You Got Mail

And do we ever receive a lot of casino mail!  After 27 years visiting casinos we seem to be on most all their lists, even those we haven’t darkened their door for many years.  Nothing like tough economic times to send them digging deep into their databases!  Although we now get quite a bit via e-mail, there is rarely a day that we don’t have a hard copy missive from a casino somewhere in the United States.

I have a file of current/pending mail offers, but I also have a box in which I throw all casino mailings that I figure I won’t be using or that are now expired.  I save these for about three months – never know when I might want to refer back to something or want  to dig out an offer I at first had not found of interest.  Recently I asked Brad to go through and sort this box in which I had been throwing stuff  since early April.  I thought it might be interesting to analyze the various categories of offers.

This was a bigger job for him that I had expected.  I didn’t have him separate according to whom the mailing was addressed.  Since we have separate accounts at almost all casinos, we often – but not always – get duplicate mailers.    The main problem was that so many mailings include more than one type of offer.  For example, casinos that send out monthly mailers may include calendars that give all sorts of information about multiple promotions – like bounce back, tournaments, drawings, bonus points – and perhaps also contain coupons for free play, gifts, room offers, and/or food.  We had 29 of those in the box.

We had 47 tournament invites, most of which we did not accept although they almost always had  comped entry fees.  In fact, I can only remember doing one tournament in the last year or longer.  Tournaments used to be a big part of our play routine, but there are few any more with large enough prizes to be worth all the time they involve.  (They are of more value for out-of-town players who can use the attached free room offer.)

We had 39 mailings that included point multipliers.  We always look at these closely.  Many of these had other offers included, like free rooms, parties, or special events.

We had 68 mailings enticing us with free gifts.  The total received would be much higher, considering that we often have to turn in the mailer to collect a gift and our garage is ridiculously full of stuff-we-don’t-want.  This  68 represents mostly the ones we did not pick up.  We almost never make a special trip into a casino just to pick up a gift, not even making the effort to park if we are driving right by.  But if I’m in a casino and I know it won’t be a negative “tripping” factor, I just can’t help myself – I will even stand in line(usually with a slightly grumbling Brad) to get a freebie.  Hope always springs eternal that this time it will be something I really want or at least we can use!  Mostly it will sit in the garage until some visitor finds it useful or until we decide on a trip to Goodwill.

The rest of the 243 mailings can only be considered “Miscellaneous.”  Some are offers for freebie show tickets or free rooms or various combination of unusual offers.  Some are merely informational, i.e., about a new casino program.  I am always disappointed when we get a piece from a casino that is just “propaganda” with no offers.

And last but certainly not least there are the invitations to “Events.”  Wine tastings, beach or pool parties, sporting events.  They all are described in such glowing terms and sound so interesting….to someone else, not us.  I guess we are all “evented out”!

I will have to pitch any invitation that involves parties at the Hard Rock, in or out of the pool.   And we will not be attending “Jimmy’s Naughty Nighty Night” this Saturday at the Palms, so Brad won’t be picking up his complimentary custom pajamas and no one will be able to see me in lingerie.  Ditto for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” an Enchanted Lingerie Masquerade party at the Palms Pool and Bungalows in August. (What does go on in those bungalows?)

Some casino mail just needs to be ignored.