How about some hoax-busting on the stories about collecting a child's weight in empty Walkers Crisps Packets to fund an operation and the one that is currently going round Britain like wildfare - a hoax about collecting a wheelchair's weight in plastic milk bottle tops or other plastic bottle tops to get someone a wheelchair?
Sorry for duplicate replies. A quirk of the company server.
Dominic
Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 | 05:30 AM
I suspect Greg is a troll, if these schemes are legitimate, why is nobody able to provide a shred of real evidence?
All people seem to do is climb up on their very high horses and badmouth anyone who has the temerity to ask reasonable questions.
If you are convinced you are right about plastic bottle tops for wheelchairs, then logically you would be only too happy to give links to those sponsoring such schemes to ensure that more people take part.
As this is undoubtedly such a good cause, why not collect things with a definite value such as one and two pence coins ?
Jenny
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 | 08:24 AM
I work at a hospital, we collect bottle tops for a little boy who was in desperate need for a wheelchair. but there was No little boy?
If any one needs bottle tops go to the local councils they take them off your plastic bottles and discard them. i could have collect one ton from my council
this is a sick HOAX
jade
Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 | 05:52 AM
I'm a bit confused about this. If the whole thing is a hoax, is it the company that is supposedly providing the wheelchair, or the family that needs the wheelchair that is doing the hoaxing? Are they fake claims, or just a sick organisation that promises things that it doesnt intend to follow through?
Also, how much does an average motored wheelchair cost normally?
Jade, the hoaxer would be some rogue prankster that gets his kicks out of seeing how he can manipulate and deceive other people. The company providing the wheelchair, the family supposedly benefiting, and all the people who collect the bottle tops would all be victims of this anonymous prankster.
jade
Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 | 09:04 AM
That's really sick. I've been collecting bottle tops for a local charity though, and this one is definately NOT a scam. We've been given addresses etc. and it has been confirmed by a local hospital that this the real thing. I understand that a lot of the claims are fake and I think those people are really sick and twisted, but you've gotta check the claims out and make sure that you know everything before you jump to conclusions. It's sad that some genuine causes are gonna suffer just because some sicko has done this. It needs to be stopped.
Dominic Shields
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 | 04:54 AM
Jade, thanks for your reply, I'd be really grateful if you could you give exact details of how this is not a scam. For example what is being provided, who the sponsors are, what the value of their donation is and where the sponsors are going to take the bottle tops.
Also why would the sponsors not accept things with a tangible monetary value such as coins ?
Thanks
Dominic
Maegan
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 | 08:51 AM
IF bottle-tops were being used it would be similar I think to the Box-tops for education in the U.S. It's not that the item is WORTH anything...but it proves that the collector went out of their way to purchase a product. (If I collected caps from a gallon of milk, & I collected 1,000 caps then I spent about $3,790 on milk!) The company looks at it more like an incentive to buy their product over another. I think it's sort of like a recent soda push here...if you collected a soda top from a 20oz or 2-liter bottle...there was a code on the top. If you went to a website you could enter the code & the code was 'worth' a certain # of points. The more points you got...the more option you had to 'purchase' something with your points. A 20oz bottletop was worth 1 point & a 2-liter was worth 5. BUT the item you were going for was 2,000 points. It would take 2,000 20oz sodas to 'purchase' a backpack. That's roughly $2,380 spent on soda. (Average bottle purchased individually were I am costs $1.19 w/ tax.) So the theory itself COULD work. It's almost like that thread about the free I-pod if you sign up for something. If you buy almost $3,000 worth of OUR product we'll give you a backpack that ACTUALLY costs $8 at your nearest department store. Drink up!
Maegan
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 | 08:55 AM
Also...my father-in-law got one of those motorized chairs b/c of his 'handicap'. (Please, the man could spend 8 hours in the mall...but needed to have his parking space 2 feet from the door?) I think the actual cost of the scooter was $7,000. You can buy models a LOT cheaper...some models that did not have a leather seat & cherry-red finish might run between $1,500 - $3,000. Non-motorized models might cost significantly less...but my father-in-law couldn't POSSIBLE use his arms to move himself around...so I don't know anything about those.
Dominic Shields
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 | 10:36 AM
Maegan, for your model to work, the dairy companies would presumably be sponsoring this, I have established in other investigations that they aren't. Someone in this thread has established that the tops have virtually no value - 60 quid a tonne and the plastic cannot be used for anything useful. The other problem with your model is twofold, firstly does anyone need any incentive to buy milk ? Secondly milk is milk, I don't think the concept of brand loyalty comes into it. It rather reminds me of the joke adverts in "Viz" - "Smoke Tabs", "Sleep in a bed", "Eat Crisps" etc.
Maegan
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 | 11:10 AM
I was simply using it as an example...& there are about 3 specific brands of milk that I can think of right off...T.G. Lee, Velda Farms (local), & Publix (local). T.G. Lee's slogan used to be, "We all grew up on T.G. Lee!" The thread was started based on a MILK CAP campaign. I used milk to illustrate.
