Cayo man wins big in C.T.C. sweepstakes …
You didn’t necessarily have to smoke to participate but it certainly helped one resident of the Cayo district win some pretty cool household appliances. Jackie Godwin explains.
Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
According to company officials, there were seven hundred and eighty thousand entries in the Caribbean Tobacco?s Home Sweet Home Sweepstakes ? which why San Ignacio resident George Requeña was surprised at his luck.
George Requeña, Winner, C.T.C. Sweepstakes
?I didn?t believe it because I didn?t expect to win. I noticed it on Friday. I bought a newspaper on Friday and I went through it and I said I will try check my boxes and I started to check my boxes, when I got to the number I said that is it.?
Jacqueline Godwin
?How many boxes because you said you had about a hundred entries, so how many boxes you went through until you finally came up with that lucky one??
George Requeña
?About ten boxes only.?
The winning ticket with the number 1041893 earned Requeña an impressive array of appliances that include a stainless steel stove and refrigerator, dish washer, microwave, washing machine and dryer, an air conditioning unit, two television sets, one stereo system and a generator.
Jacqueline Godwin
?Which one of these appliances you do not have at home??
George Requeña
?Well the only thing I don?t have at home is an a.c. and a generator. All the rest I have at home.?
Jacqueline Godwin
?So what do you plan to do with the rest of your appliances??
George Requeña
?Well I?ll put them in my house and sell the ones I have second hand. Put the brand new ones in my house.?
C.T.C.?s General Manager Chuck Woods says the sweepstake ran for three months and it is part of the company?s plan to improve on sales.
Chuck Woods, General Manager, C.T.C.
?And we decided that we needed to come up with an incentive for customers to continue being loyal to us. So Madisco along with Caribbean Tobacco got together and decided to come up with three promotions this year. The first one was a vehicle, you may recall a Toyota Hilux that was raffled January of this year and the second one being the home sweet home sweepstakes.?
The third draw, the twenty thousand dollar Mirab Shopping Spree take place on December fifteenth. Woods says contraband smokes have affected C.T.C.?s local sales. But just how successful have the campaigns been in winning the battle against contraband?
Chuck Woods
?It has been successful in the sense that we have seen an increase in sale whenever we run these promotions. Unfortunately, the increase is not enough to offset the impact of contraband. As you know contraband doesn?t have the same burden of taxes as we do. We are at a distinct disadvantage when competing with contraband cigarettes, having said that though we are still successful in running the promotions because sales have increased every time we run promotions, and not doing the promotions would be worse in the terms of sale, so we are happy in that regard.?
Reporting for News Five, Jacqueline Godwin.
The C.T.C. Home Sweet Home Sweepstakes was held in collaboration with Courts Belize Limited.