Tim Hortons “Roll Up the Rim to Win”… No purchase necessary?


Tim Hortons CanadaWho hasn’t read the “no purchase necessary” sentence on “Roll Up the Rim to Win” Tim Hortons cups? Have you ever wondered how you can roll up a rim without buying a hot beverage?

I dug into Timmie’s “Roll Up the Rim to Win” Rules and Regulations and here is what I found. Under “How to Play” it says:

2. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO PLAY: In Canada, obtain a FREE Tim Hortons contest cup and/or a copy of the official rules, by writing to: Tim Hortons Contest Cup, P.O. Box 9296, Saint John, New Brunswick, E2L 4Y8.

Interesting! So Timmie’s will mail out an empty contest cup if we request one. Of course you’ll have to pay the postage for the letter you send, but it’s a fun experiment. I’ll write to Timmie’s requesting a free contest cup and will keep you posted. If you want to try this as well let us know!

Has anyone tried this before?


63 responses to “Tim Hortons “Roll Up the Rim to Win”… No purchase necessary?”

  1. Becca says:

    wow I had no idea? I’m gonna try this!

  2. Ryan says:

    Just a really helpful piece of advice… (I had thought most people knew this about canadian law) For all contests here in canada that are no purchase necessary you can do this. You have to mail a letter with a self address stamped envelope for them to return it in. They have to do this in order to not be considered a lottery, which here only the government can do. So this applies to I think basically everything… for example when beer cases have a promotion, you can write them with pre paid postage and you will get the promotion in the case.

  3. Ryan says:

    Some things are obviously worth the trouble where others are not… Tim hortons coffee costs 1.30$, but you will spend 1.04$ in stamps just to get an empty cup.

  4. Boo Radley says:

    i totally agree that it’s not cost efficient, i just want to try it for fun 🙂 to see if they will indeed send an empty cup and how long it takes.

    I was also wondering if New Brunswick was chosen intentionally to make it more expensive for most Canadians to mail a letter requesting a free cup

  5. Vickie says:

    I did this a few years ago and got one.
    Did you also know that immediate family of Timmy’s employees are not eligible for prizes. So just because my SIL works for them we are not eligible. Thank god they changed that last year. Still her parents and spouse are not, at our Tim’s they are not even supposed to get a roll up cup.

  6. Rebecca says:

    That’s great, so they’ll send you garbage for free! and Timmy’s cups aren’t even recyclable. How nice. Let’s add more garbage to the world.

  7. amycanada77 says:

    It works – people have done it before – that’s great – now just pay the extra 20 cents or so and get some coffee in the cup from your local tim hortons…. boy oh boy I like free stuff and all but I stop at a certain point – Rebecca’s “free garbage” lol 🙂

  8. Scott says:

    Can you pay the extra 20 cents and have them send the coffee too? I hate standing in line.

  9. Kever says:

    Mmmm… free cup.
    Wait… cups don’t taste good… I want the coffee too!

  10. Giraffe Girly says:

    MMMM… kittens.
    Wait… you can only get coffee at tims… bummer…
    Hurray for free cups!

  11. Matt says:

    Ur not very smart. Ur guna pay $1.04 just for an empty cup and a chance to win. if u spend about 20 cents more, u get a 100% chance of getting a coffee and the same chance of winning a prize. If u buy an empty cup, ull prolly just throw away $1.04 which couldve been spent on a perfectly good coffee plus that same chance u just lost.

  12. ME says:

    MATT what cant you read? we know its not a good deal but still some people would like to try anyway. if you are that poor you cant spend a $1.04 for fun you realy shouldent even spend a $1.30 on a coffee. Oh and read closer hortons cups are recyclable.
    it doest say 1 per customer eather so can you ask for 100 cups? Mail them a garbage bag to put them in. Just a thought

  13. Danny says:

    LOL Matt got told by ME who ever that is Lol i ordered one of these cups through the mail and won a bike so sthu

  14. Danny says:

    LOL Matt got told by ME who ever that is Lol i ordered one of these cups through the mail and won a bike so sthu!

  15. Emily says:

    @ my university they actually just posted that the biggest contaminator in recycling is tim horton’s cups..
    we have 4 tim hortons on campus and everyone seems to think they are recyclable so they thought they should make an announcement to stop it.
    so no, they are not recyclable…
    just thought i’d let you all know!

