[Home Theatre/ Audio Systems]

I'm looking at buying a home theatre system. It doesn't have to have a dvd player. Does anyone know if I should buy any of the Black Friday deals? Which is the best system out there for the price?

[Renting a Kid!]

There are professional or semi-professional line-holders out there. In the Twin Cities, MN, the going rate is $10/hr. Many of them are retired or high school students.

[First Rumored Best Buy BF Items Posted on BF Site]

May I just refer you to a very special part of the Official Rules of the McDonald's Monopoly game :

 

"To request a Game Piece without buying something at McDonald's...mail a self-addressed stamped envelope with sufficient postage to [the promotion headquarters]...Participants may submit as many Game Piece requests as they desire...One (1) Game Piece and One (1) Chance Piece [with a Best Buy Buck] will be mailed in response to each request"

 

So, for 74¢, I was guaranteed at least a $1 BB Buck, with a 1 in 3 chance of a $3 BB Buck, and the chance to win even bigger prizes. So, I sent in about 675 requests, about 30% of them were $3 BB Bucks, I won more McDonald's food than I care to eat for the rest of my life and my next three generations down the line, and many prizes from the online game. So that's well over $1,000 in BB Bucks, and about $120 in prizes that are actually useful to me, all for about $500 in postage/envelopes.

 

I've been doing this since they started this game in 2003 (when they really only had $1 BB Bucks). In addition to my guaranteed profit each time, I've also won a $50 Best Buy gift card and a $50 cash prize throughout the years. It's really one of the high points of my year!

 

-Mark-

 

LOL, I made a excel sheet to track out the costs of stamps and envelopes, and then the expected gains from Best Buy Bucks. One cell showed what it would be for if all the BBB were only $1s and then one for the normal gains (67% - $1 and 33% - $3). I only sent out 100 because my family told me not to do anymore than that. I was going to sell the normal game stamps on eBay, but my auction got pulled. A lot of people were selling fake pieces, cutouts from the free gameboard.

 

Anyways, I have $155 in BBB and I won the Playstation 2(!), as well as the digital photos and downloadable cell phone game. Luckily I read the fine print and found out I can request for a transfer to a different prize. So I asked for the iPod or the PSP, because my family already has a PS2. Another thing I found out the odds of winning the PS2 were 1 in 3.6 million! Oh, and there was only one winner for each of the ‘collect and win’ online stamps, pretty cheap if you ask me.

 

Oh, also, does anyone want the codes for the downloadable cell phone games? I don't plan on using them.