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Hack: Identification of Winning Cadbury Medium Bars for Score a Freebie Bars Promotion

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Hack: Identification of Winning Cadbury Medium Bars for Score a Freebie Bars Promotion
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Lfleetoiler on 07/10/2010 - 23:07 files.ozbargain.com.au (27151 clicks)
Last edited 12/10/2010 - 15:12

This hack* is to do with identifying which of the 1-in-5 bars is a winning wrapper (or not) for the Cadbury "Score a Freebie Bars Promotion" that expires at the end of this month. Get in quick before all the promo bars are replaced with new stock!

Update: This deal/hack/promo has been just a tad popular (gee, thanks everyone!) and it may well be that all of the winning bars have already been taken at your local store. It has been reported in the comments that some of the larger stores/chains have either stopped redeeming bars or taken promo bars off the shelves entirely so you might have more luck at smaller chains or service stations.

This works for pretty much the whole range of medium bars, in approximate order of easiest-to-identify-to-hardest:
40g TimeOut
52g Cherry Ripe
50g Crunchie
46g Picnic
39g Twirl**
60g Boost**

ONLY the winning wrappers have a barcode printed on them on the inside of the wrapper. This barcode can be identified on the outside of the wrapper by looking for VERY slight indentations as in the attached scan (a thin red square has been drawn around where you should be looking). Reflect the bright store lights off the wrapper and if you are lucky the indentations will be visible in approximately the same place.

You have to buy your first bar (which are on special/clearance at the moment at most major supermarkets), but after that in theory you can redeem the winning wrapper for another winner carefully selected by yourself, ad infinitum.

As far as I can tell, posting this does not invalidate or contravene the terms and conditions of the promotion:
http://www.cadbury.com.au/Competition/Score-a-Freebie-Bars-P…

Enjoy!

*There was only a "Freebie" tick-box when submitting the deal, so I ticked that. If there was a "Life Hack" or "Other" tick-box I would have ticked it when creating the deal, my apologies to all the Captain Literals out there who have said this is not technically a bargain, they are probably right ;)

**Twirl and Boost are harder to identify unless you know exactly what to look for and have a really good eye.

Groceries Barcode Boost Cadbury Chocolate Confectionery Crunchie Picnic Timeout Twirl

Related Stores

Cadbury
Cadbury

closed Comments

    • furythree on 09/10/2010 - 02:55
      +3

      i never realised how important packaging was, to make chocolate appeal to me, until i saw that foto

      looks like bags of poo lol :P

  • Spets on 09/10/2010 - 00:25

    I did look a bit suss standing there sorting through Timeout bars, but what do you know, got a winner!

  • Adamiam on 09/10/2010 - 00:59

    This deal is great for us ozbargainers and all, but I do feel sorry for those who are unaware of this "hack", as they are buying the chocolate bars thinking they have a 1 in 5 chance of winning another, when really their chances have now been severely shortened.
    This all said, I did try it out today (successfully) and it was great, but won't be going for too many chocolate bars.
    Spread the love :P

  • samillence on 09/10/2010 - 02:06
    +4

    Absolutely fantastic! :D

    I found that Twirl wasn't that hard as the OP said. Just look the the top right point of the 'T' and you should be able to easily see the barcode if there is any. Myself, I pigged out on the Picnic and Boost as I found them easy. Just look for a thin line above the 'BO' in Boost, and look for the barcode in the reflection of 'PI' in picnic.

  • stirlo on 09/10/2010 - 02:18
    -1

    I foresee a massive Ozbargain who can get the most free bars competition!!! I got another dozen or so today adding to what I got the other night that makes about 55-60 :) I'll try again tomorrow :)

  • cheng2008 on 09/10/2010 - 03:06

    geez, leave some for me, some dude cleaned out my entire supermarket, dammit.

