Roll Up the Rim to Win: Enterprising Canucks post coffee cups for bucks

Bhaavik Narula pinches at his coffee cup, hoping his next double-double is on the house.

“Please play again,” it reads.

Narula is unlucky in Tim Hortons’ decidedly Canadian Roll up the Rim to Win contest. The one in six odds are against him, he said.

“It’s more like one in 1,000 for me.”

“I actually haven’t ever won a cup in my life. I never roll anything from it — not even a timbit or a doughnut,” the 17-year-old said.

But his 22-year-old sister Aanchal basks in back-to-back wins that coffee-loving Canucks envy.

“Her cups always seem to win.”

Intrigued by her offer to buy her unrolled large coffee cup, the Brampton high school student thought to “sell” the unrolled cup on classified ad website Kijiji for $11 for kicks.

“We just thought it was funny to kind of sell our luck, her lucky cup online,” he said.

“I’m charging $11 cuz [sic] the odds of winning are 1 in 6 and I was the 5th person standing in line so the chances of this winning are pretty good,” the ad said.

“Serious ppl only please. No low ballers.”

There were “serious” buyers — offers to swap coffee cups and even, cash.

“I was in English class and my phone was vibrating constantly. After class, I checked my phone and I had nearly 100 emails from people just messaging me offers,” Narula said.

“A lot of people understood the joke. That was the good part about it.”

Although, far below “asking price” at $5, but offers, nonetheless, from coffee-drinkers eager to nab a win by any “beans” necessary.

“I wanted to make it quite ridiculous from the actual price of the cup. That was kind of the humour behind it.”

“The intention wasn’t to actually sell the cup. We just kind of got the idea at Tim Hortons because she always won.”

The ad, posted March 22, received a total of 5,059 visits in about five days before being marked as spam, Narula said.

“Kijiji has a strict ‘Lottery Tickets, Sweepstakes Entries and Slot Machines’ ban, which would mean that these types of postings are prohibited,” Kijiji Community Relations Manager Shawn McIntyre said in a statement.

“Clearly, some users are very passionate about this uniquely Canadian initiative and are looking to take advantage of the excitement. While their enterprising ways are impressive, we will be flagging these ads and removing them based on our policy,” he said.

“We have seen these ads in the past; and understand they are mostly intended to be humorous. However, we will remove any ad that violates Kijiji policies.”

Tim Hortons said its Roll Up the Rim to Win cups “are intended to be sold in restaurants only.”

“We don’t encourage the sale of cups or rims online or through any other channels,” Alexandra Cygal, senior manager of public affairs at Tim Hortons said in a statement.

A doughnut stub is going for $2.25 on Kijiji. Another ad — with a hefty price point — pegs an unrolled cup at $20.

Justin Fenton rolled up the rim on his double-double to find a free coffee underneath — his fifth win this year.

So in a spur of the moment, the 24-year-old posted the stub on Kijiji for a swap.

“I figured it’s kind of funny. It’s like Tim Hortons could be a new kind of currency of Canada kind of thing.”

“I figured just to see what I could get really…just to see what kind of interest it would peg and see if I would actually get any replies,” he said.

A Coors Light beer, a chocolate bar and even an Xbox game were what coffee-drinkers in Owen Sound were willing to give for a free Tim Hortons coffee.

“It was a Friday night when I got [the beer] so that was kind of tempting,” Fenton quipped.

But Kijiji advises its users not to purchase “any of these items.”

“We would advise Kijiji users not to purchase any of these items if they do happen to come across an unflagged ad and encourage users to flag these ads when and if they encounter them,” McIntyre said.

Fenton said he will likely use the stub to fuel his double-double habit.

What about Narula?

The cup, in fact, was a winner. Though, not his win — his sister redeemed it for a chocolate doughnut.

“I kind of want to win myself one.”

What is the strangest ad you have seen on classified ad websites? Let us know in the comments section below.

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