  16. John says:

    I won a Hybrid Camry on Tuesday in BC. Woohooo………

  17. Boo Radley says:

    seriously?! Congrats!!! 🙂 😉

  18. Astonded_69 says:

    Wow MATT it’s too bad you dont live in calgary they had a day were it was a pay it forward type deal, the person in front at drive thru paid for a coffee, it seems you could of used it… And Boo Radley they chose New Brunswick cause well of course they the best.. If you dont like the taxes DONT do it… CONGRATS to all winners and GOOD LUCK to y’all this year.. stay posted..

  19. Sally says:

    LMFAO @ NB being the best. Thats so silly.

    Anyways, guess this contest is almost back this year, a reason to start drinking coffee again.

    Im a little kid when it comes to roll up the rim!

  20. Glen says:

    I still have a free muffin from last year I never claimed haha.

  21. I tried this last year and got a couple of cups (never won anything) – got free postage too!

  22. sally888 says:

    YEAH GOT MY FIRST ROLL UP THE RIM TO WIN TODAY WAHOOOOOooo

  23. sally888 says:

    Nope haha

  24. dayna says:

    now jsut yesterday i was at tim hortons, and decided i was going to mail in to get a free cup, so i wrote down the address posted in the store in the official rules paper. the address i have is PO BOX 9899, and the postal code being E2L 4P8. i know i wrote it down correct because more than one of my buddies checked. whats up with that??? This was a Windsor, Ontario Tim Hortons. maybe it depends on what province you’re from since they have laid out the number of winners for each province.

  25. dayna says:

    i just checked rolluptherimtowin.com, and downloaded the rules and regulations. and the PO BOX 9899 and E2L 4P8 is the correct address and postal code.

    Also… “Limit one request per envelope…all requests must include a postage paid, self-addressed envelope.”

    bAH! i was gonna ask for 6.

  26. Matt says:

    I’d rather pay a little extra than get crappy coffee. I don’t know how Tim Horton’s trained people to line up like cattle for coffee that is overpriced and could be made at home for less. Much less, and even a coffee of your choice to boot.

    Oh, and I almost forgot, but if you’re going to go for broke at least read the rules since certain sized cups have better odds of winning than others, if at all.

    Good luck.

  27. Tyson says:

    HAs anyone ever wondered about this company being one of our past times. Our way to keep going some mornings (or every morning). With all the global warming and all concerns regarding the environment. Tim Hortons has not designed a cup that can be recycled? This has bothered me for a while. I guess it’s up to us like always, everyone by a mug. lol.

  28. Pamela says:

    I can not believe people are doing this! Tim Hortons Roll up the Rim campaign is wasteful and irresponsible enough as it is (doubling up cups instead of using a cardboard sleeve for instance)without people doing this. It is an embarrasment that for the chance to win some free stuff (mostly just mediocre food and even more mediocre coffee)are willing to produce MORE waste.

    Yes Tyson, I have wondered why Tim Horton’s has not switched to a cup that can be recycled or is 100% biodegradable when there ARE these alternatives out there and instead continues to give away (without even buying a coffee apparently) “disposable” cups which because of a plastic-like lining inside can NOT be recycled in most towns/cities in Canada and fill up land fills for years.

    But more importantly, we need to realize that even with such alternatives these products are not free. They cost natural resources and clean environment to produce, ship and dispose of. There should be a considerable charge or “tax” to customers who can not manage to bring their own reusable mug instead of a the insignificant 10 cent discount for people who do bring a mug which exists now, which most do not even no about.

    Shame on Tim Horton’s for not being an environmentally friendly company and shame on us for letting them get away with it. Please bring your own cup and PLEASE do not mail Tim Hortons and ask them to mail you back a piece of garbage.

  29. techwyrm says:

    At least maybe your rim wont be obvoisly pre-rolled up like some are before you even get your hands on it. Are there any kind of laws against this? At least 2 Tim Horton’s locations in my area seem to have consistantly tampered with cups and a continuous string of losing ones. Maybe because it’s a drug and some people are addicted things like this happen…

  30. greg says:

    i just won a new Sierra, huh

  31. Recycling says:

    To those of you complaining about not having recyclable cups – paper uses more energy to recycle than it does to be made in the first place. And since the majority of forests are properly managed (contrary to popular belief…) these trees that are cut down actually helps promote growth, which is helpful to our environment.