  • POWERevolution on 09/10/2010 - 03:27

    No luck…So hard…I can't tell with my normal eyes :(

  • EnALup on 09/10/2010 - 06:30

    Ohhhh. Top deal of the month. 300+ +ves

    • chansthename on 09/10/2010 - 10:44

      Actually I think it is of all time

      • stirlo on 09/10/2010 - 13:35

        Nah top of all time is the free photo mug with free shipping, It got 460+

  • [Deactivated] on 09/10/2010 - 09:01

    has anyone cleared out the geelong region yet?

  • ZaFrOoNaLdO on 09/10/2010 - 09:33

    for those people who got like 20 choc bars, u have to keep redeeming choc bars 20 times??

  • [Deactivated] on 09/10/2010 - 09:37
    +5

    Why do people value chocolate bars so much?

  • shalashaska on 09/10/2010 - 11:08
    +4

    This hack is a repeat of the same promotion back in 1999 when cadbury had the same "free bar" deal. The supermarkets soon wised up to this, and as a result, they said all free wrapper redemptions were to be made at the service counter. The service counter representative then handed you a random bar. The days of picking your own bar were over…

    • SomeGuyOnOzB on 09/10/2010 - 11:42

      Interesting … wonder why they didn't learn from that promotion to improve the printing etc.

      • shalashaska on 09/10/2010 - 14:52
        +1

        given there is a set number of free bars, i dont think they really care to be honest. I mean there are still going to be X amount of people who will just buy a bar and hope for the best.

        • Ishadeon on 09/10/2010 - 15:37

          plus their sales just went up with the same number of free bars.I certainly would not have bought it otherwise

  • IgnitionS15 on 09/10/2010 - 13:34

    Bro is this like Charlie and the Chocolate factory?

    • slix_88 on 09/10/2010 - 21:27
      +2

      Nah bro

  • bratgirl on 09/10/2010 - 13:41

    I had a quick look at our supermarket this morning, but only the picnic bars had the promotion labels and I ratted through a dozen or so of them but couldn't detect any winners. Guess the odds weren't in my favour!

  • ofey on 09/10/2010 - 13:42

    Wonderful! Tried this today and spent about A$5 and got 5 free bars. Those 5 bars have now got another 5 free bars.

    All of you should remember that you need to collect your free bars by 31 Oct 2010.

  • ang911 on 09/10/2010 - 13:51
    +1

    Nice! My local only has picnics and boosts left with the promo but only took me about 2 minutes to find 10 winning Picnic bars! Awesome post!!

    • Chivalry on 09/10/2010 - 19:48

      damn wish my local had Boost. =(

      its only got cherry ripe and time out.

  • mister_snrub on 09/10/2010 - 13:56

    Was shopping at my local Coles (in Randwick) yesterday and thought I'd check out the chocolate isle on the way back to the checkout.

    I had a look through a few bars but then decided I couldn't be bothered (and I had frozen food that wanted to get home).

    But the funny thing was the pile of bars that someone had been placing on the top shelf; obviously discarded ones that they didn't want to have to recheck.

    • junior_thrift on 10/10/2010 - 11:14

      "My name is Mr Snrub"… lol gotta love The Simpsons

  • chloden on 09/10/2010 - 14:49

    Did anyone raid Coles and Safeway at Endeavour Hills? I was there last night and could not find one, the chocolates were already a bit messed up so I am guessing someone may have beaten me to it.

  • Livert on 09/10/2010 - 16:56

    LOL. Can't believe I missed this (damn night shifts). I'm sure Cadbury staff are reading all this. Any comments fellas?

  • iroamrm on 09/10/2010 - 17:33
    +3

    I was at Carindale Woolies in Brisbane today and was stalked by a Woolworths guy. He even followed me out of the store which was annoying as I was going to go across the way and get more at IGA!

    Got out with 6 free ones though so all good.

  • chichi on 09/10/2010 - 19:27
    -8

    Neg from me. There is something so very wrong with this.

    • portmac on 09/10/2010 - 19:31
      +1

      I can tell you what's wrong, there are no winning bars left on the shelves of any woolworths supermarket because of this post!

