12 Days of Speedy Delivery

12 days, all it took was 12 days for the folks over at Honey Nut Cheerios to pay out the five dollar reward I had won on my first day playing their Sweet Rewards Giveaway. Now, it may not seem like anything special and, quite honestly, it may be a fluke but a payout of a reward in less than 2 weeks is incredibly fast turn around for any sweeps. When I went out to check the mail today I was not expecting to find a check waiting for me but there it was:

Most contests, giveaways, sweepstakes etc tell you to expect your reward in anywhere from 4 weeks to as much as 18 weeks from the time it is rewarded to the time it actually shows up at your address. Months after moving out of my old place my roommates received a package for me (ended up being a CD I wasn't wild to have anyway so I told them to keep it) but I suppose it just goes to show you just never know. So thank you to the lovely people over at Honey Nut Cheerios, you already had my approval for making the best of all the Cheerios but your quick pay-out is much appreciated.

Didn't exactly win anything today but a check in the mail is always welcome and Microsoft's Club Bing updated their list of available prizes early this morning. I quickly turned over those hard earned tickets (28,600 of them) for a brand new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W230 Camera, here's hoping the folks in their rewards distribution center are as efficient. If luck is with me I might be able to gather enough tickets up in time to order the Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender they are offering as well (only 16,500 tickets).

Pay Off

Just as soon as that feeling comes down, that feeling that I'm about to hit a big dry spell as far as my luck goes here come 2 more wins within minutes of each other. First off comes one from CSI: Deadly Intent of all places. It turns out they have made a video game based off of their hit television series and are giving away Nintendo Wii prize packs as well as a variety of CSI: Deadly Intent gear.

A drawstring backpack wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, maybe I can use it to store all my other "who would want this" wins.

My second win for the day was a bit better and more useful though. The folks over at Wendy's are at it yet again... another 5 free entries per day contest this one themed around home improvement with sponsorship split between Makita Industrial Power Tools, Home Depot and Coca-Cola. Today I won one of their third place prizes; a $10 gift card to Home Depot.

Now what's excellent about this contest is that while I can't win another $10 gift card I can still come back and keep entering my 5 times daily in hopes of winning 1st, 2nd, 4th place prizes or even the grand prize in addition to my 3rd place win.

Persistence

As with most anything the key to winning sweepstakes is persistence. Even with a huge number of entries per day I don't walk away with a win every day, heck sometimes it can even be weeks between wins. The past few days have been nothing but disappointment day after day, entry after entry. Every instant win game I've played I lost, every contest that sent me notice of ending I had not won.

Still I power through the entries day after day because, for me, it's part of my routine now. If I have time in the morning I enter while eating breakfast, if not as the night falls and Im starting to wind down I'll take the time to enter anything I missed earlier. Either way persistence pays off in the end, I know this from playing so much and talking to others who do the same.

During a dry spell it's always helpful when something I know I've won finally shows up. Opening the front door and seeing no package isn't the best sign, opening the mailbox and finding no small boxes or padded envelopes doesn't seem good either but that old proverb rings true good things can come in small packages - a business sized envelope for instance.

Yesterday I received an envelope from SmartEdge by GMAC:

My $25 Exxon Mobil gas card has arrived which makes excellent fuel for the sweepstakes fire. (I can buy gas at early 90s prices again!)