Postcards

I got a postcard the other day from APC, the backup battery folks. It said that if I went to a specific web page and put in the “keycode” from the postcard, I could get a special offer for a trade-in as well as a free pocket tool knife. And who wouldn’t want a pocket tool knife? (By the way, what modifies what in that phrase? Does it refer to a knife that serves your pocket tool?)

Well, this morning I dutifully logged onto their site and entered the “keycode” in the proper space. After a while, the message came back that there was some sort of error and it couldn’t connect. I tried it later in the day and got the same thing.

In today’s mail, we got a postcard from a local restaurant that had two offers. One of them said: “Update or join our e-mail club and received a FREE DESSERT!” Well, who wouldn’t want a free dessert. I went to the web page they have on the postcard and looked through every link on that page to no avail. There was nothing where I could look at my “frequent diner’s profile” (I am a member of their Frequent Diner Club) or join an e-mail club or anything like that. I did send them an email asking WTF.

So, dear advertisers, if you want to send me a postcard with an offer or two, at least make it possible for me to try to take you up on it.