      PS….Only 100 more positives before this deal becomes the all time most rewarded. Current leader on 460 is the free coffee mug back in May: http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/25589 .

    • [Deactivated] on 09/10/2010 - 20:21

      Yeah but I doubt a mod will let you keep that neg with that plain reason!

    • Quppa on 09/10/2010 - 23:52

      If this deal had been posted towards the beginning of the 'competition', I might agree with you, but the fact is that there is barely any of the old stock left in stores, so in practice this will affect very few people.

  • cwongtech on 09/10/2010 - 19:28

    Chatswood's stores have no old stock =[

  • G5 on 09/10/2010 - 22:06

    http://yfrog.com/n1barsrj

    Went through two boxes of Boosts as well, but the checkout chick in Coles caught on and wouldn't let us keep them.
    Weighed the boxes and it was almost exactly 5kg:1kg, which means that it's actually 1 in 6 wins… haha.

  • bargainfreebiewhore on 09/10/2010 - 22:19
    +1

    ^^^ Haha you conveniently placed all your winnings on a dinner plate as if it's your dinner for the night. :p

    I stopped at 3-4 time out bars cos I ran out of new faces behind the express check-out lanes and didn't want them recognizing me lol. That and I don't like time out very much either. I wanted boost but I couldn't detect the barcode. :( Ah well, I'm still grateful - thanks for sharing your awesome find fleetoiler! You've certainly taken being observant to new heights.. what a pair of eyes. I hope this is the beginning of more hacks to come! Fail to the companies for being outplayed.

    • G5 on 10/10/2010 - 00:01

      Boost were easy, Picnics were hard but they suck anyway :P

  • leiiv on 09/10/2010 - 23:43

    You need to look carefully under the light at the right angle. How did you find this out in the first place??

  • Quppa on 10/10/2010 - 00:28
    +2

    Out of interest, how did the people behind the register react for everyone else?

    The guys at my local 7/11 thought the whole situation was hilarious and wanted to know the secret (I told them and gave them the last free wrapper), but the shopkeeper at a nearby milkbar wasn't as impressed and made me stop after I got a few in a row :( (So I took my business to another store - the girl there was much friendlier (and cute :P))

    • G5 on 10/10/2010 - 02:06
      +1

      We did it at Woolies first. The guy thought it was funny and I'm pretty sure he said he was going to keep the wrappers for himself…

      Coles were less understanding and the girl on the counter said she would have to call the manager. At that point we started giving the winning bars to the customers in the express checkout queue :D

  • StewBalls on 10/10/2010 - 02:45
    +6

    I'm officially +ing this deal, it's only fair coz I went & got one bar myself tonight! :)

    The missus had a rough day at work so I'm giving it to her to cheer her up! She'll be tickled pink to think she's actually "won" something, she's unaware of the shady nature of the deal! :p

    For anyone in the Newcastle area, Woolies Glendale had HEAPS of Timeout bars! I identified at least half a dozen in 2 minutes flat, put all but the one I wanted back though; catch & release! ;)

    • chansthename on 10/10/2010 - 10:22
      +3

      tagging bars to see the population levels in the wild?

      good on you, you eco-chocolate-conservationist

      • StewBalls on 10/10/2010 - 10:52
        +3

        Lol, yeah they're such a majestic beast I couldn't bear to see them hunted to extinction before future generations of OzBargainers had a chance to see them in their native habitat! :)

    • Mossy on 10/10/2010 - 13:04
      +1

      LOL thanks for the tip StewBalls! I'm checkin out Charlie Square Woolies tonight. Hopefully they have the "more than 50% off" bender still runnin too :-)

  • chriz on 10/10/2010 - 08:13
    +1

    I checked out 7/11 while i was there. Either someone had cleared them out or I couldn't tell the difference.

