Mail Rewards Club Numbers & The AnswerBank

[AB Editor]

Recently it has come to our attention that some members are regularly asking for spare Mail Rewards Club numbers. While the terms and conditions from the Daily Mail say that purchase is required, we also don't like to see anything go to waste. So we're asking members of The AnswerBank:

Mail Rewards Club Number & The AnswerBank

This poll is closed.

Should we allow the sharing of Mail Rewards Club numbers between AnswerBank members?

• No - 219 votes
• 57%
• Yes - 166 votes
• 43%

See final stats

Stats until: 12:45 Sat 23rd Nov 2024 (Refreshed every 5 minutes)

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[DaisyNonna]

Daily Mail? Shudder.

[bev888]

If people are being assisted to benefit from the Mail Rewards without purchasing the paper, which is against the specified rules, surely that amounts to assisting in defrauding the Mail of income. After all they would not give away something without expecting something back (a sale).

The Mail has probably calculated that a certain percentage of the sales will result in entries to the scheme, and if the practice of non-purchasers using the numbers became so common the Mail would probably stop the scheme and genuine participants would lose out.

[AB Editor]

Hi Bev,

Each code can only be used once. A code can only be gained from purchase - the mail does not lose out on revenue and there is no doubling up of codes.

It is unlikely to impact "genuine" users because they will use their own codes on the rewards site - although it may be annoying to some.

Just offering an opposing view :)

[AB Editor]

"I don't mind it being on here but I'd prefer it to be outside Q&P at weekends. If it became too popular though would the Mail try to stop AB from doing it? "

We might be able to set up a special thread for rewards numbers, or maybe a "coupons" category for this kind of thing, and other discount code swapping.

[factor-fiction]

"Each code can only be used once. A code can only be gained from purchase - the mail does not lose out on revenue and there is no doubling up of codes."

I'm not sure I agree with that Ed. The Mail does this promotion to try to retain readers or attract new ones. They would lose out if I always buy the Mail and choose not to use my numbers but give them to someone who would otherwise have bought it because they really want the numbers. I don't think they want the prizes to go to people who don't buy the paper.

However I can see that AB is a forum for answering questions / helping others rather than for deciding on moral issues

[AB Editor]

"However I can see that AB is a forum for answering questions / helping others rather than for deciding on moral issues"

I think this is the sub-text of the poll :)

I think by giving away your code you draw people like Wolf (first answer) in to buying the paper on a regular basis. I'm unsure if we're helping or hindering to be honest, but I thought it best to express an opposite viewpoint.

[sir.prize]

There are at least two sites I can think of where codes can be and are swapped/given or whatever. Surely that practice does not belong on Q&A site. And, Ed, what will your poll determine?

[AB Editor]

Whether we remove postings for/sharing mail rewards club numbers OR whether we cater for it.

[sir.prize]

Rather like car radio codes then. That works fine.

[AB Editor]

Yes, more or less. We're judging the community opinion on the matter as the choice was one a bit too weighty for this little gnome :)

[julia-mag]

What is happening to Scottish Mail Rewards Nos.? Some-one said they now have a rewards number every day on the back page, I can't see how they are using the numbers. Why a different number every day? Do Scottish participants have to enter more numbers than any-one else?. Please will someone explain for me.

[bev888]

"Each code can only be used once. A code can only be gained from purchase - the mail does not lose out on revenue and there is no doubling up of codes."

Ed - I do understand that, but if the Mail has budgeted for example for 30% of purchasers to join the scheme, they will be prepared to pay out x amount of rewards. But if the people who buy the paper but are disinterested in the scheme pass on the numbers, so that non-purchasers can benefit, the amount of rewards they will pay out increases and the sales of papers does not. This could cause them to cancel the scheme.

But as well as that I am generally in favour of obeying the rules, so I think that numbers should only be used by the people who have purchased the paper.

[factor-fiction]

Yes, that's the point I was trying to make, bev, but in some ways that debate is a bit of a red-herring .

[factor-fiction]

Hi julie-mag- based on what happens with most other things I'd have thought there would be special dispensation for those in Scotland so they get their Reward numbers for free without having to buy a paper

[bev888]

By the way, before someone else points it out I should say that I have once in the past supplied a set of numbers to someone who asked for them, but on reflection do not now believe that I should have done so.


Factor 30 - Why a red herring?

[wolf63]

Factor - free prescriptions is one thing but extra Mail reward points? ;-)

If I remember correctly the whole scheme was trialled in Scotland and then implemented nationwide. It could be that the daily 20 points is being tested out in Scotland and if the Mail gets the results that it wants it will be implemented nationwide too.

I did change my Sunday paper to ensure that I got the rewards number each week - but only did so as a result of getting fed up reading the Sunday Post (after 40+ years) and there was no other paper that suited me.

[factor-fiction]

It's a re herring in the sense that I don't think Ed is asking about the morals of the case- more about whether we find it a nuisance at weekends or a useful facility and whether perhaps it should have its own subsection

[factor-fiction]

wolf- student fees too. There is something else I can't remember.

[wolf63]

eye tests etc. I take about a dozen different drugs - think how much tax you are having to pay to support me.

I liken AB to a group of people down the pub having a natter and a bevvy or two. Someone mentions that they forgot to buy the Daily/Sunday Mail that morning and needed the rewards number - the guy standing nearby said that he had his copy of the paper with him and didn't need the number. The number changes hands. I don't feel that this is ethically or morally wrong.

People using the site for the sole purpose of getting rewards points each week is more mercenary and against the spirit of the site.

What about a buddy system - by some method that evades me at present link up someone who always gets the paper but has no need for the number with someone who needs the number(s) each week. This way they won't clutter up the site and the problem of person A asking for help, person B supplying a number and person C stealing it before person B returns.

This is getting more like a Sherlock Holmes case - but then I have watched 8 episodes of it over the last couple of days. ;-)

[AB Editor]

That sounds tricky Wolf :)

What about for those of us who aren't master detectives?