lat-puzz.com

by **Sundowner64** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 6:11 pm

Why did a retailing company for a short while give away every product the customer wished for free?

by **Sarisberie** » Fri Jun 10, 2022 4:45 pm

Presumably this was a special offer? A gimmick to entice customers? Had the retailer just started up? Were the products of low/high monetary value [number of $'s = ?] Short while = [number of days/weeks]? Was this real life? Or fiction e.g. father xmas?

Was the company actually in or near Reno? Gambling relevant? Chips or tokens? Were the products of very low value? Were they tangible?

by **Sundowner64** » Sat Jun 11, 2022 12:40 am

Sarisberie
Presumably this was a special offer? Yope (for "Yes" you need to word the question differently) A gimmick to entice customers? Yes, but .. Had the retailer just started up? No Were the products of low/high monetary value [number of $'s = ?] They have a broad range of products, say from $1 to $5000. Short while = [number of days/weeks]? Two or three days, don't remember exactly Was this real life? Yes Or fiction e.g. father xmas?

Was the company actually in or near Reno? No Gambling relevant? Keep exploring Chips or tokens? No Were the products of very low value? Some were actually of rather high value Were they tangible? Yes

by **JenBurdoo1** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 1:08 am

Was the company going out of business? Anything illegal going on? Taking advantage of soee regulation? If so a local one? Is Reno a relevant location? If it is, would Las Vegas, Atlantic City or an indian reservation worked as well?

by **Sundowner64** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:25 am

JenBurdoo
Was the company going out of business? No Anything illegal going on? No Taking advantage of some regulation? No If so a local one? Is Reno a relevant location? No If it is, would Las Vegas, Atlantic City or an indian reservation worked as well? I guess any city in the world could work

by **Puzzlecat** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:15 pm

Was the company expecting customers that got free products would shop there in the future? Would spend money on something else? Were the products somehow defective? Relevant what exactly the company sold?

Were their customers aware of this offer? Was it relevantly advertised outside of the company?

by **Sundowner64** » Tue Jun 14, 2022 7:06 am

Puzzlecat
Was the company expecting customers that got free products would shop there in the future? Yes, also this Would spend money on something else? But mostly this Were the products somehow defective? No Relevant what exactly the company sold? Common household appliances, from hairdryers to washing machines, also TV sets, computers, smartphones, and similar stuff

Were their customers aware of this offer? Yope Was it relevantly advertised outside of the company? Yes

by **Puzzlecat** » Tue Jun 14, 2022 10:45 pm

Was it advertised online? On the TV? On magazines/newspapers? Was the offer targeting a specific type of customer? Was it actually available to everyone? Did people have to do something else before receiving a free product?

by **Sarisberie** » Wed Jun 15, 2022 1:41 am

Was it advertised in such a way that not many folks would see or understand the ads? Were there other limitations, such as the customer would have to specifically ask for, or wish for, a free item? Any free item? Or a particular one? Did the customer have to do something in return? Re explore 'gambling' - Was it a situation where the customer has to dare to ask for a more expensive item than they thought they could have? Might they feel inhibited from wishing for something of high value? Was this a competition? Were there rules or caveats? Game show relevant?

by **Sundowner64** » Wed Jun 15, 2022 7:39 am

Puzzlecat
Was it advertised online? Possibly, don't remember On the TV? Probably not On magazines/newspapers? But definitely this Was the offer targeting a specific type of customer? No Was it actually available to everyone? Yes Did people have to do something else before receiving a free product? Not before, but explore this thought

Sarisberie
Was it advertised in such a way that not many folks would see or understand the ads? It was advertised locally but in a way a lot of people could see it Were there other limitations, such as the customer would have to specifically ask for, or wish for, a free item? No Any free item? No Or a particular one? No Did the customer have to do something in return? They had to do something but not in return for getting the item for free Re explore 'gambling' - Was it a situation where the customer has to dare to ask for a more expensive item than they thought they could have? No Might they feel inhibited from wishing for something of high value? No Was this a competition? No Were there rules or caveats? There were rules, yes Game show relevant? No

by **JenBurdoo1** » Wed Jun 15, 2022 1:01 pm

Was a future offer relevant? Something like "Present six receipts and get this (Much different and more expensive) item at a discount? Something rare, such that they would have to "gamble" on being first in line? Are Thanksgiving sales relevant?

by **Puzzlecat** » Wed Jun 15, 2022 5:17 pm

Is a raffle or something similar relevant?

