Coca-Cola thoughts, post-Vancouver Olympics

In some ways, it seems like the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games was all just a dream... a 2-week dream that went by much too fast for this Olympic aficionado. Between watching constant television coverage on CTV here in Canada, and tracking down Olympic Coca-Cola cans, bottles, flags and pins, it's all a blur. There were some great moments at these Games by athletes around the world. It never ceases to amaze me the level at which these Olympians compete. They dedicate their lives to the short time it takes to win or lose.

Coca-Cola came through once again and raised the bar for collectors. We were treated to several different common Olympic aluminum bottles, cans, a number of Coke pins, and even some exclusive venue-only Coca-Cola aluminum bottles. I was fortunate enough to have one of the special edition bottles given to me by friends of my parents who were spectators in Vancouver. And let me tell you - these bottles were not easy to get. Available only at the Coca-Cola Olympic pavilion, the bottle was given to you when you entered (cap removed) to drink. If you turned the empty bottle back in to their special recycling program they'd hand you a special light-up Coke bottle. Very cool stuff.

With all the eBay selling, pin trading, and general craziness of these Olympic Games, I got so wrapped up in selling things, I kept almost nothing for myself. So I ended up buying one of the iCoke Vancouver 2010 baseball caps on eBay that I had sold two of a month earlier. And when I discovered I had sold a set of 3 Olympic pins that had been offered by Petro Canada stores here in Ontario, I went back in this week and was disappointed to find the Olympic display of the drinking glasses was gone. At Petro Canada gas convenience stores, they had four different Olympic glasses (not Coca-Cola) - and the deal was if you bought a glass for $3.99 and two 591mL bottles of any Coke product, you'd get ONE special edition Olympic Coca-Cola pin.

At one time, I had 2 sets of three that I quickly sold.

So the day after the closing ceremonies, I went into my local Petro Canada store, hoping to grab a set of 3 pins before they were gone; I was too late - all the glasses had been sold and the pins were gone. When I asked the manager if he had any pins left, he shook his head. He must have sensed my disappointment though, when he asked me, "Would you take a loose one or does it have to be in the package?"

I wasn't sure what he was getting at.

"No no... a loose one would be fine," I answered. And with that he unclipped the Coca-Cola Olympic pin from the lapel of his shirt and handed it to me, no purchase required, no strings attached.

It's great when businesses go over and above the call of duty and provide extra customer service. That particular manager didn't know me, I had never stopped in at that Petro Canada location before, and yet the manager went that little extra step where he wasn't required. I didn't think that mentality even existed much anymore.

Lots of fabulous Coca-Cola collecting info coming up in our next Cola Conquest print edition. If you're not a subscriber, you really SHOULD be! Visit our website for more details. Thanks for reading, and happy collecting!