Community Chat

[coffee drinker]

Have any of you won or know someone who has won the Publishers' Clearing House contest?  Keep seeing the commercials for it and always wondered if this contest is the real deal.  It doesn't seem like many subscribe to magazines so where does the prize money come from? 

[Kachina624]

The odds of winning are astronomical.  It's as bad or worse than the lottery.

[Tribesters]

@coffee drinker 

There was just a million dollar winner not too far from me. It was on the local news. Plus someone else in the same area won a few thousand recently.

PCH sells all sorts of stuff now- not just magazines. Plus they have a lot of advertisers if you enter online. That’s where they earn their money.

[alicedee]

Years ago I won an American flag from them.  I didn’t even know it was an offered prize!

[cotton4me]

Good point about the magazines.  I used to fill it out but never ordered anything.  That’s when it came in the mail. They did have a lot of oddball products you could order.   I think it’s mostly online now, not sure.       

[gardenman]

They don't give winners a lot of money upfront, but pay out over years so for a say ten million dollar prize, they might only need half that in cash. (Maybe less.) In addition to selling stuff and magazines they sell advertising, and with their business mostly online their mailing and printing costs are nearly zero. 

[esmerelda]

I’ve ordered in the past, not for awhile.  They’re very good about returns. 

[chrystaltree]

I imagine your chances of winning something in the PCH contest are greater than your chances of having a meorite fall on your head.  They want the contact information and email addresses.  None of us have any idea whatsoever of how they profit from that contest, it certainly isn't about magazine subscriptions alone.  I think they profit by selling the contact information.

[SeaMaiden]

The odds are like winning the lottery.... but someone is going to win and if you do not enter your chances are ZERO.    So why not enter once? I certainly will.

[lovesrecess]

Of the millions you might win, Uncle Sam gets a huge chunk of it.