Is the thing people had to do related to getting the items to their home? Did they have to pay for transport/shipping?

by **Sundowner64** » Fri Jun 17, 2022 11:08 am

Puzzlecat
Is a raffle or something similar relevant? Yes
Is the thing people had to do related to getting the items to their home? No Did they have to pay for transport/shipping? They would have, but not more than usually

by **Sundowner64** » Thu Jun 23, 2022 3:59 pm

RECAP
Why did a retailing company for a short while give away every product the customer wished for free?

There was a promotional offer the nature of which has not yet been discovered. A raffle is relevant as well.
The company is selling household appliances. During the promotional offer, which lasted about 2-3 days, people could actually get anything they wished for free.
They had to do something after they got the item, but not in return for getting it for free.

by **JenBurdoo1** » Sat Jun 25, 2022 3:55 am

Did they have to activate the item in some way? Were they actually paying for it, and had to send in a rebate coupon in order to get their money back? Did what they do benefit the company? Monetarily?

by **Sundowner64** » Sat Jun 25, 2022 11:51 am

JenBurdoo
Did they have to activate the item in some way? No Were they actually paying for it Yes, and had to send in a rebate coupon in order to get their money back? Not a rebate coupon but they had a chance to get their money back Did what they do benefit the company? Not in the way it turned out (apart from getting publicity) Monetarily? Certainly not

by **Sarisberie** » Sat Jun 25, 2022 11:37 pm

Was it flat-pack or similar? Did they have to construct their item? So as to demonstrate how easy/difficult/quick it might be for other customers to do likewise? In order to get their money back, did they have to succeed, fail, other? Was there a situation in which they might not wish to a) keep their item or b) get their money back?

by **Sundowner64** » Mon Jun 27, 2022 10:36 am

Sarisberie
Was it flat-pack or similar? No Did they have to construct their item? No So as to demonstrate how easy/difficult/quick it might be for other customers to do likewise? n/a In order to get their money back, did they have to succeed, fail, other? They have to succeed in something, right Was there a situation in which they might not wish to a) keep their item or b) get their money back? They all wanted to keep the item and get the money back

Some very basic questions have not yet been asked.

by **GalFisk** » Wed Jul 13, 2022 2:57 pm

Was it an online store? Physical store? Chain? Did they intend that everyone got their money back? Only some? Did more people than intended get their money back? Did people get more than the intended amount of money back? Was there a problem with the promotion? Did an automated system fail? Was human error involved? Did someone apply a 100% rebate rather than a 10% one?

by **trebor2** » Wed Jul 13, 2022 4:27 pm

Did this end up benefitting the company? Financially? By creating goodwill? Did the company do this out of a desire to legitimately help people? Had there been some sort of disaster? Did the people have to prove they were in dire straits?

Did they have to succeed in completing a game? A task? A sporting feat? A riddle? Skill-testing question? Lateral thinking puzzle? Did they have to do something with the magazine/newspaper? Clipping coupons relevant?

Would they get their money back via cheque? Direct deposit? Gift card? Prepaid credit cards? Cash? Property? Getting something else for free?

Was this a special offer? Run solely by this company? Run by this company in conjunction with another company? With another organization?

Was the raffle how the company's products were distributed for the offer? Did the raffle happen before the promotion? After? During?

The company was expecting the customers to spend money on other things. On things that they would need to buy to use the products they had gotten for free?

by **Sundowner64** » Wed Jul 13, 2022 5:19 pm

trebor
Did this end up benefitting the company? After all, yes Financially? No By creating goodwill? Yes, but explore Did the company do this out of a desire to legitimately help people? No Had there been some sort of disaster? No Did the people have to prove they were in dire straits? No

Did they have to succeed in completing a game? Yes, sort of A task? No A sporting feat? No A riddle? No Skill-testing question? No Lateral thinking puzzle? Wishful thinking, but no Did they have to do something with the magazine/newspaper? No Clipping coupons relevant? No

Would they get their money back via cheque? Direct deposit? Gift card? Prepaid credit cards? Cash? Property? They got it back the same way they paid it Getting something else for free? No, they really got the money back

Was this a special offer? Yes Run solely by this company? Yes Run by this company in conjunction with another company? With another organization?

