Another member of this site brought that to my attention. Let's pray it does not affect our sweeps, that would be horrible.
 
I agree that the show Extreme Couponing has messed things up for regular people who use coupons to save $20 - $30 a week on groceries. My store would let you redeem 4-6 coupons as long as you purchased the correct number of items. Now they are down to only 3 like coupons per visit down from 4 in one week. It has gotten so I can't even plan a shopping trip because the rules change all the time. I hope the sponsers do not look at so called Extreme Sweepers (or whatever they end up calling the show) the same way the grocery markets are viewing Extreme Couponing. The sweepers will probably say how they have figured out ways to beat the rules on the number of entries allowed and those of us who follow the rules will end up be screwed in the end.
 
judge said:
I agree that the show Extreme Couponing has messed things up for regular people who use coupons to save $20 - $30 a week on groceries. My store would let you redeem 4-6 coupons as long as you purchased the correct number of items. Now they are down to only 3 like coupons per visit down from 4 in one week. It has gotten so I can't even plan a shopping trip because the rules change all the time. I hope the sponsers do not look at so called Extreme Sweepers (or whatever they end up calling the show) the same way the grocery markets are viewing Extreme Couponing. The sweepers will probably say how they have figured out ways to beat the rules on the number of entries allowed and those of us who follow the rules will end up be screwed in the end.
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Right - every group gets tarred by it's worst members :nono:
 
Not from getting burned out, some of us are just afraid that this will cause them to cut back on our sweeps. I will never burn out on Fed Ex, UPS, USPS (sometimes in the big wheelers).

More people finding out what we do and our odds decreasing.
 
I personally don't view more sweepers as a negative but as a positive - sponsors have sweeps to raise brand awareness, so more sweepers = more promos IMO.

That said, I'd love to see a study on how many sweepers there really are, and how many of them actually last more than a few weeks. I'd bet there is probably 1 diehard for every 100 that try it out. Or is it 1 out of 1,000? :scratch:

Too many people give up if they don't win right off - my mom gave it a whopping 2 weeks! I spent so much time walking her through it, setting up her comp., explaining how it took me 6 months of daily entering... :cussing: :crazytongue: :crazytongue: :whistle:
 
One more thing - we as a people must love to be outraged - what else explains the success of "reality" shows with their ginned up drama/conflict? Besides of course feeling better about our own lives. I detest those shows, and have from the start.

I never watched Extreme Couponing, but did they gloat about being unethical? If yes, and this sweeping show would do the same, I can see where you'd be concerned about sponsors pulling/ending sweeps.
 
Amy Shulkusky said:
I never watched Extreme Couponing, but did they gloat about being unethical? If yes, and this sweeping show would do the same, I can see where you'd be concerned about sponsors pulling/ending sweeps.
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I have only watch Extreme Couponing a couple of times and they show people rummaging thru dumpsters looking for coupons inserts from newspapers; they show people buying anywhere from 1 to 100 of an item, sometimes wiping out the stores whole supply; and they show people whose shopping trip totals $600-$800 or more and paying only $5-$10 dollars in actual money. There are people who have converted their garages for storage of their so called 'stockpile'. One guy has like 600 tubes of toothpaste, a woman has hundreds of packages of diapers and has no children nor is she pregnant. People have hundreds of bottles of laundry detergent, bottles of malox etc .... more than they could possibly use in a lifetime, let alone before the items go bad. A couple of people do donate their extra to foodbanks, or send the personal care items to the troops, but the majority keep them for themselves, eventhough they can not possibly use all of what they buy. I watched because I thought I could get some tips to save me a little more money at the market each week, but what these people do is ridiculous! No "normal" grocery shopping for them. I don't look at these peole as having saved money but as having wasted it .
 
judge - sounds more like a mental illness to me - hoarding!!! :crazytongue:

I learned at my grandmothers knee to never pass up on a chance to "lay in" provisions for JIC {storm/power outage/etc} so I'll stock up on non-perishables if it's 1/2 price or less with price matching & coupons, but not for items we don't need or want.

But IF I could get those items for free? I'd do it and donate to the women's shelter I give to here in town.

