Collectors item Mountain Dew?

August 10, 2004 4:29 AM

I went to buy a Mtn. Dew before work last night. The first bottle I picked up had a blue cap, I thought it was a new game. Turns out that it is actually a Sierra Mist with a Mtn Dew lable on the bottle from the factory. What should I do with it, I just had to buy it.
posted by chiababe to Shopping (17 answers total)

Have it bronzed.
posted by pissfactory at 4:39 AM on August 10, 2004

Best answer: I guess it depends on what your desired outcome is. If you just had to have it for the novelty of the item, then mission accomplished.

You can, however, call the manufacturer's number on the back and generally, they will attempt to make good on the error by sending you a coupon for a 12-pack and/or some Mountain Dew stuff. They'll ask for some details (serial numbers on the bottle/can, where you bought it, etc) and your name and address. If anyone has ever been the recipient of the "empty but sealed can" in a 12 pack, you probably have made this call before.
posted by jerseygirl at 5:44 AM on August 10, 2004

Found some BBQ Lays in a bag of Regular Lays once. Mailed a letter to the company and received a case of potato chips!
posted by Hankins at 6:03 AM on August 10, 2004

On a side note: often when you call the consumer information line to make a complaint about weird/damaged foodstuffs, you'll end up talking to someone smart in a QC lab, not some nogoodnik in a call center. So that's your chance to ask any funny or weird questions that have been bugging you about your favorite packaged goods. You know, like "Seriously though, why did you guys start printing PULL HERE on the individually-wrapped cheese slices? Were there people in focus groups who just couldn't work it out for themselves?"
posted by bcwinters at 6:15 AM on August 10, 2004

Ebay comes to mind as well.
posted by mecran01 at 6:39 AM on August 10, 2004

>Seriously though, why did you guys start printing PULL HERE on the individually-wrapped cheese slices?

Three words:

McDonald's Coffee Lady.
posted by shepd at 10:18 AM on August 10, 2004

Just an aside... here is more info on the McDonalds Coffee Lawsuit
posted by cadastral at 10:33 AM on August 10, 2004

cadastral, say what they want about the McDonald's coffee lawsuit, the result was still an outrage. The two main points: other restaurants served their coffee colder and she was hurt very badly. Bunn, the leading commercial coffee maker for restaurants, recommends holding the coffee at 185 to 190 F, which is about the same as the coffee in question at McDonalds. How badly she was hurt should not affect whether McDonald’s was liable. Some people have the attitude that somebody must pay every time someone is hurt. I do not buy that, and especially not where the plaintiff hurt herself.
posted by caddis at 11:32 AM on August 10, 2004

She had skin grafts.
posted by mecran01 at 12:27 PM on August 10, 2004

What if McDonald's, on the manufacturer's recommendations, handed out loaded Glocks with 2 oz. triggers?
posted by mecran01 at 12:28 PM on August 10, 2004

What do skin grafts have to do with it? She spilled the coffee, not McDonalds. It doesn't take a genius to know that spilling hot coffee on yourself will harm you. How do Glocks make the coffee taste better?
posted by caddis at 12:51 PM on August 10, 2004

Everything tastes better when you have a gun in your hand.
posted by ChasFile at 1:15 PM on August 10, 2004

Response by poster: UPDATE: I decided to throw it up on eBay I will never do anything with it. View it here.
posted by chiababe at 1:59 PM on August 10, 2004

UPDATE: "lable" is spelt "label".
posted by yerfatma at 2:41 PM on August 10, 2004

So, if she inserted her hand in "normal" coffee for 1/2 hour, she could sue because she'd have her hand amputated, right?

McDonald's coffee lady is why Clerks is so funny.

"Whaddaya mean, you don't got any ice cubes? YOU MEAN I GOTTA DRINK THIS COFFEE ***HOT***?!?!?!"

I expect some retard ate the plastic with the "cheese" at some point.

My opinion is simple: If you manage to score a big cash reward, the law should require your picture be on the product from then on, with a big "DON'T BE AS DUMB AS THIS PERSON" warning below it.

BTW: If McDonald's coffee was such a ticking timebomb, why the singular lawsuit? Seems to me you're more likely to die of radiation poisoning than be harmed by McDonald's coffee.
posted by shepd at 6:05 PM on August 10, 2004

(speaking of radiation poisoning, I think I need to swallow a fire alarm. Americium is radioactive -- think of the $$$ -- there's no warning on the things.)
posted by shepd at 6:06 PM on August 10, 2004

Everything tastes better when you have a gun in your hand.
posted by ChasFile at 1:15 PM PST on August 10

<3
posted by Lizc at 3:37 PM on August 13, 2004