Was the raffle how the company's products were distributed for the offer? Please rephrase Did the raffle happen before the promotion? After? During? During. The raffle was part of the promotion.

The company was expecting the customers to spend money on other things. On things that they would need to buy to use the products they had gotten for free? No. Just in general, the company was expecting the customers to spend more in their shops.

by **GalFisk** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 6:34 am

Did you miss my questions? Sort of game: showing a skill? Being lucky? Being better than someone else? Beating a score? Did they create goodwill by making a mistake that made the promotion way costlier for them than they had anticipated, but then honoring it instead of walking back on it?

by **Sundowner64** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 7:24 am

GalFisk
Did you miss my questions? Apparently yes

, sorry for that. See below. Sort of game: showing a skill? Being lucky? This, and only this Being better than someone else? Beating a score? Did they create goodwill by making a mistake that made the promotion way costlier for them than they had anticipated, but then honoring it instead of walking back on it? In the end, yes. The promotion did not go as they planned, so they stopped it after a few days, but honored everything so far. And benefitted from getting publicity.

Was it an online store? Physical store? This one Chain? Yes, but irrelevant. The promotion was only in a few branches of the chain. Did they intend that everyone got their money back? Certainly not Only some? Yes Did more people than intended get their money back? Yes Did people get more than the intended amount of money back? No Was there a problem with the promotion? DOD of "problem". Something worked out differently. Did an automated system fail? No Was human error involved? Only by those who planned and designed the promotion Did someone apply a 100% rebate rather than a 10% one? No

by **GalFisk** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 10:49 am

Was every customer lucky? Was something misprinted? Was promotional material relevantly mailed? Emailed? Present at the store? Was the mistake made before the promotion was in effect? During? After? Did the customers figure out how to beat the system? Or was the system itself broken?

by **Sundowner64** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 11:43 am

GalFisk
Was every customer lucky? Maybe not everyone, just those who found out Was something misprinted? No Was promotional material relevantly mailed? It was possibly also mailed, not really relevant Emailed? Same answer Present at the store? Yes Was the mistake made before the promotion was in effect? This one During? After? Did the customers figure out how to beat the system? Yes Or was the system itself broken? No, the "system" worked perfectly

by **trebor2** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 7:38 am

"Was the raffle how the company's products were distributed for the offer? Please rephrase" - Would customers buy a ticket or whatever and receive whatever product, drawn at random? Did they have to enter the raffle in order to be able to buy these products? Are the promotion and the raffle separate things? Could you buy in on the promo without being part of the raffle? Vice versa? Is the raffle the game of luck that we've already discovered?

Did the company expect as many people as did to take advantage of the promotion? Did they expect so many people to get lucky? (Can't think of any other way to word that question.)

by **Sundowner64** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 9:40 am

trebor
"Was the raffle how the company's products were distributed for the offer? Please rephrase" - Would customers buy a ticket or whatever and receive whatever product, drawn at random? No Did they have to enter the raffle in order to be able to buy these products? No Are the promotion and the raffle separate things? No, the raffle was the essential part of the promotion Could you buy in on the promo without being part of the raffle? No Vice versa? No Is the raffle the game of luck that we've already discovered? Yes

Did the company expect as many people as did to take advantage of the promotion? Possibly Did they expect so many people to get lucky? No (Can't think of any other way to word that question.)

by **Sarisberie** » Sun Jul 24, 2022 12:27 am

So... the intention was that only a few ppl would get their item for free but because of the mistake,they all did?

Was it relevantly a tombola, a spinny-drum thing, or similar? Did they get a random ticket (or other mcguffin) which would confirm whether they'd succeeded in getting their chosen item for free? Were the customers putting their tickets back in the receptacle instead of in the waste bin? Were there supposed to be only a limited number of, say, free mobile phones available but in the end, the company had to honour the winners and give out more?