Seems to me these shows are Springer for niche audiences - where you can go "geez, here I thought I was bad, I must not be, look at these freaks" :laughing:
 
My prediction for this show will probably have TLC following the people who have won the items that they have absolutely no use for. The channel will go in search of people with "stock rooms" of prizes they have won but have no use for, just as people on "extreme couponing" have stockrooms of excess diapers that they have no use for. Instead, focusing strictly on the rush of getting that email or package of any useless thing that they entered as they look at it for 30 seconds and throw it into the stockroom. If too many sweepstakes runners see that side of it, rules definitely will change and they may figure out ways to "blacklist" some people.

This is probably why they would never seek out me as I only enter about 30-40 per day of specific items that I would want or need. And with only 6 months of sweeping, ten small items won now, so far, so good. Lets just hope the new show does not ruin the small part time guys like me in this hobby.
 
jdlarch - but that is what they do, right? They don't care about us "horses" they want the "zebras" because they aren't normal and boring :nono:

And we wonder why people think they know other cultures - we just know about their extremes!
 
When you think about it though, how many Sweeps & Contests are out there that aren't even listed? There are a lot more than You might realize.

Advertising might cause an initial spike in New Members but the less serious will fade out over a short period of time and We will then have ALL those New Sweeps/Giveaways that end up using SA because it boosts their advertising and exposure.

:sunny: The glass is half full.
 
When I was approached I was not sought out, I am a member of a club and the invitation was extended to the whole club. I am not that famous, I wish.
 
My opinion is that they're going to the extremes on this show, as they would for problem gamblers when most gamblers are sane. They had a sneak preview of one guy who spends 10 hours a day entering sweeps - I personally spend 2.5 hours or less per day, and I enter a LOT. The first segment I saw last Friday on 20/20 was underwhelming - no one actually said how they enter sweepstakes, or how long it took them to win stuff, so I think the series is going to romanticize the subject and draw people into it thinking it's "easy peasy", with unrealistic expectations, but those people are not going to cause companies offering sweepstakes to expand their offerings but instead they simply will reduce the odds for everyone else. And that's fine by me, I have no right to insist more people don't enter so that it benefits me, I'm simply saying it's a negative.
 
If i had to guess some sweepstakes admins will probably make the forms harder to enter. Just like with the coupons and stores now limiting how coupons can be used. Sweepstakes have been around for a long time. I doubt you will see any less of them because of the tv show. :)
 
The manufacturers and stores are taking a cut on profit with the extreme couponing. If more people start to sweep, it won't negatively impact the sweeps sponsors. As someone said, if anything,
it would increase brand awareness. Sponsors would love that and possibly increase the amount of sweeps.
I think it will produce new sweepers temporarily. Once they realize winning takes a while, a lot will give up. I do hope they don't pick nutty story lines...nothing annoys me more than someone entering anything and everything for items they have no use for...I'm betting they will cast someone with that greedy mindset
 
I wonder if they do have a show about sweepstakes if the IRS will put those people on a "list" to make sure they are paying taxes on those prizes? Makes me wonder too if the IRS will audit more companys that offer the sweeps or get lists of sweeps winners to make sure people are paying the taxes.
 
I have 6 kids so we are a family of 8, and I am a couponer. I don't have a stockpile although I need one. My kids eat so much that I feel I have to coupon. I use coupons with items already on sale, and sometimes I take 30 off, but I'm not an extreme couponer. I haven't had trouble at my grocery store, they are coupon friendly so far. I never saw the show, but have heard alot about it. I rarely pay full price for anything.

Now about the sweepstakes.......I do enter alot, but I also have to tend to my family as far as cleaning and raising children goes. I prefer to enter at night when everyone is asleep and their dad is at work. Entering sweepstakes is calming for me. I get a few comments from family members, but I really don't care...............I have won some nice gifts in the last 3 months. It makes me happy as I don't have spending money and when I win nice things it truly makes my day, if not year!!! I love this site.

:headbang:

Stephanie B.
 
Amen to that (loving this site!) My days are full from working and
enjoying my 2 grand-daughters and I consider sweeping an enjoyable,
relaxing hobby. (Except when I can't win things like the Coleman instant tent
win!!)

:sunny:
 
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