    • chansthename on 10/10/2010 - 16:10
      +1

      only my local K-mart had them with the offer and I can't tell the difference or there aren't any left, on top of that there were only about 2 cherry ripes and a few picnics, nothing else

  • matthewjw on 10/10/2010 - 09:15
    +3

    I had the woolies check out guy hand me back the winner wrapper after he had scanned it - double bonus!

    • Chivalry on 11/10/2010 - 10:51

      does it still work once its been scanned? =O

      • matthewjw on 11/10/2010 - 13:07

        They are all the same and can be used time and again - if they let you - but the shop has to keep the wrapper to claim back from cadbury.

        • Chivalry on 11/10/2010 - 15:44

          Lol really, thanks mate, my local woolies all want to give it back to me! and i just said can you guys throw it out for me…

  • dmtdude on 10/10/2010 - 17:51

    Well they still have timeout bars at the safeway near me. Picked-up 3 winner today.

  • ang911 on 10/10/2010 - 18:16
    +2

    Aww I wish they had timeout bars with the promo near me…still going strong on the picnics here though lol

    • dmtdude on 10/10/2010 - 18:44
      +1

      I'd much rather picnics :(

  • ComfortablyNumb on 10/10/2010 - 21:08

    Kmart in Belconnen removed all cadbury bars from their shelves! =)

  • wilddude503 on 10/10/2010 - 21:24

    won about 20 timeout bars at work today haha, shared with the boss n other staff

  • ZaFrOoNaLdO on 10/10/2010 - 23:56

    i bought 1 timeout today and i got it right. claimed for a boost at the same store, pick another winning one.. as i walk, saw another 7/11 and get another one. so bought 1 timeout, get 2 free boost, so far! :D

    • Chivalry on 11/10/2010 - 10:51

      wow they let you claim other chocolates? i thought the wrapper only lets u win the same chocolate. =(

      • matthewjw on 11/10/2010 - 13:11

        Some stores / checkout operators will turn a blind eye. Technically its a no no but price is the same so a little negotiation generally does the trick.

        • ZaFrOoNaLdO on 11/10/2010 - 15:07

          yeah.. i asked the woolies person whether I can claim a boost, then he said he can try scanning the barcode to see if it goes thru.. and it did.. :)

  • BigglezThePigglez on 11/10/2010 - 00:49

    Today i have gotten about 20 bars. Cant believe how guilty i feel though!

    • dmtdude on 11/10/2010 - 01:45
      +1

      Yeah I know what you mean… eating soooo much chocolate makes you feel guilty coz you should be eating something more healthy. :D

  • stralya on 11/10/2010 - 10:52
    +2

    Thanks to the OP. Hopefully this post inspires people to post more "legal" hacks.

  • pilchard on 11/10/2010 - 13:16

    i'm flying home to australia today to make the most of this!

  • Natt on 11/10/2010 - 13:50

    Quote : i’m flying home to australia today to make the most of this!

    Lol I am not back until the promotion ends, ;(

  • abacus on 11/10/2010 - 14:56
    -3

    Not in the spirit of ozbargain. Just because you can do something and get away with it, doesn't mean it's right.

  • thewinchester on 11/10/2010 - 15:24
    -8

    Not a deal - this is the posting of what could be termed "insider information", because it allows those of questionable morals to gain from a promotion in a way that wasn't intended by the company.

    Instant neg, and I think the poster should sit in the penalty box.

    • ImSmarterThanYou on 11/10/2010 - 17:18
      +8

      You fail at finance. Go back to first year commerce.

  • andy19363 on 11/10/2010 - 15:39
    +3

    I got another dozen or so today adding to what I got the other night that makes about 55-60

    excellent community spirit…..

    55 less for other ozbargainers to find

    I hope you're gonna eat them all……

    • ImSmarterThanYou on 11/10/2010 - 17:20

      I just tested with bout 12 bars. Planning on getting 500 before this month ends. These things don't expire. Preservatives + sugar = win.

      • Ishadeon on 14/10/2010 - 00:31

        good luck. new stock is already in most stores.