Again...the caps do not need to be WORTH anything. It's incentive. "If you buy THIS brand & bring THIS MANY caps...we'll donate a wheelchair to charity." It very well could be real...but b/c of a lack of evidence we can't prove that it is. With the relatively high price of dairy in the U.S. (dairy products prices seem to have doubled in just a few years) I could very well see brand loyalty being an issue. Box Tops for education work the same way. If you bring in the box tops to your school, they can mail them to this address & get money for your school! It's a cereal box-top. It's worth NOTHING. I can't even think where I can go to get money for recycling cardboard. Cereal is something every household has. The Box Tops also come on the tops of cake mixes, ready-to-mix dinners, muffin mix, etc...all from the same brand...Betty Crocker (maybe?).
We don't know if the dairy companies are sponsering this, because for every person that says, "I contacted them...they're not sponsoring this..., " there's a person that says, "It really happened, I collected a million tops & watched them do it all!" Saying milk is milk might be true...Milk is milk. It all comes from cows...not even special cows. Just plain ol' dairy cows. But T.G. Lee has a special yellow container to help keep in vitamins (who can tell?!). It's the same price as Velda Farms. So someone picks up the T.G. Lee b/c it looks like the better deal. More vitamins...same price. (Although, Velda farms make the BEST chocolate milk, EVER.) So incentive for brand loyalty will play a part here.
Milk for drinking is in decline. Kids don't want to drink it...adults won't even put it in their coffee (they use halfnhalf). So give people an incentive to buy milk is the whole point. Sure icecream, butter, all those things are great. People will always want them. But unless you need a cup of milk for your muffin batter...most milk purchased goes into the cereal and then into the sink. Milk caps aren't worth anything. That's the bottom line. Is there anyone out there who is taking them in for charity use?? That's what we're trying to figure out.
Geez Louise!
Dominic Shields
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 | 12:11 PM
I think that this is getting a little more complicated than it needs to. The dairy companies are not sponsoring such a scheme so as you say any speculation that follows this hypothetical is not worth pursuing.
Clive
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 | 05:44 AM
We are Naomi House, the Childrens Hospice near Winchester. We are definitely collecting and recycling screw on milk bottle tops along with old mobile phones,used & empty printer and phtocopier cartridges, stamps and foriegn currency. We get no government funding so we need every contribution possible to help us to care for children who will not live to become adults and to support their families as the childs illness progresses and then through bereavement So the more tops the better. For more details call 01962 843513 or see our website [url=http://www.naomihouse.org.uk]http://www.naomihouse.org.uk[/url]
Dominic
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 | 07:50 AM
Clive, would it be worth your while reading these links?
Also, what is the mechanism by which the bottle tops are converted into cash ? What recycling agency or other body accepts them in return for cash ?
I am utterly convinced by the immense worth of your cause, but I have a feeling that a lot of effort invested into the milk bottle tops collection is going to waste.
Maegan
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 | 08:57 AM
Clive, are they plastic screw-ons or metal?
Brian
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2004 | 09:51 AM
Aren't we getting a little away from the subject here? The hoax is about collecting plastic milk bottle tops in order to provide a wheelchair for someone. So far the only definite proof we have that they're even worth anything at all is from this news item http://www.letsrecycle.com/materials/plastics/news.jsp?story=3853 showing that Naomi House Hospice can get around £50 - £60 a tonne for them - and that's it. No-one has found anything official about anyone willing to provide a wheelchair (or anything else) in exchange for a certain number or weight of bottle tops. No press release, nothing on a website, no copy of a newspaper article - nothing. Face facts - it's a hoax!
Maegan
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2004 | 10:10 AM
tsk tsk. One must remain calm down! I probably go off-subject more than anyone...and I don't feel that we've done that here.
Dominic Shields
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2004 | 06:13 PM
I actually understand Brian's frustration because this whole hoax targets such singularly well-intentioned people who seem to get annoyed at anyone raising reasonable doubts at its veracity.
I would venture to suggest that the plastic tops recycling hoax bears many similarities to religious belief.
Nobody I have spoken to has raised any objections to my assertion that in terms or collecting items for money, there can be few things to choose more intrinsically worthless than plastic bottle tops. Nobody I have spoken to can see a single flaw in my follow-up assertion that collecting coppers (1 and 2 pence coins) would be far more productive.
Robin
Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 | 11:27 AM
I too have been collecting plastic tops to get wheelchairs for kids , along with other organisations. The bags of tops were passed on to a third party who had a sponsor that was matching any monies made to get electric wheelchairs for two kids . One boy and one girl were supplied with chairs , but now the sponsor has withdrawn their support . So now we are looking for a new sponsor , so if you know of anyone willing to be a good samaritan and continue the sponsorship , please leave a message for me .
Dominic Shields
Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 | 02:14 PM
Robin, is there any chance that privately or publically you could supply me with the details of the sponsors, the number of tonnes of bottle tops collected, the amount raised per tonne and the reasoning behind collecting something with so little value.
What for instance would be the problem with collecting the bottles themselves ?
