10 things you might not know or would be surprised to learn about PCH!
Warm greetings, my friends!
As we’re all waiting for our Prize Patrol’s next big “hit” — delivering a guaranteed $5,000 A Week For Life to our next big winner — I thought it would be fun to share things you might not know or would be surprised to learn about PCH. After all, if the PCH Prize Patrol visits YOU on August 30th, you’d join the PCH family of winners.
DID YOU KNOW THAT …
1. It all began 66 years ago, in Mr. Mertz’s basement!
Back in 1953, a manager for a door-to-door magazine sales team got the notion to sell subscriptions by mail. With help from his wife LuEsther and daughter Joyce, Harold Mertz sent out 10,000 envelopes in his first mailing. The rest is PCH history!
2. A ’50s TV show was the inspiration for the PCH Prize Patrol!
The PCH Prize Patrol’s “founding members,” Dave Sayer and Todd Sloane, remembered the old TV series “The Millionaire,” which told tales of everyday people receiving $1,000,000 checks from an unknown benefactor. How cool would it be, thought Dave and Todd, to deliver Big Checks all over the map, surprising real-live winners at their front doors!
3. 40% of PCH’s profits benefit charities!
That big chunk of annual profits goes toward funds established by our founders, Harold and LuEsther Mertz, providing grants and funding for everything from cultural and educational institutions to causes like human rights and the environment.
PLUS! PCH employees also have a passion for giving back — lending an arm at our frequent blood drives and a hand at soup kitchens, helping at pet rescue “adop-a-thons,” delivering food and household supplies to shelters, writing holiday cards to veterans … and that’s just for starters!
4. PCH awards a gazillion FREE prizes … all year round!
You’ve likely seen TV commercials for our huge SuperPrizes — like the $5,000 A Year For Life prize we GUARANTEE to award on August 30th (you’re firing up entries for THAT every day, aren’t you??).
But that’s just the tip of the “prize-berg” – PCH has a new winner every 5 minutes, of gift cards, brand name appliances and LOTS of prize checks, ranging from $10, $100 and $1,000 all the way up to $100,000 and beyond. Check out our Winners Page to get an idea of how much Publishers Clearing House gives away all the time … an astounding $436,000,000.00 in prizes so far.
5. Our winners’ visits are the Main Event at PCH!
Nothing gets me and my PCH “homies” more excited than when our SuperPrize winners and their families come out to the New York office for a visit — we’re like fans at a movie opening! We crowd into the dining room to catch a glimpse, snap photos and applaud … and then we watch our visitor’s “Winning Moment” video, clapping and laughing and getting a little teary. Seeing PCH winners’ good fortune and happiness is what it’s all about around here.
6. Did we ever tell you about “Freebie Friday”!
Time was that, whenever our product buyers’ sample rooms got full-to-bursting, all the excess samples were laid out in the dining room, and PCHers charged in, having a blast cramming all that cool free stuff into our official “Freebie Friday” bags. It was fun while it lasted — but we’re happy that now, some of our excess inventory is donated to local shelters and soup kitchens.
7. “Ordinary” PCH employees delivered Big Checks as Prize Patrol “deputies”!
PCH sent lots of us out on a Prize Patrol Blitz, where everyday employees like me got the chance to drive the PCH van, pick up roses, balloons and champagne and deliver “Big Checks” to real-live winners all over the country. It was such a thrill I’ll never forget it, surprising wonderful people at home, in a classroom, at a pecan farm and even an IRS office — also visiting a local hospital’s E.R. after I slammed the Prize Patrol van door on my finger!
8. PCHers love to have fun!
We all look forward to our annual Holiday Party where we dance, socialize and even “spin the wheel” to go for employee prizes. We love lacing up our sneakers to join in the annual Workplace Challenge, running and walking to raise money for local charities … and it’s fun to sip cocoa, nibble cookies and listen to carols while wrapping holiday gifts for needy youngsters.
9. Our Prize Patrol goes EVERYWHERE!
They’ve delivered big free prizes to folks in apartments, offices, mobile homes, farmhouses, schoolrooms, big cities, small towns — even on an airplane and a boat! They travel north to Maine, south to Florida, west to Los Angeles, east to New Jersey — and everywhere in between. If you win one of our big prizes, our Prize Patrol WILL find you, no matter what.
10. All our PCH Blogs are inspired by what YOU tell us!
We read ALL the comments readers post for our blogs – and get great ideas for new ones. You educate and inspire us all the time, telling us what motivates you to enter to win sharing ways you’d use the prize money if you won.
I’ve enjoyed sharing fun facts on things you might not know or would be surprised to learn about PCH. (It also reminded me of what an awesome company I’m lucky enough to work for!)
But here’s one thing I hope you ALREADY know: some lucky someone is going to win $5.000 A Week For Life guaranteed, cross my heart and hope to die. And if you want that happy winner to be YOU, you’ve got to enter to win this lifetime fortune every day like there’s no tomorrow. Then, you can become part of PCH’s 66-year history, joining our happy family of Big Winners.
Enter NOW, okay?
Marybeth @ Publishers Clearing House
