By dangling the promise of free books, free software and free computers in front of schools, UK businesses have persuaded parents, pupils and teachers to collect any product with a token on it. Tiny’s Free PCs for Schools is the latest such campaign, and multimedia PCs worth pound;600 are the prize. Customers buying a full-price home PC from Tiny receive a voucher which they pass on to a school of their choice. Schools need to register with Tiny and once they have 20 vouchrs, they can claim their free PC. Of course, it’s unlikely that 20 parents from one school will rush out to buy a PC from Tiny, so it’s worth sweet-talking a local store manager into displaying a collection box. There’s no limit on the number of PCs a school can claim, but Tiny is aiming to give away 20,000 units - so that’s 400,000 vouchers to start collecting. To sign up, call the helpline on 0800 072 8998 or visit the website at www.tiny.comukschools.
