The Prize is Right

Kurt Poppenhouse

Applied Automation January 1995

Some fortunate people fly planes, skydive, or paint for a hobby. Some collect bottle caps or matchbook covers. But only AAI can say we have a professional sweepstaker!

Howard Brecheisen has turned filling out 3 by 5 cards and sweepstakes entries into an art form.

"It is a nice hobby that has some benefits," said Howard who now considers himself a professional contest player with quite a few prizes.

Howard started entering contests back in college. He started with local contests. But, in 1985, he came across a monthly sweepstake newsletter. The newsletter did most of the work: what you had to have to enter the contests, what the rules were, and how long the contests ran.

So from 1985 through 1987, Howard and his wife, Joyce, became heavily involved in entering all types of contests. They began to win little things such as T-shirts, golf balls, and a bicycle. But, the prize that kept them going — the real big one — was a trip to the All-Star baseball game in Oakland. They had entered only twelve times.

Howard began to spend more time and money on his hobby. He studied professional sweepstaking videos and learned tips to increase his odds. He created a filing system in order to stagger the mailings of his entries. He has even used colored stationery wildly festooned with rainbows and flying unicorns–"they show up better in a pile of white envelopes," says Howard–and has mailed entries from different post offices, on different days, and in different ways!

"Some contests receive so many thousands of entries that they come from the post office in huge trays. Contest employees pull out only so many from each tray. These are the ones that get a chance in the final drawing."

In 1987, Howard and Joyce hit the jackpot and began winning top-drawer prizes such as color TVs, an Apple computer, a washing machine, jeans, and shopping sprees.

"There are cycles in sweepstaking," says Howard. "You could have a dry spell for maybe two years and then boom, boom."

In 1990, he won a trip to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii and, between December 1993 and December 1994 won a Las Vegas trip for eldest daughter, Sheryl, in addition to a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, and a fistful of weekend hotel stays. The really big prize was an all-expense paid week at Club Med in the Bahamas!

Howard doesn't chalk one up for luck or fate everytime he wins. He sees it as any other hobby. If you put enough time and effort into it, it’s bound to pay off.

Howard has been with the company since 1968. Currently he is Senior Staff Accountant in the Controllers Division.