fine whine

So everytime I turn around it seems I run into another program to get a free iPod or KitchenAid mixer or Burberry handbag or DVD player or flat screen monitor or something like that, for the mere price of endless unsolicited emails and a month or two of a diet pill club or Columbia House or AOL or something else like that, and referrals for friends to also join up and do the same.

I am aware that these programs do work, having gotten myself a portable DVD player for under twenty dollars having done just that. I must admit, though, that this was back in the early days of this sort of thing, back when men were men, women were women and you didn't need to do anything for the points/credits beyond signing up for, and immediately canceling, a free trial.

Nowadays most offers demand a small pittance, be it ten or twenty bucks and thirty days or so, but they're still much less than the selling price of whatever product can be gotten for free. The sticking point, anymore, is the referrals. There's a math problem in there somewhere, but basically after ten generations of everybody getting five referrals the globe's been covered over more than once.

So, short of spamming and putting posters up and whatnot, what is the prospective iPod recipient to do? I'm trying to figure out a way to form a cadre of five or six people, each doing a different offer through a different service, all of whom refer each other to the others' offers. Most places won't let people multiple join the same service (so Fred cannot be referred to more than one GiftFox or FreeSlide offer, but he can do each one once) but there seem to be enough of them that a good five could be assembled.

The next step, of course, is to assemble those other five people.