Nearly free = nearly there

Strangely, the walls around campus haven’t been plastered top to bottom with giveaway events. Not to worry, avenues are being explored as we speak. In the meantime, I have been alarmed at the general lack of awareness that GROUPON has finally come to Victoria.

What is Groupon, you ask?

(As I lower my eyes and shake my head in exhasperation.)

Groupon is a relatively old as far as trendy internet phenomenons go (it was started in Chicago in 2008), but has recently become much more popular in North America. It mostly exists in large cities, and the premise is pretty cool: sign up using your email account, and every weekday, a new Groupon arrives in your mailbox. A Groupon is essentially a ridiculously huge discount at some business around the city, and is offered for 24 hours (or until the maximum number of people have bought that Groupon; the number varies). If you like what you see, you can click and buy the Groupon (you’ll need a credit card for this). The Groupon is then usually good for anywhere from a few days to a year.

Many of my big-city American friends have been using Groupon for a while now, and swear by the deals. It JUST came to Victoria about two weeks ago, and so far, the deals have been for everything from Pink Sugar cupcakes to the Bug Zoo to the halloween symphony (pictured above, that was today’s deal). For a student on a budget, Groupon is a pretty excellent resource for finding cheap things to do/eat/buy. Also, if you refer your friends, and they buy a Groupon, you get Groupon bucks. It’s not free, but it’s amazing and a lot of fun. There is also a Groupon app, which sends you daily prompts, which may be a good alternative to an alarm clock!

Here’s the link to sign up:

http://www.groupon.com/victoria/

(Don’t forget to tell ’em that freeoncampus@gmail.com sent you!)

Who wants free pizza?

Every fall, students are surrounded by giant posters that offer things like “free pancake breakfast in the SUB building!” or “Free ice cream . . . everywhere!”. Usually, these signs are put up within a day or two of the actual giveaway. I imagine that regardless of the brevity of these advertisements that at least a few students show up.

If the name of the game is to attract people to whatever event/gathering you are holding through free food giveaways, then you want a lot of people to see your signs, right? Often, given the time constraints, there are just a few big banners thrown up in high-visibility areas; a big sign offering free pancakes is probably the best strategy for generating some quick interest.

A problem arises, though. Let’s say that poster goes up on Monday morning, for a Wednesday morning pancake breakfast hosted by the engineering students’ society. Students have two days to see the sign, and decide whether to wake up early for some pancake goodness. But what about the students who miss the sign? They might not only be interested in pancakes, but in engineering, too.

This blog is intended to become a place where students can check regularly to find out all the free giveaways, be it food, t shirts, concerts, or whatever. This will require me putting my feelers out into the campus groups, organizations, and clubs, and reporting back with the things I’ve found. This blog will also be a place where these groups, organizations, and clubs (and students!) can post if they hear about something I haven’t. I’ll be spending a few months building up this blog, working out kinks, and documenting my progress. The eventual goal is to fine-tune it into something that can be launched as a dedicated domain website sometime in the next few months.

Along the way, I’ll make postings about the evolution of this blog. Eventually, I’d like to add an RSS feed, so that students can receive notifications of giveaways on their phones. My ultimate goal is to make this idea catch on on other campuses, and build an online community of college and university students. When this happens, who knows what this site will look like?

So this is the official launch of my “Free On Campus” blog. Stay tuned, while I go out this week and start finding the freebies!

Oh and while I’m looking, here are a few local sites that might have some good giveaways (you should already know them):

• Craigslist Victoria freebies: http://victoria.en.craigslist.ca/zip/
• Used Victoria (if not free, then cheap!): http://www.usedvictoria.com/
• Times Colonist freebies (the ol’ fashioned way!): http://victoriatimescolonist.oodle.com/