    Some people just can’t look at the big picture.

  32. Step-On-Me says:

    Someone crashed into my car as I was driving out of the Timmy’s Drive Through the other day… But I did win a free coffee from it!!! Although I was hoping for the new 2009 Toyota Matrix 🙁

  33. Dennis says:

    I rolled up the rim in 1990 to reveal I won a TV only to NEVER,EVER receive it.

    I have been contacting all sorts of T/H’s people for 18 years and in 1995,while in T.O. I went to their head office and tried to get my prize but didn’t.

    Yesterday after 2 e-mail they are only offering me some Gift Certificates without telling me how much they are for.

    Be careful when you send in your winning tab and Document EVERYTHING just like I did

    D

  34. Tjololo says:

    I just want to say 2 things:
    First of all, ANY contest in Canada taht does not haev a lottery license MUST have a ‘no purchase entry’ clause. If it doesn’t have a ‘no purchase required’ statement in its official rules, it’s a lottery, not a contest, and the company must adhere to the provincial lottery regulations. So yes, Tim Horton’s will send a cup if you ask them too, and the odds (in theory) must be the same as if you’d purchased the drink yourself.

    Second, I think this roll up the rim business is really outdated and environmentally disastrous. Have you noticed how many Tim Hortons’ will give their customers two cups when they purchase a beverage? What gives? If you buy a drink, you should get a cup, and that’s that. THis is not only a problem during Roll up the Rim, but it’s certainly more noticeable while the contest is running. I don’t understand how Canada and Canadians can accept that their so-called ‘national icon’ is actually one of our bigger polluters! This is NOT what I want people to think of when they think of Canada. The problem is that most outsiders wouldn’t even be aware of Tim Horton’s cavalier attitudes towards the environment; it’s like our own dirty little secret.

    So good luck Rim Rollers. This isn’t a radical call to action or a suggestion to boycott Timmie’s. I just wanted to vent and point out what disgusting practices Tim Horton’s has, and what message they send to their customers (that it’s ok to pollute more during contest time and/or that a Tim Horton’s beverage somehow makes it ok to throw away a perfectly good coffee cup you haven’t even used).

    Cheers
    TJ

  35. Colin says:

    I Have paid for WELL over thirty contest cups all extra large coffees and have NOT won even a doughnut or a free coffee. Am I just that unlucky that the 1 in 9 odds do not apply to me? Not only that It really ticks me off when Tim Hortons has there Green campaigns on their televisions in the store. First off all the thousand of cups that are thrown out and arent recycleable is true. Also it really burns me when I see 20 people at the Tim Hortons drive through idling there vehicles just for a cup of coffee. I think it is time for Tim Hortons to start taking some responsibility for aiding the destruction our environment.

    P.S. I am not so ticked off at not winning anything, more about their lax attitude towards pollution.
    University of Regina

  36. Taylor says:

    Under Canadian Law: “No Purchase Requirement”:
    If winners are to be determined based upon a game of mixed chance and skill, the contest is prohibited by the Criminal Code if the participants are required to pay money or give valuable consideration in order to participate. Participants should therefore not be required to pay money or give valuable consideration for the right to participate unless the contest does not involve an element of chance.

    This means that to avoid lottery rules Tims has to tell you no purchase is necessary. However Timmy’s rules for a “free” cup are: In Canada, obtain a FREE Tim Hortons contest cup and/or a copy of the official rules, by writing to: Tim Hortons Contest Cup, P.O. Box 9296, Saint John, New Brunswick, E2L 4Y8.

    They are on thin legal grounds here. The cost of a stamp (you have no choice – you have to mail to a post office box) constitutes valuable consideration because you HAVE to purchase a stamp at least which is least 50 cents. So it is in effect a purchase of a stamp to get a “free cup”.

    Try to ask for a free cup at a TIMs. Their staff are instructed to resist to giving out cups to play, even though they are legally bound to. (obviously they make money on the scam selling more coffee, not giving away free winning cups).

