Foursquare = free wine

A few months ago I started using Foursquare for two reasons: I wanted to see what it was about, and I wanted to become the mayor of the jail. I met those goals within two days, since my job at the time had me at the police station every day. When I’m not annoyed at Foursquare’s GPS failures, I’m still using it for two other reasons: It’s a handy way to remember where I went, and I can get FREE STUFF!

Seriously, FREE STUFF! As in, chips and salsa from Chili’s restaurant! I grew up learning to pinch pennies. We had one winter where we lived on potatoes and oatmeal, and I still distinctly remember being 10 years old and it was a huge splurge to buy me two sundresses that were on sale for $5 each. Now, I balance cost-cutting measures with the fact that you only live once. If I want to go out to eat, I will. If my coffeemaker dies, as it did last week, I’ll spend a few more bucks to get one that I know will make me happy.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I heard through Twitter that the Lodi Winegrape Commission was looking for Foursquare users to promote their First Sip wine event. So I got in touch with them, and it turned out that if I took fliers and posters to a bunch of businesses in Stockton, I could score two free tickets that would have cost $35 each. I was game, so I spent two hours and about two gallons of gas delivering the brochures. The marketing director could track me on Foursquare as I checked in at each business, which I think is a pretty cool use of Foursqure.

This weekend was the wine event. I took my friend Deanne, and we sweet-talked her fiance into being our designated driver. Drivers got free food at each stop, so we didn’t have to beg him too hard. About 30 wineries were participating and we couldn’t get to all of them, so I Photoshopped the event map, drawing a route that included wineries that had the most promising food options. Saturday we headed out, and we met the goal of wine before noon:

Five hours later, we’d tasted our way through Lodi. They were pouring quite generously, Lodi wine has about 14 percent alcohol, and I didn’t have enough to eat that day. So the evening became a blur… But here is the other way that Foursquare comes in handy. I did check in every place I went, so later I went back and looked: In five hours, we stopped at nine places, two of which were pouring from multiple wineries. Not bad for one day! Our last stop was at a sushi place where we got happy hour prices.

Conclusion: Foursquare has its uses, and hey, it’s free. Also, Lodi sure has a lot of wine.

Here are a few more pictures of the day:

They either gave out huge wine glasses or tiny water bottles.
Winery meets cemetery, with fall colors -- aka, a perfect trifecta in my book.

Who parked my Lamborghini at this winery??
Some crazy guy named Voodoo, Deanne the coolest chick ever, and me. OK, so the crazy guy was our awesome driver.

3 Responses to Foursquare = free wine

  1. We had such a great time! And by coolest I am assuming you mean weirdest!?! hehe Fun times!

  2. That is so awesome on so many fronts!
    I lost my job a few years ago and since then we’ve also been on the ‘save money’ tip.
    I’ve gotten free glasses, buy one get one free burritos, and free gym stuff in the last two weeks simply by keeping an eye out. Mrs. G is a crazy sales finder and is contemplating making a blog about it, I’ll let you know if she gets it off the ground :)
    PS Do any mayors become actual mayors of their town on 4sq? I’ve always wondered about that…

    • I have yet to use the free chips and salsa at Chili’s, but I love that deal. Payless Shoes has something like a $5 discount, as does Radio Shack. I’ve heard that Starbucks mayors get something, but I don’t know how that works.

      And I’m the mayor of Lathrop, CA, but I have no intention of running for office!