Update: Winner of the gift card is David Best. Next drawing is for a $25 gift certificate to Steak & Salad Turkish Kitchen. To enter, sign up to receive the SJO newsletter.
I’ve got a whole bunch of restaurant gift cards, and I’m going to start giving them away starting with $50 toward a meal at CRAVE. All you have to do to enter to win the gift card
— or any of the others I’ll be giving away in the coming months — is sign up to receive my newsletter. If you’re already signed up, you’re already entered. (Hint: you would have received a newsletter yesterday or today.)
“Oh sure,” I can hear some of you saying, “I sign up for your little newsletter and pretty soon my inbox is filled with a lot of crap I don’t want and I’m getting e-mails from some guy in Nigeria who wants to sell me a Rolex with the Viagra logo on it.” First of all, my newsletter list is never sold, rented or shared with anyone. I hate spam as much as you, maybe more. In fact, just yesterday I reported an e-mailer to the Federal Trade Commission for failing to remove my address from its daily transmissions after I had requested it do so three times. It probably took more time to fill out their form than it would for me to delete the incoming daily mails for the next year, but I feel strongly about this issue, and if someone says they want to opt out of the mailings, their name should be removed immediately, no questions asked.
Second, I can promise you the newsletters will never go beyond what you might describe as occasional. They’ll start out monthly and we’ll see how it goes from there. They will never be daily because that’s just downright annoying (and it’s not like I’m giving away an iPad, if you know what I mean). But when you do get one it will be loaded with information you can use and will point you to exclusive deals and news items.
So, why a newsletter? Because every now and then the newsletter will be sponsored by someone who wants to get a message to readers of the flog. But remember: the sponsor does not have your e-mail address; only I do.
And, a newsletter list is a handy way to give something away.
Like this $50 gift card for a meal at CRAVE.
Like I said, if you’re already signed up to receive the e-newsletter, you’re already registered to win. If not, it’s really easy: just look over on the right-hand side of the page (your right, not my right) and find where it says Monthly Newsletter. Fill in you name and e-mail and wait for a note from me telling you you’ve won the gift card. (Make sure it’s a valid e-mail address because that’s how I’ll contact you; then I’ll send the gift card through the good ol’ United States Postal Service.)
