Yes, I'm Whining about Something Insignificant. It Happens.
Way back when Alexis was a wee lass, there were decisions to be made. Risk SIDS by putting bumpers in her crib, or deal with a kid who was destined to amputate her own legs by twisting them in her crib slats? Return to work full-time or try to work out some sort of part-time schedule? The white blanket with bunnies or the fuzzy purple one? Pampers or Huggies?
Obviously, some decisions were more important than others. And, yet, some of results of those seemingly unimportant ones are still lingering with us today. For example, the answer is PURPLE. Not white. Definitely purple. Just ask Alexis.
Really, though, the diaper one just won't go away. Still. After trying every brand and not-really-a-brand under the sun, we realized that there were only two that would work for us. Thus, the Pampers vs. Huggies question. After agonizing a ridiculous amount over something the kid was just going to poop on, we finally went the Pampers route.
I made that choice because I am a sucker for reward programs. A HUGE SUCKER. If you tell me that I can have something free just for buying something that I needed to buy anyway, I turn into an over-achieving maniac. I'm pretty sure it was my fault Panera got rid of their frequent customer punch card thingy because of me and my need to get a free sandwich every week. The Gifts to Grow program? TOTALLY up my alley.
The thing about Gifts to Grow is that you kind of have to buy a heck of a lot of diapers to actually accumulate points. I'm pretty sure Octomom is the only parent ever to earn a free thing in under a year. Since we only had one butt to clean, we only managed to accumulate a couple thousand points before Alexis was potty-trained. But! But! Bonus! I found some codes on a website earlier this week!
Armed with my bonus codes, I logged into the Pampers site, all ready to redeem those precious points we earned over the course of the last several years. I copied and pasted and grinned at my brand new total. 3400 points! Surely I could redeem that for a new car! Or a new house! Or at least a cup of coffee!
WRONG.
First of all, please don't remind me just how much money we had to spend on poop containment systems to wind up with that many points. I start twitching just thinking about it.
Second of all, Pampers, really? REALLY?
I spend years anally collecting tiny stickers with bizarre alpha-numeric combinations and you "reward" me by letting me trade points for BABY TOYS?
Am I the only one muy confused by this? It takes years to get enough points for a reward, but by the time you have those points, the kid is too old to care about any of the possibilities . . . That's just delightful.
Yeah. So. I'm redeeming the points for a donation to the March of Dimes, but I'm not thrilled about it. I kinda think Pampers owes me a new car by now. Or at least a cup of coffee.
P.S. Speaking of the March of Dimes, there's kinda sorta a thing over there ------> where you can financially support me and my team as we participate in the Walk for Babies. Please and thank you and I luuuuurve you!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Reader Comments (18)
Um ... whining about the insignificant.... TOTALLY up my alley these days. Really - I do understand. Sometimes the trivial becomes very important. You're embracing your baby - her diapers - poopiness and all.... Hey - it ALL becomes important. The diaper bag, the sippy cup, where you go on your days together, what you eat, what you do..... for you, participating in this program was part of the "mom thing" - I am the SAME way (oh - and - yeah - I like punch cards too - Coffeetree Roasters, Make Your Mark - yeah.... oddly, all coffee places. Hmmm....). Anyway - ugh - like we NEED more baby toys, right? Maybe you should call and see if you cold get a car instead ;-). Cute pic of you wee one, btw.
I completely agree that you should get a cup (or ten) of free coffee. We started to look into that program when Abby was born, but quickly realized the thousands of dollars and tons of time we'd have to spend to get a $10 toy. I think it only pays off if you are buying ALL your products as part of the rewards program (diapers, formula, bottle liners, shampoo, butt cream...tap water, milk, bread, cereal, clothes...oh wait, all that's not an option...hmm.) and especially if you have more than one kid that is using these products at the same time.
We didn't really like the "cruisers" line, so once we were out of "swaddler" sizes in Pampers, we switched to Luvs and store brands. Despite the texture differences, they all worked well enough, and helped save money the day of the purchase, not some tenuous reward at some indeterminate time later. They sure can suck you in with the rewards programs, though, because "Free? Hey, free stuff just for things we're buying anyway! Yay!" Sorry it didn't pay off for you, but thanks for letting us all know how fruitless a journey it can be - at least it can be a lesson for others, right?
This post makes me glad that I buy diapers in the giant box at Costco. Still the cheapest place to find them per diaper and I've looked just about everywhere.
@Scrumpy Daddy--I call NO FAIR! that Luvs worked for y'all. We tried every store brand and less-expensive everything and every freakin' one failed for us. And, uh, diapers aren't exactly one of those things that are OK if they don't quite work right. Ahem.
This post made me smile. Not because I participated in the rewards program but because I'M DOWN TO ONLY ONE KID IN DIAPERS DURING THE DAY!!! WOOHOO!
We're a Pampers family, but we buy at Sam's Club. There's all of these tricky things about that but you almost never get to play in the rewards program if you buy there so I didn't even try. I'm glad I didn't now...
That doesn't make much sense to me either. Boggling.
I donated all of my points to MOD last year when we decided to start cloth diapering. And then we discovered that cloth diapering over night and during naps didn't work for us. I'm back to buying those bloody Pampers again. Have you seen the thing with the new formula for Cruisers? People are craaaannnkkkkyyyyy.
I didn't use the rewards program for our first, but have satred with my second. Huggies now has their own rewards program, and you can trade for some gift cards toplaces you'll actuall use.
So your with your next kid (if you have one not that I am asking as I know its none of my business) you'll have another debate with pamper v's huggies.
PS pampers has recently changed to "dry max" and they suck.
@Elena--HA! Good call on the not asking. ;-)
I have nothing to add about diapers, but Hey, look at you in Pittsburgh Magazine, looking all sunsplashed and glorious!
No mention of it here? What, you're letting Ginny handle your PR? =o)#
Oh, I'm with you. I thought I was certain to get something awesome with all the points I accumulated. Plus, 2 in diapers at once? Sure to be be an amazing selection of rewards! Nope. I ended up giving my points to the vaccination program, and feel good about it...they certainly don't need more toys, but I would not have minded some free diapers or something useful...
It's too bad you couldn't trade them in for a new giant screen tv for the Man Cave. Win-win!
My problem is that I start out all gung ho on those types of things, but then I start to lose interest and I stop logging my points. But seriously, Pampers? What gives? Baby toys? I think they should be redeemable at local watering holes, if you get my drift.
Dude, if I were you? I'd totally get that Cuddly Kid Mirror and put it on my desk at work.
Back at the dawn of the new millenium when I had my baby (10 years ago, sigh). I did the Pampers Rewards. I think they made it easier to accumulate points back then but they ran out of the toys and I got a check in the mail for over $90. woo hoo!
Agreed! I redeemed points a year or two ago for one of those Leap Frog alphabet magnet things for the fridge, but I've just been accumulating points ever since because I can't find anything worth spending them on. I think ours will probably be donated as well.
I never even knew they had rewards?? where the heck was I?? I had 3 kids using those suckers!
With my first two kids it was Huggies all the way. But, Peanut didn't fit in Huggies properly and leaked out of them. So, I went to Pampers and since I was buying them, signed up to redeem points. I was even able to redeem points for all the Pampers my parents bought when I was running the daycare. I figured if I was changing their kid's diapers, I was keeping the points. I'd ocassionally look at how many points I had what I could get with it. When I finally got around ot getting serious about buying something I started the purchase process. Only to find out S&H was more than the toy cost to buy at the store. I never redeemed those points. They are floating around in Pamper's cyberspace and could care less.