Shipped Out
When is Hawaii and Alaska not part of the 50 United States of America? When it comes to contests at O'Reilly and Associates. O'Reilly is running a contest to promote a new book from former Daynoter Robert Bruce Thompson (see the contest here). I offer for your review what some of the rules are and intersperse them with my comments.
From the "Official Sweepstakes Rules":
This promotion is intended for play and participation in the United States only and shall be construed and evaluated according to the laws of the United States. Please do not participate if you are not a legal resident of the United States and located in the United States at the time of entry...
Okay, if I read this correctly, you have to be legal resident of the United States at the time of entering the contest. I am a legal resident of the state of Hawai'i. Hawai'i is part of the United States and has been so since about 1959-60. Ipso facto, I am a legal resident of the Unites States.
SWEEPSTAKES OPEN ONLY TO LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE 50 UNITED STATES...
Yup, same as above. I qualify to enter.
7. Eligibility: Sweepstakes open to legal residents of the continental United States...
Oh oh. Are residents of Hawai'i legal residents of the United States? Yup. But Hawai'i (nor usually Alaska) is considered to be part of the continental Unites States. Sigh.
So yet another contest is closed to me because I live in Hawai'i. I don't want to leave the impression that it's only O'Reilly & Associates that do this. I've seen other contests that say they are open to all US citizens but then say they are actually only for the lower 48. I wonder why they choose to disenfranchise millions of people and create bad will towards their products?
Yes, I know, the two major parcel shipping companies (FedEx and UPS) have changed their shipping rates such that both imply they don't want business to or from Hawai'i. But that doesn't mean there aren't other shippers. There are DHL and the US Postal Service (USPS). Personally, I like the USPS. They are just as fast, to Hawai'i anyway, as the other shippers, but deliver on Saturdays and charge about 50 percent less than the others. I really don't understand why more people don't use the USPS.
Oh well, I guess I won't be buying this or any more of O'Reilly's books.
Comments
Hmmmm. Okay, because O'Reilly thoughtlessly follows the same schtick that everyone else uses for their "US-only" contests, you'd cut off your face from the best, most dedicated technical book publisher around? Did you even send an email to ask them? After all, it's their conflicting rules, why not ask for clarification.
Worse than anything you mentioned, the prize includes everything BUT the CPU!!!
Oh, and just because Bob asked to be removed from the Daynotes.org website and I honored that request, doesn't make him an ex-daynoter. Or were you making a point I missed.
In other news, how are you doing? Someday, somehow, we'll make it out your way. I've no excuse for not having ever been to the islands before. Maybe next year, eh? I can dream...
.brian
Posted by: Brian Bilbrey | October 9, 2004 04:18 PM
I can see one reason why they do that. If they have a shipping contract with FedEx or UPS.
So, in stead of boycotting you might nag them to use a different shipping company.
Hey, maybe Hawaii could declare independence from the Empire.
Posted by: sjon | October 10, 2004 09:45 PM