The Perfect Tesla Raffle

[Pollux]

Let's see if I can figure out how to embed a video here... Michael Green, Climate XChange Executive Director, commissioned this video and spent untold hours of his time (personal and professional) breathing life into it... Let's see if anyone besides me likes it...

Definitely curious re feedback! Remember, we're always trying to do double-duty (at least): get the message out and also do the fund-raise.

Thanks,
Alan

P.S. I am not repeat NOT that guy in the video!!! If I were any person in that video, I'd be Phil, except cooler.

P.P.S. carbonraffle.org and ClimateXChangeRaffle.org go to the same place.

 

[CatB]

Let's see if I can figure out how to embed a video here... Michael Green, Climate XChange Executive Director, commissioned this video and spent untold hours of his time (personal and professional) breathing life into it... Let's see if anyone besides me likes it...

Definitely curious re feedback! Remember, we're always trying to do double-duty (at least): get the message out and also do the fund-raise.

Thanks,
Alan

P.S. I am not repeat NOT that guy in the video!!! If I were any person in that video, I'd be Phil, except cooler.

P.P.S. carbonraffle.org and ClimateXChangeRaffle.org go to the same place.

Just got my email on this - so thrilled to see the raffle again. Maybe this time I can make the drawing party
Thanks so much for all you and your family do for all the good causes wrapped up in this endeavor!

 

[Pollux]

Thank you, @CatB!

 

[PeterK]

Hi, @Dansblum, @boofagle... thank you for the kind words!

Tix *are* selling OK!

Official Launch for the Raffle is actually this coming Saturday, 12-4 pm, Aeronaut Brewing, Somerville, MA. Free beer for people coming to the Launch. Also, if you bring kids -- presumably, yours! -- we can take them next door to Brooklyn Boulders for climbing fun. There will be food available. We're gonna park all the Teslas on an adjacent garage rooftop & take some pix.

IMPORTANT: please RSVP to me! PM will do it.
DOUBLY IMPORTANT: please RSVP to me with any kid headcount!
Also IMPORTANT: I suggest showing up on the early side, as I'm told that capacity is ~150 and that they are typically full before 2 pm, which then means waiting in line. :-(

Thanks,
Alan

Hot off the presses - or technically to hit the presses on Thursday!

Alan and I came up with an idea - use our Teslas to promote the raffle. We ordered 40 copies (20 hcars' worth) of a large (15" x 24"), lightly adhesive vinyl sticker (draft version attached below) that fits perfectly on a falcon wing or front door (I no longer have my S so not sure if it fits the S rear door). We will both adorn our cars with them, but I was wondering whether others would be willing to do the same. We will have them at the event Saturday.

Thoughts?
Peter

P.S. Full disclosure - only the first beer is free... we don't want to be sending a bunch of Teslas off half-cocked as it were.

 

[Pollux]

@PeterK is way too kind. He came up with this idea and I happened to be in the same universe with him when he thought of it. It's a cool idea, though!

 

[EVSteve]

Possible to have a decal to place on my car and, assuming my company allows, mount on my truck while doing my runs? I'd be willing to cover the cost of the decal and shipping if needed.

 

[Pollux]

Love you, @EVSteve! I'm traveling today but maybe we can catch up tomorrow?

Maybe we can find someone making an MA-to-PA run who could courier a couple of the decals to you. Or DC-to-PA.

Anyway, I'll catch up with you tomorrow.

Thanks!

Alan

P.S. Making a road trip today with my new decals.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

If you want someone showing them on the way out to the Custer rally and back in a few weeks, I'm game.......

 

[CatB]

If you have extras that you can bring back to D.C. Area, let me know. Pretty sure that would be worth a mini-meetup to distribute.

 

[PeterK]

I put a set on my falcon wing doors today, then sliced a third sticker up for the back. They go on and peel off quite easily, though it's also easy to get bubbles and wrinkles. Best approach is to get it as right as possible from the start - I think repeatedly sticking and peeling it stretches the sticker and makes more bubbles and wrinkles likely.

I'm happy to distribute my stock of stickers in the Boston area. There may be a restriction on sending marketing materials by mail, however.

 

[Pollux]

@Half, @CatB - great ideas! Any suggestions for when a good time would be for a Meetup?

@PeterK - YES, there is a restriction on sending marketing materials by mail (and it turns out by extension UPS and FedEx and similar).

See 18 U.S.C. Section 1302.

There is a somewhat confusing clarification published by the USPS in July, 2014, PS-307 (601.9.3) Updated July 14, that seems to state that it's OK to mail advertising materials for a raffle but only insofar "as the activity advertised is legal and the mailing does not provide any entry materials". We might well be able to argue that mailing around the raffle decals fits this exception -- we'd argue that the URL we provide does not constitute an entry material. And I have this issue queued up for our attorney.

