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View Full Version : Help: those people handing out cigs at bars and insurance rates


RunDownHouse
11-03-2005, 06:35 PM
I can't find a link or any info on this, so I turn to OOT for help.

I'm sure everyone has seen those people hanging around bars and clubs that hand out free lighters or cigarettes in exhange for you filling out a short survey or giving them your address or whatever. One of my coworkers is insisting that the companies gathering this info sell it to insurance companies so that they can hike your rates or keep an eye on you, or something.

I heard this rumor a while back, and later read an article/explanation of why it isn't true. I can't find it for the life of me now though. Has anybody else heard this rumor or know of any refutations?

InchoateHand
11-03-2005, 06:36 PM
I can tell you its not true, since those free handouts are from cigarette companies.

RunDownHouse
11-03-2005, 06:38 PM
We've told him that argument, and he still doesn't buy it. He argues that demand is so inelastic, the companies can do anything - including getting your info and selling it to an insurance company - and their bottom line won't be affected.

JonPKibble
11-03-2005, 06:39 PM
[ QUOTE ]
I can't find a link or any info on this, so I turn to OOT for help.

I'm sure everyone has seen those people hanging around bars and clubs that hand out free lighters or cigarettes in exhange for you filling out a short survey or giving them your address or whatever. One of my coworkers is insisting that the companies gathering this info sell it to insurance companies so that they can hike your rates or keep an eye on you, or something.

I heard this rumor a while back, and later read an article/explanation of why it isn't true. I can't find it for the life of me now though. Has anybody else heard this rumor or know of any refutations?

[/ QUOTE ]

Easy solution, give them fake info.

RunDownHouse
11-03-2005, 06:43 PM
Let me know if I need to go back and bold the appropriate part of the OP for you.

The Goober
11-03-2005, 06:45 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Easy solution, give them fake info.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most of the ones I've seen have a little computer thingy that scans your driver's license.

InchoateHand
11-03-2005, 06:46 PM
Someone else's personal experience:

The marketing group had a single client: Camel cigarettes. They’d approach various bars and ask them if they were interested in being paid to become “Camel bars.” Camel ads hung in bathrooms, pint glasses were placed upon Camel coasters, phone numbers were written down on Camel bar napkins. If you asked the bartender for a match you’d get a book stamped with Joe Camel’s phallic mug. And the final privilege the Camel money bought was the right to send its people into the bar each night to hand out free packs of Camel cigarettes to smokers.

This was my new job. For every pack of cigarettes I handed out I got one dollar. Even the slowest workers were able to rustle up or outright lie their way to fifteen packs per hour, which made the job a guaranteed $15 an hour. And those lucrative hours were perfect—hit the bars around eight and stay as long or as little as you like. I told my boyfriend to sign me up. I had never been paid so much. The bookstore paid $9.50 and it had taken me five years of employment to get it up from $7.50.

At the Union Square office I was given cartons of Camel cigarettes—menthols, lights, wides, and the various flavored sorts that come in tin boxes and have a phony art-deco aesthetic. In order to prove to the authorities that the smokers I gave freebies to were old enough to smoke (and to cull information for future marketing schemes), I was to digitally photograph the driver’s license of everyone who received my smoky gifts. The mammoth cameras were outdated and confusing to operate; they malfunctioned frequently, costing workers hours of pay since without the photos we had no proof we’d worked. I was given a big black bag to haul it all around in.

Also, this news article:

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/s_367632.html

IndieMatty
11-03-2005, 06:49 PM
I have a friend(acquantance) who did this while looking for acting work in NYC. Not a bad gig. He just would annoy people at the bars and give out free smokes. When smoking was allowed in Bars in NYC, people would come up to him.

InchoateHand
11-03-2005, 06:49 PM
Also this practice is WAY more widespread in the tobacco companies' biggest markets---the third world. I used to frequently get free cigarettes from scantily clad women in Indonesia, a country where a tiny percent of the population even has health insurance.

11-03-2005, 07:18 PM
If you're talking about group life insurance (from your employer), then no, because the rates aren't based on an individual, but as your company as a whole... hence "group".

JonPKibble
11-03-2005, 07:23 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Easy solution, give them fake info.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most of the ones I've seen have a little computer thingy that scans your driver's license.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyone who lets some guy handing out smokes in a bar scan his or her driver's license is a donkey. That play is definitely -EV.

tonypaladino
11-03-2005, 07:32 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Easy solution, give them fake info.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most of the ones I've seen have a little computer thingy that scans your driver's license.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyone who lets some guy handing out smokes in a bar scan his or her driver's license is a donkey. That play is definitely -EV.

[/ QUOTE ]

You sound like a fool when you say something non-poker related is +/- EV

And that is usually the only way to get the free smokes/lighter is to let them scan your ID. I have a collection of 12 Zippo lighters from Marlboro, and since they got my address they send me coupons all the time.

JonPKibble
11-03-2005, 08:22 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Easy solution, give them fake info.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most of the ones I've seen have a little computer thingy that scans your driver's license.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyone who lets some guy handing out smokes in a bar scan his or her driver's license is a donkey. That play is definitely -EV.

[/ QUOTE ]

You sound like a fool when you say something non-poker related is +/- EV

And that is usually the only way to get the free smokes/lighter is to let them scan your ID. I have a collection of 12 Zippo lighters from Marlboro, and since they got my address they send me coupons all the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Smoking is -EV too come to think of it. You look like a fool with that thing hanging out of your mouth.

tonypaladino
11-03-2005, 08:26 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Easy solution, give them fake info.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most of the ones I've seen have a little computer thingy that scans your driver's license.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyone who lets some guy handing out smokes in a bar scan his or her driver's license is a donkey. That play is definitely -EV.

[/ QUOTE ]

You sound like a fool when you say something non-poker related is +/- EV

And that is usually the only way to get the free smokes/lighter is to let them scan your ID. I have a collection of 12 Zippo lighters from Marlboro, and since they got my address they send me coupons all the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Smoking is -EV too come to think of it. You look like a fool with that thing hanging out of your mouth.

[/ QUOTE ]

Go f*ck yourself.

JonPKibble
11-03-2005, 08:29 PM
The smoker has spoken!

tonypaladino
11-03-2005, 08:32 PM
wow, only the 4th time ever I felt this was necessary

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You are now ignoring this user. You will no longer see the body of any of their posts.

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JonPKibble
11-03-2005, 08:36 PM
The truth shall set you free!

tonypaladino
11-03-2005, 08:40 PM
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*** You are ignoring this user ***

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Sorry, what?

JonPKibble
11-03-2005, 08:44 PM
Try again.

kipin
11-03-2005, 09:09 PM
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Try again.

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http://imagesource.allposters.com/images/EPH/9122.jpg

tonypaladino
11-03-2005, 09:12 PM
LOL

JonPKibble
11-03-2005, 09:37 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Try again.

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http://imagesource.allposters.com/images/EPH/9122.jpg

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Was trying to find a pic of that girl from mad tv on google images, but I forgot her name.