Sun puzzles - email entry no longer available.

Joolski

@mjm3346  Thanks for the explanation re the "Free" criteria.   I stopped doing postal entries some while ago when the postage costs started increasing so much. 
 
I guess I'll end up doing more Instagram comps, as I won't be paying to enter comps.  I don't know how people afford it!  

Dust_Bunny

They're also blocking the Sunday Pets email 😠 

tghe-retford

mjm3346 said:

Joolski said:

tghe-retford said:

It's only going to get worse as the price of stamps continue to go up and the service gets worse. It won't be too long before the cost of postage is higher than paying for an entry. At which point it will make sense for everyone to have postal as the "free" entry route because it'll be cheaper to enter via all the paid and profitable routes while still remaining legal.

True.  And maybe I'm thick, but I still don't understand how postal entries are classed as "Free"!??   If I'm paying for a stamp, what makes that any different from paying for a phone call or text?  I would still have to spend money on entering, by all of these routes.  I just don't get it. 🤬

"Free" does not and never has meant zero cost - there must be no additional charge to enter a competition on top of the normal charge for using a service be that post, local phone call etc. (in many cases for multiple entries it already works out cheaper to enter on-line rather than send several postal entries - winhappy £4 for 8 entries through to £20 for 120 entries). Don't be surprised if at some point the weekly magazines become postal with an online fee to enter (depends if a sales loss would be off set by extra income)

Some radio stations have also dropped the free entry route for their competitions and have adapted them to have an element of skill so they don't have to provide a free entry route.

Some competitions now also have bundled entries where the cost per entry is cheaper than the price of a stamp for the "free" postal route on the basis that any profit is better than none and that it will entice people away from the the free entry route to the paid one on the basis that it's cheaper than a stamp and you have more chances to win.

I think you're right that eventually everyone will drop the free entry routes come the time the second class stamp becomes as expensive as the paid entry method. It will be up to the ASA to determine where to go from there. Needless to say, it will make comping very difficult if you're a spendthrift (ie. me) and don't use social media, particularly Instagram (also me).

One-Eye

What I find most disgusting is the size of the prize compared to the cost of entering. With a £50 prize and £1.50 to enter, the Sun would be raking it in. If the service provider receives 50p from each entry for administering the comp and providing the phone lines, the Sun would only need 50 entries to break even. For a thousand entries the Sun  would be giving back just 5% of revenue as the prize and would make £950 pure profit.

There should be rules that set a minimum percentage of revenue that must be returned in prizes. For comparison, the National Lottery returns 53% as prizes, and the People's Postcode Lottery 40% (as well as giving 25% and 33% respectively to good causes).

mjm3346

One-Eye said:

What I find most disgusting is the size of the prize compared to the cost of entering. With a £50 prize and £1.50 to enter, the Sun would be raking it in. If the service provider receives 50p from each entry for administering the comp and providing the phone lines, the Sun would only need 50 entries to break even. For a thousand entries the Sun  would be giving back just 5% of revenue as the prize and would make £950 pure profit.

There should be rules that set a minimum percentage of revenue that must be returned in prizes. For comparison, the National Lottery returns 53% as prizes, and the People's Postcode Lottery 40% (as well as giving 25% and 33% respectively to good causes).

There are all sorts of rules the "free" entry route lets them get around including the 10% limit on main prize vs ticket sales (lotto has separate rules), what purpose the games can be run for etc. The PPL combines lots of small lotteries to which the normal rules apply.

When the "free" route was first allowed post was considered a universal service with most having access to a post box and internet penetration was much lower - now perhaps internet should be considered more readily available and if internet was the default free entry route then sites like Omaze would probably fold - also setting a total maximum prize value for "free" entry competitions would cut the numbers right down depending how low the limit was set - as it is the number of pay to enter competitions has surged and the balance needs to be restored

Midnighter

Dust_Bunny said:

They're also blocking the Sunday Pets email 😠 

I didn't notice in last Sunday's paper, but they're still advertising the email entry route online.

janE1956

Midnighter said:

Dust_Bunny said:

They're also blocking the Sunday Pets email 😠 

I didn't notice in last Sunday's paper, but they're still advertising the email entry route online.

according to loquax it is working now (too late for last Saturdays) but hopefully fir tomorrows

Dust_Bunny

Puzzles are working but the Pets one's still bouncing. 

grumpyoldwoman

Mmmm! I've just emailed last Saturday's answers and they haven't come back as undeliverable so the email address seems to be working. Maybe they've had a lot of complaints. Time will tell but I hope it's back working properly. Fingers crossed.

Midnighter

Dust_Bunny said:

Puzzles are working but the Pets one's still bouncing. 

There's still over a week left before the closing date. Hopefully they'll restore that entry route before then.