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It's not a new trend for companies to offer contests to promote their products.

What's new is how they use consumers' easy access to the Web to make it simple for people to enter these giveaways and contests.

It seems everything from Stouffer's Entrées to Ritz Crackers have some sort of promotion going on where they provide a code to enter at their Web site.

Some promotions are long-lasting like the Stouffer Entrée one. Others have definite beginning and end dates. Some promotions give you the opportunity to earn points, while others are instant win/lose games.

My teenage son, Christopher, and I enjoy entering the codes as we obtain them from products we normally buy. This is "our thing" we do together in our free time.

Last fall, Dr Pepper had a football giveaway promotion. After enjoying the soft drink, we saved the lids to enter the printed codes on their Web site in an attempt to win prizes big and small.

My son and I collected the lids, entering each code carefully to see if we were an instant winner. The contest boasted that one in six lids would win something on average. Prizes ranged from ring tones to desktop graphics all the way up to Dr Pepper clothing and trips to sporting events.

After entering our first few codes, we won a bottle of Dr Pepper BBQ Sauce. We laughed that this was our "grand prize" as we continued entering more and more codes each week. As the promotion continued, we played along, winning various ring tones and other minor prizes. We enjoyed the game, sad when it came to an end in December.

In January, we noticed there was going to be a new Pepsi Stuff promotion. We were excited at the prospect of saving more lids and entering more codes, this time with a definite prize goal in mind. With each code saved, you move closer to having enough points to select an MP3 download, a CD, a DVD, a piece of electronics gear, clothing or exchanging your points for a chance at one of many sweepstakes.

The game is linked to specially marked prizes found at Amazon.com. Since I already had an Amazon account, all I had to do was to log in to my account as I entered codes.

By mid-February, when the promotion began, we already had collected 15 to 20 lids from two-liter bottles bought for our family. We already drink Diet Pepsi, so it wasn't like we were making a special purchase to collect the codes.

As we entered codes, we looked for our first goal. The more we studied the prizes, we saw a DVD set that would interest all of us as a family. It required 90 points, and we figured we'd have enough by the time the promotion ended this December.

We reached our first goal a lot sooner than we anticipated. Our first prize choice was the "Pride and Prejudice" DVD made in the mid-1990s.

We placed our Amazon order using our points and quickly resumed saving more lids. Our DVD set arrived within the week. We could not have been more pleased. We got something on our wish list using soft-drink lids -- trading old trash for new treasure.

We set another goal. Slowly but surely, we entered codes, regularly watching our points increase.

From time to time, my son and I would see bottles with the telltale yellow lids on the side of the road. Unashamed of Dumpster diving, I would safely pull the car over to retrieve the lid for the code.

My daughter, Hannah, was horrified that Christopher and I did not mind picking up trash off the side of the road just for a code. I said, with a sparkle in my eye, "Hey, we're just helping the environment here by collecting trash."

My son has also found lids on bike rides through the countryside and in the trash can at his workplace. He has no qualms about gaining an extra code for us that someone else discarded.

In late May, we reached the second goal and exchanged another 90 points for a "Family Affair -- Season 1" DVD set.

Again, another goal was set, this time for a small piece of electronic equipment. In September, the new gadget arrived, once again at no cost to us beyond the cost of the Pepsi, which we would have bought even without the special promotion.

It is now early November, and the promotion ends in a couple of weeks. We have enough points earned to choose one more prize, but have yet to decide exactly what that will be.

Of the various games companies use to lure customers to purchase their products, the Pepsi Stuff game has been our favorite thus far. I enjoy knowing that I am working toward an actual prize my son and I can choose for our whole family.

Linda Vestal is a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend living in Gibsonville. Contact her with comments or story ideas at lindavestal@triad.rr.com.