j-bo

I see the game has started again. I also remember a big thread last year on how everyone was getting bookoo stamps by sending in requests for game pieces.

Is this how people are doing it again this year?

If you send in a SASE, plus the original cost of a stamp, you are already at 78 cents or whatever postage is now, and if you are only getting a $1.00 best buy buck, is it worth the efforts?

Is there someway that you are doing it to limit the postage costs?

digitalfreaknyc

sure. Send them out from work.

sotra

1 in 12 are $5. So, if you did 100 you should get 8 x $5 + 92 x $1 = $132 back as a minimum for an outlay of $78 plus cost of envelopes (I bought 100 at Big Lots for 88 cents and also heard Target has cheap ones.
As for maximizing - tons of people last year/this year double dipped (used BB bucks online and then instore so that $132 becomes $264) and if you live in Vermont or know someone who does they can omit return postage, thus only paying $39 to send 100 and get $132 back.
And to quote kenbenobi:
"
Because you get more game pieces than you could ever possibly eat (or want to). You're paying 78 cents to get a $1 or $5 BB cert, plus potentially free food as well. So you're guaranteed to save money at best buy. If you send in for 100 of them, you're paying $78.00. Based on the distribution of $1 vs. $5 stamps, you'll get 8 $5 ones and 92 $1 ones. Thus, $132 for your $78 spent. Thus, 41% off. Could be more, could be less, based on the actual number of $5 stamps received, but you're guaranteed to save 22% even if you have the worst luck in the world..."

digitalfreaknyc

Does anyone have all the specifics?

sotra

playatmcd.com

digitalfreaknyc

Uhh...no. I mean the "unofficial" rules of sending in SASE's.

j-bo

Thanks SOTRA!

I think the possibility of getting free food did it for me. LOL.

I'll have to check and see what the limits are and so forth. So, if I buy something that is $125 and I have $125 of best buy bucks, it's free?

EDIT: Answered my own question above, yes it's free depending on the limitations of what you can use them on.

Does the USPS have bulk rates?

I'll do some research on it also.

Thats a lot of licking envelopes.

ScottsDvds

Sent in 500, so far 452 $1.00 and 48 $5.00. I already picked up an Apple Ipod and 8 HD-DVDs.

digitalfreaknyc

Scott,

What are the specifics for sending it in?

ScottsDvds

2. Without Purchase. To request a Game Piece without making a purchase at McDonald's, persons in the United States, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa may mail a Self-Addressed, Stamped Envelope (SASE) with sufficient postage and their return address (name, street address, city, state, country, and zip code) legibly printed thereon to: MONOPOLY® 2006 Game at McDonald's, Game Piece Request, P.O. Box 49434, Strongsville, OH 44149. Vermont residents with a return address located in Vermont may omit return postage. DO NOT SEND POTENTIAL WINNING GAME STAMPS, COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS TO THIS ADDRESS. Each request must be mailed in a separate outer envelope. Requests that are sent in business reply envelopes, that are photocopied, mechanically reproduced or not mailed in separate outer envelopes will NOT be honored. The return address and SASE mailing address must be the same address or the request will NOT be honored. One (1) Game Piece and one (1) Chance Piece will be mailed in response to each request, while supplies last. Mail-in requests must be postmarked no later than October 30, 2006, and received no later than November 6, 2006. If the Game runs long in restaurants, these dates are subject to a corresponding extension.

I hand wrote them, but I know people that used their computer and still received them. You receive one BestBuy Buck and four Monopoly pieces.

mbs

I ended up sending in 512. Being in CA, I have not gotten any back yet (my first batch of 199 were sent on 10/3). I expect they will start coming in for me this week.

I'm still debating what to get this year... maybe some Wii games with the online codes, maybe a slingbox, digital camera, ... still undecided.

j-bo

So thats almost 45% profit.? or basically.. you got roughly $293 of free goods?

sotra

That's right. Way too much writing and/or licking for me though You can of course risk it and use stamps.com to print out all your envelopes and use self adhesive ones. It might work....

digitalfreaknyc

I'll be doing this at work.

Gonna have to get writing!

Rainmaker

What size envelopes are you guys using? Do you put a smaller envelope inside a #10 size envelope?

mbs

Yes, that is what I did.

rassi

I'll be interested to see my turn-around time. I live one town over from where the requests are going (Strongsville, OH, a suburb of Cleveland). I sent out the last 20 of my requests today. Last year I got all mine back, but I think I only sent in 20. I don't think I would have had the patience to write out more than the 200 envelopes I did, and I wouldn't have the guts to chance wasting all that postage by printing out the addresses on a computer.

devilshalo

Hmm.. interesting return on investment. Thanks for the info. I'll have to think about this.

Heat

I limited myself to $100 out of pocket, or 120 envelopes. Mailed seventy on 10/3 and fifty on 10/4.

So far I have received 69 back:
62 x $1
7 x $5

Plus I've been eating sandwhiches at McDonalds since I have a buy one - get one free card (get the chicken sandwich with no mayo, and obviously no fries or anything). There I've gotten four $1 BBB and two $5 BBB. I expect to have about $200 worth of BBB by the time all is said and done. What I want to get is a Nintendo DS lite but I can't since you can't use BBB on game hardware, so I'll probably use the BBB for some games as well as some odds and ends.

By the way, if anybody is in it for the food... out of the 69 I've gotten back, I probably have 30 to 35 free food coupons - free fries, free coffee (or soda), free breakfast sandwiches, and free McFlurrys.

And before anybody decides to drop some serious cash (and time) on envelopes... there is the caveat of "while supplies last". I don't remember how long supplies lasted last year but if I remember right... there was a time when they started just mailing the rules back.

atari2600

just curious but to those with 100s of BB bucks, do you go into best buy and at checkout simply had a bag full of these mcdonalds things to the cashier?

MyDixieWrecked

Quick question...is there a limit to how many BBB you can use at a time?

MyDixieWrecked

Ok, so explain to me this real quick. Sorry, I gotta headache and I don't really understand this. I buy 500 envelopes and write the stuff on there...so I need 500 stamps? Man, that is a LOT of money. If you think about it, in the long run, you're still paying out of your wallet...

sotra

Basically yes. Last year I used most of mine on black Friday.

A-aron

It is a small investment compared to the potential of what you could get back.

500 envelopes written means you've paid out $195 in postage plus the cost of envelopes. So, lets figure about $200. If you got just $1 BB bucks back, you'd have $250, so you "made" $50. But, based on the odds, 8 out of every 100 should be $5 pieces. So now you have 20 $5 pieces ($100) + 230 $1 pieces for a total of $330.00 .. Not a bad return on a $200 investment.

X

I'll bet the dozens of people behind you in line just loved you!