Were they redeeming their tickets at another place in the store? Did the staff forget to collect the tickets? Did they have to succeed at winning a game? Did they compete against each other?

by **Sundowner64** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 11:41 am

Sarisberie
So... the intention was that only a few ppl would get their item for free but because of the mistake,they all did? Yes

Was it relevantly a tombola, a spinny-drum thing, or similar? Yes, sort of. A device that allowed a random pick. Did they get a random ticket (or other mcguffin) which would confirm whether they'd succeeded in getting their chosen item for free? Strictly, yes. They got a ticket. Were the customers putting their tickets back in the receptacle instead of in the waste bin? No, they kept it to claim the prize. Were there supposed to be only a limited number of, say, free mobile phones available but in the end, the company had to honour the winners and give out more? Yes.

Were they redeeming their tickets at another place in the store? Possibly, but irrelevant. Did the staff forget to collect the tickets? No Did they have to succeed at winning a game? Being drawn as a winner is the game they had to succeed in. Did they compete against each other? No

by **Sarisberie** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 10:58 pm

Was a pun involved?
Could we have a summary please?

by **Sundowner64** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 11:47 pm

Sarisberie
Was a pun involved? No
Could we have a summary please? Sure

RECAP
An electronics retailer offered a kind of lottery to its customers: Anyone who purchased something during a day had a chance of winning the money back. The winners were drawn randomly in a way that yet has to be identified. Clever customers understood the mechanism behind the draw and increased their chances of winning drastically, up to 100%. This was not intended by the company but they honored the cleverness of their customers, so that it was indeed possible during a brief period of a few days to get everything for free.

by **Sarisberie** » Tue Jul 26, 2022 5:33 pm

Was the ticket a till receipt? Were they buying multiple things at $1 to obtain a large number of tickets? Wording of the promotion relevant?

by **Sundowner64** » Wed Jul 27, 2022 9:31 pm

Sarisberie
Was the ticket a till receipt? Yes Were they buying multiple things at $1 to obtain a large number of tickets? Not necessarily for $1, but yes Wording of the promotion relevant? Not specifically

by **GalFisk** » Fri Jul 29, 2022 7:32 am

Was there one winner each day? So one person bought stuff for everyone that day, and then won their money back? Was every receipt a ticket to win the money back for all purchases? So people could buy tons of tickets cheaply by buying cheap items one by one?

by **Sundowner64** » Fri Jul 29, 2022 1:18 pm

GalFisk
Was there one winner each day? More than one So one person bought stuff for everyone that day, and then won their money back? No Was every receipt a ticket to win the money back for all purchases? Every receipt could win its own amount back, if you mean that. So, if you purchased for $20 and your receipt was drawn, you got $20 back. So people could buy tons of tickets cheaply by buying cheap items one by one? They could but in that case they would win back only a small amount.

HINT
It is relevant how exactly the winning receipts were drawn.

by **Sarisberie** » Fri Jul 29, 2022 4:53 pm

Relevant who drew the tickets, eg staff, customer, celebrity?
Relevant when the tickets were drawn - immediately after purchase, end of the day, other? Presumably the drawn receipts were handed back to the customer afterwards as a guarantee for the item. So, early in the day, there might only be 1 ticket in the draw, belonging to the first customer, who would draw their own ticket and therefore get their item refunded plus their ticket/receipt back as a guarantee? Or, perhaps tickets were drawn say, on the hour, in which case there would be a few tickets in the drum/whatever...

Was there a shop policy that if you didn't want an item having paid for it, you could hand it back for a refund... so were they buying say 10 washing machines separately to increase their chances, doing the draw and winning their money back for 1, then getting refunds for the other 9 from the customer services desk?

by **trebor2** » Fri Jul 29, 2022 6:04 pm

Were the tickets drawn by hand? Out of a drum? Out of some other receptacle? Were they drawn out of something related to the store? (ie, if the store sold washing machines and that's what they were drawn out of?) Were they drawn electronically?

If they were drawn electronically, were they drawing transaction numbers that were also on the printed receipt? Was it drawn from customer names? A number generated by the till specifically for the raffle? Relevant? In order to get a receipt, did customers have to give their email address? Were winners notified by email? Does it matter how winners were notified?

I can't find/recall if this has been asked already, but does it matter what the store sells?