    While I don’t care about the free cup -it is this obvious attempt to get around the law that I really have a problem with. They say “no purchase is necessary” but that is a lie. Paint it anyway you want but it is a deception. They have no intention of giving people cups to play with without a purchase.

    Of course they have legal beagles to have figured this one out – and I would not be surprised they have a legal loop hole – any lawyers out there? Anyway the law should be changed or they should stop the contest. It is pure gambling for a fee – which is what casinos and lotteries do.

    And stop wining about not winning. Remember – if they didn’t make money on it, they wouldn’t do it. It is exactly the same as a lottery. The odds do not favour winning. It would if the cups were really free – hahah. the only winners are the ones that do not change their drinking habits – of course if we all did that Tims would not bother running the contest at all.

    So drink up and expect nothing.

  37. M says:

    Turns out the contest cup is only worth 12.5 cents, so you’re wasting your money with postage. I worked it out here:

    http://mjakubowski.blogspot.com/2008/03/roll-up-rim-to-win.html

  38. Steve says:

    I think I probably got Colin’s allotment of luck. (Either that or he’s at one of the locations like techwyrm’s where the employees are pre-rolling the rims themselves – shame, shame.) I’m way above the averages here. I’ve bought about a dozen cups or so (about 2/3 of them medium sized and 1/3 extra-large) and I’m on my 6th winning cup! All I’m winning is coffee (so far) but that’s better than a kick in the pants, I figure.

    Now if Tim’s would just switch to a more environmentally friendly cup.

    I did not know that there was a 10-cent discount for bringing your own mug. I was bringing my own mug anyway, of course, other than during contest time, but now I’ll be watching for that discount!

  39. tattoodprincess says:

    If you fill out for one of the free cups, you’re pretty much guaranteed you’re not going to win anything with value. I was watching CH News at Noon today and people have been complaining that it appears as if their cups have been rolled. A few people even have said they found teeth marks at the rim where the prize is (thats just EW). Tim Hortons released a statement claiming its a manufacturing error that effects only the small prizes. The cups with large prizes ie; tvs, cars, etc; all get hand inspected prior to leaving the factory. Which made me think. How do they know? Are the large prize cups marked in some way so they know which are which? Are they made on a seperate machine from the rest so they can pick and choose where they send them to? Sounds kinda fishy to me.

  40. moke says:

    As others have mentioned, they have predetermined odds for different areas and cups—see Rick Mercer—http://www.cbc.ca/mercerreport/videos/tim_hortons.mov

    Therefore, yes, they must have winners marked in some way, so as to get their distribution worked out

  41. Christine says:

    You never get something for nothing… People turn into animals when they think they can win something, anything. Crazy how us humans are.

  42. Sherry says:

    Just to keep everyone updated on the rumours that the cups are rolled up already by the employees; today I bought a tea at Timmy’s and when finished and ready to roll up the rim, the cup above the arrow was flat, and the rest of the cup was ok, so obviously the cup was rolled by an employee, then what went through my mind was, who hands was all over this cup, and I was drinking out of it…
    I am totally appalled by this…oh and by the way the prices also went up overnight at Tim’s……I now pay an extra 9 cents for my tea……

  43. Michelle says:

    Well just for fun my B/F and I mailed in for a free cup each…won nothing.

  44. Glen says:

    The new prices came into effect today.

    My 3 larges use to be $4.13, now it’s $4.68

  45. Michelle says:

    Only 5 cars left and 23 boats..they have a map of all the winners..kinda interesting. http://www.rolluptherimtowin.com/en/winners.php
    I checked it out and Manitoba has only had 1 boat winner and NO cars…I think all the rest of the winning cups are in Manitoba!!

  46. Dan Ficken says:

    I sent for my contest cup a few years ago and what a waste of time, in fact I actually felt kinda of bad about it, being a little environmentally conscience.

    I sent my letter of request and sort of forgot about it for a while, but eventually I got this oddly bulging envelope in the mail. From Tim Horton’s of course. So excitedly I opened the package like a kid at Christmas and was a bit disappointed to see that they had, assumingly, “randomly selected” a medium size cup, crumpled it up, and stuffed it in a letter sized envelope and fired it in the mail. No letter or anything to accompany, so all I saw when I opened the envelope was a crushed up piece of garbage.

