People go nuts over free Slurpees

[Liberal_in_LA]

I haven't had a slurpee in years

Free Slurpees come with a twist: They may cost you


Today 7-Eleven, the nation's largest convenience store chain, expects to give away 5 million 7.11-ounce Slurpees on the chain's unofficial birthday: 7/11. That's roughly 1,000 freebie Slurpees per store.

No coupons. No catches. No questions asked.

Those 7-Eleven folks sure must be dumb — as foxes. When they handed out 4.5 million Slurpee's last July 11, a funny thing happened: Slurpee sales for the day rocketed 38%, says Nancy Smith, vice president of marketing.

That's right: Folks bought more Slurpees, even though they could grab as many free tiny ones as they wanted. "You get a taste of it," says Slurpee senior brand director Laura Gordon, "and you choose to have more."

Perhaps. But many folks seem to be so enamored of the word "free" that they'll spend whatever it takes to cash in. In many cases, customers will spend more on gasoline just to get to 7-Eleven and wait in line for a free Slurpee than the estimated $1 retail value of the corn-syrup-laden drink that has virtually no nutritional value.

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http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2011-07-10-free-711-slurpees_n.htm

[shanti]

1. liquid sugar

disgusting :(

[William769]

4. One mans junk, is another mans treasure.

Yummy!

[RebelOne]

12. So what is wrong with free? n/t

[Billy Burnett]

9. Actually, worse ... liquid high fructose corn sweetener. eom

[NYC_SKP]

2. I had one. Three students used peer pressure to convince me to go.

And, so I did, I had a Coke flavored one.

It's been so long, it tasted like the 1970's!

:hi:

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. in the 70s they were Icees I think

[NYC_SKP]

14. That's right!

[kestrel91316]

5. I LOVE Slurpees! But I have a little nutritional common sense, and so

I only have one about every 5 years, lol.

[Texasgal]

6. My husband stopped off today

and got one.

He enjoyed it.

Big whoop.

[elocs]

7. I am sure I've had a Slurpee sometime in my life, but I couldn't say when. n/t

[Throd]

8. Coke slurpees are the ultimate whiskey chaser!

I might be a redneck.

[lynne]

10. Walked in - Got my Freebie - Walked out -

- It was YUM!!!

[ngant17]

11. the local store ran out of the free cups by 5pm

so I had to find a used one and wash it out and grab what was left out of the machines. All flavors except cherry were out (it takes a while for the freezing/mixing process to churn out more).

The store was packed like sardines.

[footinmouth]

13. The Slurpee machine broke

at my local 7-11. I was so disappointed. I've never had one, seemed like a good time to try one.