Is throwing your receipt away relevant? Did the company count on most customers hucking their receipt in the trash? And did other customers exploit this?

by **Sundowner64** » Fri Jul 29, 2022 7:05 pm

Sarisberie
Relevant who drew the tickets, eg staff, customer, celebrity? Not particularly. I think it was the store manager, in the presence of a notary public.
Relevant when the tickets were drawn - immediately after purchase, end of the day, other? End of the day. Presumably the drawn receipts were handed back to the customer afterwards as a guarantee for the item. No, the customers did not hand in their receipts. They kept it all the time. So, early in the day, there might only be 1 ticket in the draw, belonging to the first customer, who would draw their own ticket and therefore get their item refunded plus their ticket/receipt back as a guarantee? Or, perhaps tickets were drawn say, on the hour, in which case there would be a few tickets in the drum/whatever... No, the winning tickets were drawn at the end of the day after closing the store.

Was there a shop policy that if you didn't want an item having paid for it, you could hand it back for a refund. YES!.. so were they buying say 10 washing machines separately to increase their chances, doing the draw and winning their money back for 1, then getting refunds for the other 9 from the customer services desk? Yes, that's what they did. And how did they make sure that at least one of their 10 tickets wins?

trebor
Were the tickets drawn by hand? Out of a drum? Out of some other receptacle? Were they drawn out of something related to the store? (ie, if the store sold washing machines and that's what they were drawn out of?) Were they drawn electronically? YES to this, no to the rest.

If they were drawn electronically, were they drawing transaction numbers that were also on the printed receipt? Yes Was it drawn from customer names? No A number generated by the till Yes specifically for the raffle? No Relevant? Very much In order to get a receipt, did customers have to give their email address? No Were winners notified by email? No Does it matter how winners were notified? The winning numbers were announced the next day in the store.

I can't find/recall if this has been asked already, but does it matter what the store sells? Electronics goods. Washing machines, vacuum cleaners, TV sets, laptops, smartphones and the like.

Is throwing your receipt away relevant? Well, if you threw it away you had no chance to prove that you won. But apart from that, not relevant. Did the company count on most customers hucking their receipt in the trash? Not specifically And did other customers exploit this? No

by **Sarisberie** » Fri Jul 29, 2022 10:30 pm

Did the customer have to arrive at opening time the next day, and first customer in the queue got the prize?
Were the winning receipts in the order they were bought , so earlier purchases would be more likely to win?
Did some customers forget to show up the next day, or not early enough?
Did they buy the entire stock of washing machines so that they held all the washing machine tickets? Did they collaborate with other customers?
Would they relevantly have a better chance if they bought one of a number of different items, rather than say 10 washing machines? E.g. if the shop was giving away 1 washing machine, one TV, one cooker etc?

by **Sundowner64** » Fri Jul 29, 2022 11:34 pm

Sarisberie
Did the customer have to arrive at opening time the next day, and first customer in the queue got the prize? No, the winners were drawn the evening before after closing of the shop. You could safely walk in the next day or even the following day, check the number on your receipt and collect the money in case you won.
Were the winning receipts in the order they were bought , so earlier purchases would be more likely to win? No
Did some customers forget to show up the next day, or not early enough? Possibly, but not relevant
Did they buy the entire stock of washing machines so that they held all the washing machine tickets? This was even not necessary. Did they collaborate with other customers? Possibly, yes
Would they relevantly have a better chance if they bought one of a number of different items, rather than say 10 washing machines? E.g. if the shop was giving away 1 washing machine, one TV, one cooker etc? No. What exactly they bought was completely irrelevant. It was just by till receipt. If you were drawn, you got the amount of your purchase back, no matter what items it was.

by **Sarisberie** » Sat Jul 30, 2022 2:40 pm

If you bought 10 items at once (whatever they were), presumably all of them would appear on the same receipt? So if your receipt won, would you get all 10 items?

by **Sundowner64** » Mon Aug 01, 2022 7:55 am

Sarisberie
If you bought 10 items at once (whatever they were), presumably all of them would appear on the same receipt? This would be the normal way. But you can also chose differently. So if your receipt won, would you get all 10 items? Yes.