    So I rolled up the rim, and of course, all it said was please play again. So essentially, I got Tim Horton’s, king of litter, to send me a piece of garbage in the mail and I paid for the postage. They probably grabbed a “dud” cup from a pile of known “dud” cups and sent it in.

    Me = disappointed

    But then again, if EVERYONE tried it, well, I’m sure we’d get a lot of garbage being sent around the country, but I bet eventually someone would win a free cup

  47. Dan Ficken says:

    also have not won a single thing yet this year either, not one.

  48. Dan says:

    SCAM

    Towards the end of March 2008 I mailed about 25 requests to Tim’s for free roll up to win cups (one per envelope request) and they replied with a letter dated April 4, 2008 that their supply of FREE cups had been deleted. This, despite the fact that their contest rules indicate requests must be postmarked by May 3, 2008 (while supplies last). Sounds like a scam given the contest was still very early at the time of mailing and one month remained when they replied. Did they have 50 FREE cups available for the contest?

  49. anymouse says:

    Hey,

    I wouldn’t spend the postage to get an empty non-recyclable cup. If I was interested in the contest, I would at least go in and get a beverage to win a “please play again”.

    BTW, did you know the whole contest is probably not legal. In Canada, you have to answer a skill testing question to claim a contest prize or the government will tax you.

    Read the contest rules. Did you ever win a coffee or doughnut?? Did you answer a skill testing question to get it? If not, you did not play by the contest rules! You have to answer the question even for a food prize!!

    With 31 million plus food prizes, if the government were to come collect the taxes, it would be more than a pretty penny. And since Tims is not enforcing the rules, I would make them pay the taxes. What would that do to their budget??

  50. timmies lover says:

    i have a whole bunch of free coffee and donut winners is there an expiry date?

  51. Mary says:

    The contest is a crock. Back when they first did it in Michigan, my boyfriend got a cup that was a “winner” for a grill. They gave us the runaround on it for about four months before he gave up and threw the cup out. It’s just a gimmick to get you to buy more coffee!

    I’m so sick of the commercials. We were very loyal customers for a long time – and I still love their tea – I just wish they could get some integrity.

    OK – some people get a little free coffee – that’s barely an investment on their part.

  52. AngryInRegina says:

    I’ve unrolled 93 cups and have not won a thing, i harassed one employee to give me a free cup just to roll… i didnt count that, so i have had 923 xl tripple tripples and won nothin, nada, zip
    Im planing on boycoting them if i dont win one little tim bit… really thats all i want, i dont even really like there coffees that much, all that mean is i have to wake up and extra 15minutes to have a cup of coffee in the morning

  53. Rox says:

    The only way to hurt a company or to make them change something is via their wallet. So, if enough people stopped using the drive through every morning and starting brewing at home or if more people insisted on using their own mugs (10% is a paltry discount), then they might consider changing.

    The question is: is there a recyclable cup for hot coffee that won’t get soggy?

  54. Mama Bear says:

    I’ve done this, last year. Sent a SASE (so really, the whole endeavor ended up costing me the same as buying a bevy at the store). Did get the cup though!! It wasn’t a winner. LOL

  55. Tylersmyler says:

    Just wanted to chime in here and say that I believe Timmys cups are now recycleable. In toronto anyways.
    Can’t believe it took them this long.
    Now we just have to get people to actually do it!!

  56. Al says:

    OH MY GOD. Stop already. It’s a CUP you pour COFFEE into. Get a life.

  57. Al says:

    Oh, and if you want a Rav 4 Recall on wheels, go finance one like most normal people do. People forget so damn fast in this country.

  58. Jenney says:

    Last year (2009) I won a $100 Tim Card! I even receieved it before the promotion wasover, so I was using my $100 to win more free coffees, it was great!

  59. Just make it at home says:

    Go ahead and bring in a mug, it’ll save you 10 cents, but not the environment in most stores. They pour the coffee into a Tims cup when you order, and pour that into your mug, throwing away a cup anyway.

  60. tims lover says:

    Is there a expiry date because I found a cup that won a ipod nano but the last time they had ipod nano as a price was in 2007?

  61. Sally#2 says:

    i won the car and sold it for parts


















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