  • ImSmarterThanYou on 11/10/2010 - 17:21

    Is the barcode located in the same spot for Boost bars? Having trouble with them, as some appear to have indentations (as far as my friend and I could tell) yet weren't winners.

    Timeouts are very easy to identify. Can easily pickout winner in under 2 seconds.

  • anthony on 11/10/2010 - 18:41
    -1

    I was in Woolworths today at the self serve checkout and a person a few registers down was trying to exchange 1 wrapper for a free bar, the attendant came over as they were having difficulty and the customer was told that the store has received a memo and has been told that they are to no longer accept free wrappers and that the person should try a deli.

    The attendant did something to the checkout which cleared all the persons groceries which had been scanned so they needed to start again. The person sounded pretty upset when that happened!

    • boredrandom on 11/10/2010 - 19:53
      -1

      Yea I was at Safeway today too, and they said that they weren't honouring the deal anymore because they can't claim the money back from Cadbury… Something about the deal being expired ? Even though the date on the wrapper said Oct 31st…

      • StalkingIbis on 11/10/2010 - 23:12

        they told me the same thing. just go ot the self serve and scan the same wrapper 10 times. this is dishonest and i didnt do. but the manager was so rude to me ive thought about doing it. it wouldnt really get back at her in any way so i witheld my revenge.

  • [Deactivated] on 11/10/2010 - 21:05
    +7

    I work for BigW there was a message about this in our daily bulletin that comes from regional. We are to remove bars for the short term that contain the promo, and they will go back out when it ends. So thats every BigW store, and I presume Woolworths are obviously onto this even more so.

    So they are clearly onto it and dont want the media to get hold of this.

    • moooooooo on 11/10/2010 - 22:03
      +3

      I noticed Woolworths Coburg has only promo TimeOuts on Saturday but today the entire display had been thoroughly rummaged through and only losers were left. Were staff instructed to remove all bars or just the winners? I would have thought all bars would be removed - it would take too long to find just the winners, so that suggests a member of the public took the winners rather than paying Woolies staff to go through the entire display.

      There were still ~5-6 promo Boost, Picnic and Crunchie bars at every checkout still, in the "we put chocolates here so your kids scream at you and call you names if you don't buy them" section next to the conveyor belt. Obviously much harder to rummage through when you're only 2 feet from the checkout chick but some of us have no shame - no winners though.

    • SomeGuyOnOzB on 12/10/2010 - 15:47
      +2

      Hmm then they should be putting up signs to say there is no chance of winning since the business is invalidating the competition …

      and thanks for the info :)

  • lonewolf on 11/10/2010 - 21:52
    +2

    hmm which then sort of means that we have spoilt it for everyone? Even though I havent used the deal yet (would have liked to), I now feel a bit guilty having had the urge to try it out :).

    • SomeGuyOnOzB on 12/10/2010 - 15:50
      +2

      I wasn't planning to try it out myself, but I do think the businesses running the promotion have a definite responsibility to customers to identify:
      1- they aren't honouring the promotion despite selling the bars
      2- they have removed all the winning bars

      'cos they're still potentially reaping the rewards of what is now misinformation on their part.

      ie they are selling bars with an advertised 1 in 5 chance of winning when they believe they've reduced that chance to zero and even if people do win they won't honour the promotion

  • BobbySmithy on 11/10/2010 - 22:01

    Was at norwood, SA today and the was no stock at coles but heaps of timeouts at foodland. I couldn't tell with any of them… Did someone raid the entire Foodland Norwood or what? I looked at about a dozen bars, I even had my phone to compare the winning wrappers with the picture posted here… I ended up leaving because I looked really silly. Is it really as easy as you all say it is?

    • moooooooo on 11/10/2010 - 22:05
      +1

      TimeOuts, yes. I could never identify winners in any of the other product lines.