by **Sarisberie** » Mon Aug 01, 2022 5:53 pm

So you would have 3 choices: a) you could buy, say, 10 washing machines in 10 different transactions, in which case you would have 10x the chance of one of your tickets coming up, or b) you could buy 10 washing machines in 1 transaction, in which case you'd win 10x more money, but there would only be 1/10 of the chance of your ticket coming up. However, if you liased with other customers you could all agree to buy 10 items and then you would split the items between you if any of you won. You would then take all the surplus washing machines back, or else you could keep them and start your own laundrette.

by **Sundowner64** » Tue Aug 02, 2022 9:44 am

Sarisberie
So you would have 3 choices: a) you could buy, say, 10 washing machines in 10 different transactions, in which case you would have 10x the chance of one of your tickets coming up, or b) you could buy 10 washing machines in 1 transaction, in which case you'd win 10x more money, but there would only be 1/10 of the chance of your ticket coming up. However, if you liased with other customers you could all agree to buy 10 items and then you would split the items between you if any of you won. You would then take all the surplus washing machines back, or else you could keep them and start your own laundrette. Exactly. Now explore why choice a) not only gave a 10 times higher chance of winning but actually guaranteed winning.

by **JenBurdoo1** » Thu Aug 04, 2022 12:27 pm

Was there a declaration or perhaps a requirement that one in ten tickets would be a winner? Any problems or functions of the till that issued the receipts relevant?

by **Sarisberie** » Thu Aug 04, 2022 1:35 pm

Was there a limit to how many tickets could be issued in a day, or only for a limited time each day, so that if you bought up all the tickets in that time, you would win?

by **Sundowner64** » Thu Aug 04, 2022 4:37 pm

Jenburdoo
Was there a declaration or perhaps a requirement that one in ten tickets would be a winner? Not a formal declaration, but .. that Any problems No or functions Yes of the till that issued the receipts relevant?

Sarisberie
Was there a limit to how many tickets could be issued in a day, or only for a limited time each day, so that if you bought up all the tickets in that time, you would win? No. Every till receipt was a ticket. How many sales transactions they had that day, so many tickets.

GalFisk asked a clever question about how the winning till receipts were identified. Unfortunately, noone picked up this line of inquiry.

by **Sarisberie** » Fri Aug 05, 2022 2:42 am

Did the customers get actual paper till receipts/tickets? Were these copies of the paper till roll? Or were the receipts stored electronically? Did the till, computer or whatever choose the winner at random? Was there some other mechanism, digital or manual? Were the winning tickets identified by the time of transaction, number of transaction (e.g. number 13 on the till roll), the date, last transaction on roll, something else along those lines?
The thing they had to do after the transaction - did they have to hand in their receipts so they could go into the draw? Photocopies relevant, or repeat printout of till receipt?
The fact that the mistake was made BEFORE the promotion was in effect - relevant?

by **Sundowner64** » Fri Aug 05, 2022 11:31 am

Sarisberie
Did the customers get actual paper till receipts/tickets? Yes. Were these copies of the paper till roll? They were from the paper till roll. Or were the receipts stored electronically? This as well. Did the till, computer or whatever choose the winner at random? Yes. Was there some other mechanism, digital or manual? There was some mechanism, yes. Were the winning tickets identified by the time of transaction, number of transaction (e.g. number 13 on the till roll) This one, no to the rest., the date, last transaction on roll, something else along those lines?
The thing they had to do after the transaction - did they have to hand in their receipts so they could go into the draw? No, they just had to keep their receipt to check whether they won. Photocopies relevant, or repeat printout of till receipt? No.
The fact that the mistake was made BEFORE the promotion was in effect - relevant? Only insofar as that it was the whole design of the lottery that allowed clever people to beat the system.

by **Biograd1** » Fri Aug 05, 2022 5:49 pm

So was it simply that people got together and together made as many consecutive transactions as there were receipts in a roll, ensuring that they had one of each number?

by **JenBurdoo1** » Sat Aug 06, 2022 10:45 pm

Or that certain numbers were almost invariably present on the receipt? (Mine at work always start with "0000")

by **Sarisberie** » Mon Aug 08, 2022 4:05 pm

This reminds me of that thing we used to do at school on a calculator where we'd type 58008 then turn it upside down. Easily amused in those days.

by **Sarisberie** » Sun Aug 14, 2022 9:19 pm

Did they buy every one of their items as a separate transaction to increase their number of till receipts, win whichever one of their products came up, then return all the other items? If they used their credit card, the money wouldn't even leave their bank account. And if someone else did win, they could just return all the items then try again tomorrow. Does it matter how many items they bought, or kept? Multiple tills relevant?

by **Sundowner64** » Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:49 pm

Biograd
So was it simply that people got together and together made as many consecutive transactions as there were receipts in a roll No, ensuring that they had one of each number? This is very OTRT. It was much simpler, though.

