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Comment by ajsnigrutin | Hacker News Reader

So lets say I was really really thirsty, somewhere on the road in the middle of nowhere... and I stopped at a gas stop, bought myself a really really cold, refreshing coca cola, drive on, 10 minutes later decide to open it.. and a dollar would pop out? So i'd waste my time at the station/store, waste my time at another, all for 1 dollar?

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This was my first thought. If you'd stopped for a drink, because you really wanted a drink, you'd be more than a little annoyed to get some small cash prize and no drink when you opened it. One could probably curb their anger if they won 1k-100k. I feel like this was their biggest mistake here, not just putting Coca Cola in the can.

EDIT: According to the advert it could be up to $500 in a can.

Or a soggy, foul smelling dollar.

This assumes that you won't get another MagiCan at the next store. :)

In the worst case scenario, you could consider the $1.00 a refund.

Except in places that charge a tax and $0.05-0.10 can deposit.

Though a can of coke wasn't $1.00 30 years ago, I might still be annoyed at a $1.00 prize for a $0.50 can.

On the other hand, the story itself would be worth more than $0.50.

Correct - I remember the MagiCan promotion. At the time (1990), a $1 can of Coke would be far above the norm.

(Later, in 1993, being charged the princely sum of $0.85 for a can of Coke triggered Michael Douglas' breakdown in the the movie "Falling Down", as it didn't leave enough change from a dollar for him to use the payphone. The past truly is a foreign country.)

It was still a dumb promotion. I was packing a can of coke with my lunch pretty much every day at the time, and if I'd opened one at the jobsite and discovered nothing drinkable, just a dollar (and no easy way to spend that dollar to buy a new coke), I'd have had some harsh words for the coca-cola company.

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