CarX Auto Service Will Change Your Oil, Give You A Puppy
Kari sent us this photo she took last night in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. We'll give them points for finding a unique promotional angle, but we wonder if they saw sales increase or drop off? Update: is it legal to give away animals as a store promotion?
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Comments:
Meh. So business is going to the dogs in the current economy?
must be a way to drum up some controversy in order to get there name out. Animal rights will be all over this.
That can't be real. It doesn't make any sense. I wonder if someone pranked their signage.
In all honest, it's probably a plush animal.
dogs are generally fairly expensive, so "any purchase"... so if I buy the cheapest item there, I get a baby canine that might be worth three, four times that?
I don't see an issue here. So the shop owners dog had a litter of pups. He doesn't want them obviously. Why not advertise your company and take care of a personal problem at the same time? At least he's trying to find homes for the pups instead of leaving them at the pound where there probably gonna be put down if they don't get a home. If I was him I'd probably do that or something similar.
Sounds like the owner was trying to get rid of puppies - way more likely for someone to take one if its free with purchase than free.
Having lived in Tennessee and rural Mississippi all my life, this doesn't really shock me. I've been in at least two or three backwoods gas station/bait shop/garages with puppies just free for the taking. They'd usually let you take the mother as well, if you asked. AND they didn't even make you buy anything. =}
Maybe he should get the dog fixed?
Animals are property, and can be given away as a promotion like any other property (Unless there is a law specifically against that, natch). But the thing is, how often does that happen that there would be a cause to legislate it? How close would the government get to interfering with personal property rights to decide to who and when and how someone can give away their property, short of maltreatment of the animal? To damn far on the wrong side.
Disclaimer: I am an animal lover, but a realist. There's a different between ideal, and what is real in regards to laws.
I'm down for an oil change, but only if it's one of those Shiba Inu pups... those little buggers are damn cute.
@jwissick: Really?
First thing I said upon seeing it was "awesome".
I don't see any problem with this.
The Owner or Employee's dogs had some puppies.
They can't take care of them all, so, they're giving them away.
Puppies get a new home.
Let us hope that this is some kind of gimmick and it is a toy puppy or something like that and not a real one. It would be immoral and just plain sick for a store to give away a puppy with a purchase. We have an obligation to do everything within our power to ensure that any animals we need to give away will go to a responsible and caring home.
@brent_r: You have no idea what the puppies are getting. Animal testing laboratories routinely comb ads for free animals and you never know if that person you gave the animal to will abuse it. If you are the guardian of an animal you have an obligation to try to find a good home for that animals babies. Purchasing an oil change does not guarantee a good home by any stretch of the imagination. This is a sick promotion.
Think tongue in cheek here peeps. Get your animal rights undies out of a bundle. Even if he is giving away puppies, what makes you think he is not qualifying his new owners? More than likely, this poor guy is frustrated with the lack of business lately and other economic woes. Everybody loves puppies - he is probably trying to get some attention. If you are not from WI or the Midwest, you may not be familiar with the dry wit and take everything with a grain of salt attitude. It's funny, not criminal.
Though I personally think that's a unique and interesting promotion, and also find it pretty funny, I know there are going to be people out there who will strongly disagree with my opinion.
This is going to get really bad...
While driving to work one day, I saw a hand-written sign on the side of the road that said:
"Kittens for Sale - $20"
I laughed the whole rest of the way to work!
:-D
Stuffed Puppies?
Texaco was giving away Tigers when I was a kid. Stuffed Tigers. I didn't understand the difference and was major disappointed when my Tiger didn't growl and purr.
@EdaDiores: I don't think these hypothetical puppies are necessarily better off with random people getting service on their car than at the pound. At a shelter they'd at least be vaccinated, spayed/neutered, their potential owners would have to go through some kind of screening process to insure that they're able to take proper care of them and many shelters and rescue organizations offer to take back any pets in the future if for some reason down the line you can no longer take care of them. Somehow I doubt Mr. CarX up there would take as to kindly to puppies being returned to his store after someone impulsively took one home after their last tune-up without consulting their spouse/roommate/parents or realizing how much work, time and money they cost. Plus, when someone gives away an animal for "free," there are all kinds of horrible places they could potentially end up (labs, dog fighting, someone's dinner?!). I think it's one thing to give away complimentary items to bring customers in, but it's shady when you're dealing with living, sentient beings.
However, I'm betting (hoping) that this more than likely isn't real anyway (or perhaps is a promotion with stuffed puppies, as previously mentioned).@EdaDiores:
@silver-bolt: Not in Boulder; Berkeley; West Hollywood; Rhode Island; Sherwood, AR; Menomonee Falls, WI; Amherst, MA; Woodstock, NY; San Francisco; Marin County, CA; Sebastopol, CA; Wanaque, NJ; Windsor, ON; Albany, CA; St. Louis; Bloomington, IN; Santa Clara County, CA; Imperial Beach, CA, or San Jose, CA.
There, people are considered 'Animal Guardians', not owners.
