The power of bribes

In today's mail was a letter from a power company offering a discount if I'd switch my electricity and gas accounts over to them. Nothing blog-worthy about that, but attached to the end of it was a $1 ("pengwins") scratch lottery ticket.

My first thought was: If I remove the scratchie, does it signify my acceptance of the change-over? My second, third and fourth thoughts were: Don't be ridiculous. Where's a coin? Hey, I just won $2!

I confess the addition of the little gift made me consider the offer for longer than I normally would...about 10 seconds longer.

While I was grateful for the coupla bucks, my loyalty can't be bought for so little (except by cute furry animals - awww, bless). More importantly, I'd never heard of the company before and wasn't sure whether I could trust their claim.

Still, nice marketing ploy - I bet it nets them a few customers.