JenBurdoo
Or that certain numbers were almost invariably present on the receipt? (Mine at work always start with "0000") Also this is very much OTRT.

Sarisberie
Did they buy every one of their items as a separate transaction to increase their number of till receipts, win whichever one of their products came up, then return all the other items? Yes. If they used their credit card, the money wouldn't even leave their bank account.Right. And if someone else did win, they could just return all the items then try again tomorrow. Does it matter how many items they bought, or kept? For the scheme to work, yes. Multiple tills relevant? Please rephrase. I'm not sure.

You almost got it. The people bought multiple items of the same kind, and paid in separate transactions to get a large number of till receipts. For the winning receipt they kept the item, the other items they returned next day to the shop.

The only thing left to find out: what exactly did they do to guarantee winning?

You have now all the information to sherlock it down:
- There was a number printed on each till receipt.
- The number was not printed specifically for the lottery. It was just used.
- The store management had no knowledge of which numbers were out when they drew the winners. (the customers took the receipt with them)
- The store guaranteed a chance of 10% to win.
- The drawing was fair. No manipulation or cheating involved.

by **Biograd1** » Wed Aug 17, 2022 5:08 pm

If the store guaranteed a 10% chance to win, then was only the last digit on the receipt used? If so, did customers exchange receipts with each other until they had each collected one with each ending digit from 0-9?

by **Sarisberie** » Wed Aug 17, 2022 5:29 pm

So, say a customer surmised that the 10% guaranteed chance meant all receipts ending in a particular digit would win. They could establish which digit by buying 10 items in sequence (and returning the 9 unwanted items later). They could then choose masses of items and go through the till when they knew the particular digit was about to come up.

by **Sundowner64** » Thu Aug 18, 2022 9:43 am

Biograd
If the store guaranteed a 10% chance to win, then was only the last digit on the receipt used? YES! If so, did customers exchange receipts with each other until they had each collected one with each ending digit from 0-9? This was possible, but also see below.

Sarisberie
So, say a customer surmised that the 10% guaranteed chance meant all receipts ending in a particular digit would win. They could establish which digit by buying 10 items in sequence (and returning the 9 unwanted items later). Exactly. They could then choose masses of items and go through the till when they knew the particular digit was about to come up. Yes.

by **Sundowner64** » Thu Aug 18, 2022 9:56 am

SPOILER
German electronics retailer Saturn started a few years ago a till receipt lottery in some of their outlets as a promotional action. The idea was that each evening after shop closure a digit between 0 and 9 was drawn and that everyone who brings in the next day a till receipt of the previous day with a number ending in this digit would get the amount of the purchase back.
People quickly found out that the till receipts were numbered consecutively, so if one needed a new smartphone they bought 10 smartphones instead, paid each of them in a separate transaction, collected the money for the winning one and returned the other 9. This was possible because Saturn offered (and still offers) a 14 day money back guarantee for everything.
Management needed two days to realize what was going on. Then they stopped the promotion which was actually planned to last one week.However, they honoured the cleverness of their customers, paid out every winner and accepted every return.

The puzzle title: "All the way to Reno" is a song from the R.E.M. album "Reveal". Another song on this album is "Saturn Return" which would have been a much better fit for this puzzle but would have made it way too easy for your sharp minds.

Thanls to all who participated and congrats to Biograd and Sarisberie for the finishing move.

by **Sarisberie** » Thu Aug 18, 2022 4:36 pm

Brilliant puzzle

by **Biograd1** » Fri Aug 19, 2022 5:48 am

"Another song on this album is "Saturn Return" which would have been a much better fit for this puzzle but would have made it way too easy for your sharp minds."

Actually, I doubt any of us who live outside Germany would have even known that Saturn is the name of an electronics store chain there. The only association I have of the word "Saturn" with a commercial brand is with the make of car (my family once had one).