The End of Coca-Cola and Pepsi: Or At Least the End of Their Rewards Programs

Coca-Cola has been running their My Coke Rewards promotion for quite some time, and just recently Pepsi-Cola has taken a page out of their book with their own program called Pepsi Stuff. Each of these programs worked the same, where drinkers of each beverage were rewarded in the form of points which were printed underneath bottle caps and on the inside of cardboard containers of the product. These points could later be redeemed through special websites for some great prizes. But unfortunately for both Coke and Pepsi drinkers alike, both companies are ending their programs very shortly.

My Coke Rewards was started in 2006, and over one million prizes had been claimed by the end of that year alone. They have advertised the cancellation of their program several times in the past, but to date they have always extended the deadline - right now it is set at January 31, 2009. Regular users of Coca-Cola products are sure that this will be the end of their rewards program, however, as people are finding new packaging that do not contain they codes printed on them like usual.

Pepsi Stuff has been around for quite a while actually in one form or another, but in this article we are solely talking about the latest installment of their rewards program, which started in February of 2008 and is set to end on 12/31/08. While they did not feature as vast of a selection as Coca-Cola did with their rewards program, the Pepsi Stuff promotion still had some great offers in the form of DVDs, electronics, apparel, downloadable MP3s and more.

In addition to being able to redeem points for prizes on both of these sites, both the Coca-Cola My Coke Rewards program and the Pepsi Stuff program allow users to enter their points into various types of sweepstakes and drawings, some of which offer some fantastic prizes and even cold hard cash.

If you were one who participated in either or both of these programs, you are probably pretty disheartened by the news. And if you never got to take advantage, you are definitely running out of time and may very well be too late. Unless the programs decide to extend their promotional period, which at this point in time doesn't look very likely, we are all going to have to go back to drinking Coke and Pepsi products without gaining anything in return. But who knows what the future may hold in the way of rewards programs, not only for Coke and Pepsi but for any company out there - these kinds of programs are becoming more and more commonplace nowadays, and it won't be hard for you to find one to fill the void left after these two close down.