But it's one thing to take on a risk myself and totally a different thing to let others take on a risk, especially knowingly. So I'd very much prefer that we don't generate a Supreme Court case on the backs of one of you nice people. (Obviously, there's some hyperbole here, I think we'd have to look very hard for raffle cases that have been litigated at the state or even Federal District Court level, and I'd be astonished to find that any such case ever made it to an appellate level. The bottom line is that we want to operate cleanly and transparently, and we're not looking to pick any fights.)

So, please, hand-courier only for the decals.

Thanks,
Alan

P.S. If/when I get around to getting a real legal opinion on this issue, and if the opinion is that we can mail this kind of thing to our heart's content, then I will be sure to let you know. Meantime, I'm not going to have EVSteve & PeterK on my conscience.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Well, I'd suggest brunch but we know how those turn out
I can just wait to see what you work out for a general meet-up and try to get there.

From an accountant's point of view, I'd say mail to your heart's content. If someone gets in trouble, you already have their money and if there's an issue that they can't accept the grand prize, possibly due to a stay in prison, well then that increases the possibility of someone else winning

 

[Pollux]

Oh, @Half... I laughed so hard I started coughing... and that was just the first sentence...

Not a single raffle rule preventing a Winner from claiming the prize even while in prison. Sheesh. What was I thinking.

 

[PeterK]

I put a set on my falcon wing doors today, then sliced a third sticker up for the back. They go on and peel off quite easily, though it's also easy to get bubbles and wrinkles. Best approach is to get it as right as possible from the start - I think repeatedly sticking and peeling it stretches the sticker and makes more bubbles and wrinkles likely.

I'm happy to distribute my stock of stickers in the Boston area. There may be a restriction on sending marketing materials by mail, however.

Driving back from NYC this evening, I stopped at West Hartford for a charge and dinner when I got a text from our Executive Director Mike Green, asking if I'd just been driving on I-84. Someone contacted the office after seeing a sticker on a car there, and wound up buying a ticket!

So proof it works. If anyone is willing to sport one on their cars we can arrange a meetup in the Boston area. Thanks in advance!

 

[Gwgan]

Not local, but maybe this will help some. Also on the other FWD. Used a portion of the sign so I could still see out of the windows.

 

[PeterK]

Not local, but maybe this will help some. Also on the other FWD. Used a portion of the sign so I could still see out of the windows.

Thank you, @Gwgan - looks great!

 

[Pollux]

So I'm scanning through various threads, eager to jump on any question that pops up, and in the absence of a question, I figured I'd show you this: Some of the staff that makes things happen.

Left-to-right: Jamie, Communications Director; Gwen, Communications Fellow; Liz, I forget her title, but she turns out to be the single best person in the entire organization (there are more squirming around this floor and others) for producing perforations, as each ticket is hand-perforated before being printed and given to the purchaser or stored; and Michael, Executive Director. This room is on the third floor of Old West Church, 131 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA. CXC and its partner CABA (Climate Action Business Association) have the second and third floors, some kind of bat-in-the-belfry room that is the fourth floor where Michael exiles himself for phone calls so he doesn't bother everyone else, plus shared use of the first floor.

 

[Pollux]

Not local, but maybe this will help some. Also on the other FWD. Used a portion of the sign so I could still see out of the windows.

Wow, that looks so great! Dare I even say... elegant! THANKS!

 

[Pollux]

Folks,

Quick question: anyone out there interested in putting decals on their cars for the 2017 raffle? They go on the sides or rear of your car; no harm to car; they advertise the raffle.

Can't mail these things, we think that's a federal felony. So we're taking advantage of pony express-style opportunities. In this case, my wife, Jessica, is driving up to Boston today for some meetings Friday through Monday for Climate XChange, Climate Action Business Association, and maybe some other stuff.

I'm sending this mail out way late, so she's already on her way -- into Connecticut by now.

She's following a typical route, US 95 then I think US 84 up through Connecticut to Massachusetts, and then US 90 East into MA. She'll reverse that route sometime Monday afternoon and/or Tuesday morning.

If you are interested in meeting up with her along the way and getting some decals, please let me know ASAP! Could be today, could be Monday/Tuesday.

Also, if you are around Boston, and willing to come into Climate XChange Headquarters (Old West Church, 131 Cambridge Street, Boston), let me know so we can work out a time.

As for what it looks like....

The decal, as developed by @PeterK (the handsome, labeled one is @PeterK, the other one is some guy who wandered in for a free beer):

The decal, on the side of @PeterK's X:

The decal can also be cut into strips, for the rear bumper, which may be best of all, as the people following you will be constantly reminded. I'd post a picture of that, too, but I'm short on time and would have to go edit the picture to blur the license plate. Bad enough that I'm using a pic of @PeterK's car *before* I ask him, don't want to add license plate rudeness on top of that!

Thanks for reading all this!

Alan

 

[PeterK]

I'm not particularly worried about my license plate but managed to cover it up.