I'm picking it's a soft toy puppy too. Unless they have one of those ghastly puppy mills, they would run out pretty quick.
Puppies can be used as positive or negative motivators. Like at this Seattle restaurant I visited recently:
I don't understand why people are getting so upset over this. I see signs all the time advertising free puppies or kittens. What's the difference if somone is giving them away with purcahse?
Hell it might be even better, at least you would know the person has enough money to have their car serviced.
maybe it is a promotion with the local humane society, where they waive the adoption fee or something.
This reminds me, I need to get an oil change AND get my dog spayed.
Thanks, Consumerist!
@GoVegan: There are far more puppies and kittens than potential owners out there. Having your animals Spayed and Neutered (thanks Bob Barker) is the greater responsibility.
If a store manager has a litter of puppies to get rid of this probably beats tossing a sack of them into the river, turning them loose in a forest preserve or using them for batting practice (I know these are terrible things - they're also alternatives that people use when they're saddled with unwanted animals). I imagine that you'd actually probably get people who wanted pets accepting these.
The service station probably had an employee or owner who had some puppies to give away. I get the feeling that to get a puppy you probably didn't even have to get the oil change. Methinks you could have just asked for one of the cute little buggers.
@GoVegan: Thank you for the early morning laugh.
The mental picture of big ebil testing labs sending people out posing as ordinary folks interested in adopting pets to get their testing stock is pretty chuckleworthy.
Why, exactly, is it so wrong for someone to give away a free puppy with purchase?
People give away free dogs all the time, if their dog has a litter. So this business man is trying to give them away, and just happens to be the owner of a large sign on a major road, giving him much better odds he'll actually get rid of all the puppies and not have any left behind that he doesn't want/can't take care of.
Perhaps you'd all rather he gave them to a shelter where they could be euthanized if they weren't adopted expediently?
Where in Oak Creek was this particular station? I have a friend that lives in the area that I want to go check out what the scoop is on this story.
Yeah I think it is legal to give away free puppies...although as a responsible pet owner, I would never give my puppies to someone who'd be willing to go to a repair shop that gives away puppies:0 Also...are there legal issues resulting from them running out of puppies? What if I want my free puppy with purchase and they're all gone? Or what if I get one and it's defective...
OMGPUPPIEZ!!!11!
Seriously though, I can see both sides of it. Is this any different than someone giving away puppies via the newspaper classifieds? On the other hand, is this an ethical way to drum up business?
@Jaynor: It just the idea of getting a free puppy with purchase that doesn't seem right. If the owner of the sign were to put something like "puppies available for a great home" it would be much better. This sign makes it seem like you are entitled to a puppy upon purchase. As terrible as they are, most animal shelters do have a screening process in order to adopt an animal. A good shelter will also ensure that the puppies guardian will get the puppy shots and have it spayed or neutered within a certain period of time. I do see a lot of "no kill" animal shelters now but they seem to have their problems as well. I agree that Bob Barker has done a lot of work to get people to care for their animals and he should be commended.
Yes it's legal. But don't you think it might be easier to get rid of the unwanted puppies by just making them free without any purchase required like millions of people do all over the world every day? He's probably got some horrendous puppy mill operating somewhere and he uses the poor things to lure in business. Great thing to do in this day and age when animals in shelters are being put down - 1 every 7 seconds.
@Real Cheese Flavor (et al): Well, whether or not it's a testing lab (which is a little out there), when you give an animal to a random person without checking them out, you're putting the animal in danger.
GoVegan has a point, though (s)he didn't really need to color it with the "evil lab" angle...people are crappy enough without making up nefarious scientists.
@jwissick: What if they're giving away free plush toy puppies? Have you stopped in to ask? Or just assuming that the sign means "live" puppies?
@EdaDiores: Because its irresponsible. You don't hand off puppies to whoever walks into your shop.
At least, not if you care for them in the slightest.
@bastion72: People are too stupid for that. "It shows the kids how life is made!" and all that shit.
I wish I could find everyone who irresponsibly breeds their animals and shove THEM in a 2x2 stainless steel cage for a week and let them see how it feels.
@Jaynor: They may "want" a puppy (who doesn't!) but that doesn't ensure they're adequately equipped to OWN one.
There's a difference, and most adoption centers and shelters will "vet" the owners before letting them take a pet home.
It's supposed to be a Forever Home, not "this puppy grew up into a dog and now I don't like it Mamma!"
@KStrike155: I get upset with those too because 1) it means they were irresponsible and didn't get their animal fixed and 2) they're just unilaterally handing them out to whoever comes up to them.
Both cases, bad outcome for kitties.
could they have meant a free slush puppy?! gas stations are the only place that i know of that have them...
As someone else already said, animals are property and can be given away in any way the owner sees fit. This is no different than giving away animals by putting an ad in the paper. Almost all people who put out an ad just hand over the animal and don't do a "screening" or "background check" or any of that other nonsense.
@jwissick: I dont think the promotion or article is a problem, but you'd think the Consumerist would learn about even mentioning dogs after this backlash...
Not cool.