      • BigglezThePigglez on 11/10/2010 - 22:11
        +1

        Crunchies = the easiest to identifay

        • moooooooo on 11/10/2010 - 22:35

          Really? Either someone beat me to my local store and all of them were losers (possible, since there were not many of the promo stock left on the shelf) or else I was missing something obvious (more possible, unfortunately). A pity, since I love Crunchies and not so keen on TimeOuts.

  • BobbySmithy on 11/10/2010 - 22:06

    So cadbury found out about it and there telling all the supermarkets that they can't get the money back from the wrappers?

  • Trance N Dance on 11/10/2010 - 22:14

    whoah!!!!
    so what was the most positive votes for someone's first post again?
    only 200 or so till it beats those crazy deals from logitechshop at the begining of the year

    • anthony on 11/10/2010 - 23:43

      so what was the most positive votes for someone’s first post again?

      It is 460

    • theguyrules on 12/10/2010 - 14:52
      +6

      That's incredibly rude and offensive. Calling someone a … for trying to do her job and not get fired?

      mod stereo typing removed; personal attack removed

  • G5 on 12/10/2010 - 00:55
    +1

    Some idiot is trying to sell this info for $10 on eBay:

    http://cars2.ebay.com.au/Cadbury-Chocolate-Bars-WIN-FREE-BAR…

    Edit: Whoops, didn't know this was already mentioned

  • StewBalls on 12/10/2010 - 01:02
    +1

    Funny, I'm still seeing a lot of comments without votes either way, and some of those folks are actually expressing somewhat positive interest in the deal! :o

    Hey guys, if you liked it; whether you actually used it or not; do the right thing & "+" the deal! Lets see if it can get over the line!!! ;)

  • mizazn on 12/10/2010 - 01:35
    +9

    As good of a deal it is.. I just couldn't be f-cked. I realised I only take advantage of bargains when it arrives free on my doorstep, otherwise.. meh

    • Garyyy on 12/10/2010 - 23:34

      I totally agree with you.

  • dmtdude on 12/10/2010 - 16:15
    +2

    My safeway still accepts the wrappers and still has timeout bars :)

  • creeps_bay on 13/10/2010 - 11:12
    +1

    did anyone had a luck to try and crack this offer… i was unsuccessful… and considering the number of votes… would love to hear the shout of successful fellas

  • blkcar on 13/10/2010 - 11:15

    Better than the free choclate & the fun of the hunt is messing with the checkout chicks, "Do you have X-ray vision?" is a common one. I just wonder what would have happened if this was common knowledge at the start of the promotion.

  • chloden on 13/10/2010 - 12:56
    +2

    I can't get this at all. My husband has looked and he doesn't have a clue either. We think maybe our eye's are too old to see it! My 13 year old son however, picks them up and knows instantly. We have a fridge full of chocolate, but I think he is just loving that he can do this more than the chocolate. He has not really encountered any problems expect for the lady at Ritchies in Cranbourne that asked him if he was opening them and checking for winners, she even went over to check the shelf before redeeming the free chocolate for him. He seems to think that Time-out's are the easiest, but he has also managed to get picnic's, crunchie's and cherry ripe's.

    • cwongtech on 13/10/2010 - 13:32

      Cherry ripes are piss easy - All you gota do, is compare the left side of the wrapper, to the right side of the wrapper.
      If you see weird lines on the left, looks like.. horizontal rectangles, and you move to the right side of the wrapper, and the wrapper is smooth, there's your baby ;)

      • chloden on 13/10/2010 - 16:38
        +1

        Seriously, I am hopeless. I have studies those wrappers under every light in my house….I see nothing!

        • cwongtech on 13/10/2010 - 18:35

          Get your son to teach you, I dont know why anyone would neg your comment..

          • chloden on 13/10/2010 - 21:01
            +2

            @cwongtech: He has shown me, he can see it straight away, as soon as he picks one up he knows if it is a winner or not, I give up, he can just be my supplier, lol. As for the negative on my comment I think I am getting trolled because I noticed that another comment was also negged. I think that if you neg a comment it should show your user name. Or better still who ever you are just reply to this comment and tell the reason why.

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