AV俱乐部

Like many Canadians, Meg South rolls up her Tim Hortons coffee cups each March and hopes to see the word 鈥渨in.鈥�

She hardly expected to see the word 鈥淢atrix鈥� following it.

鈥淚 was about to start my History of Medicine class,鈥� says the second-year biology major at AV俱乐部. 鈥淚 had just finished my coffee and rolled up the rim and saw 鈥榳in.鈥� I just thought it was a coffee or a doughnut. And then it said 鈥楳atrix.鈥� I laughed out loud.鈥�

Large double double

The coffee鈥攁 large double-double鈥攚as purchased at the Tim Hortons location in the Student Union Building where, at present, 5,400 winning rims have been turned in, though none quite as spectacular as Ms. South鈥檚.

There are only 40 Toyota Matrix vehicles up for grabs in the contest across North America. When you consider that there are over 285 million cups printed for the yearly Roll Up the Rim promotion, that means an approximately one-in-7,148,770 chance of finding a car under your rim during the contest.

Ms. South immediately texted her roommates鈥攚ho didn鈥檛 believe her at first鈥攁nd called her family as soon as her class was over. 鈥淚t was so hard to focus in class. But I knew that I had a mandatory tutorial afterwards, and that if I left to celebrate I probably wouldn鈥檛 end up making it. So I stuck it out.鈥�

Drive up to the SUB

Unlike when you win a coffee or doughnut, Ms. South has to mail her winning rim to Tim鈥檚 head office to confirm her prize, which means she won鈥檛 see her car for several weeks at least. According to the contest rules, the car is actually delivered to the winning location, meaning it鈥檒l arrive right outside the SUB where the winning cup was purchased.

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 quite feel real yet. It鈥檚 like when you win a free coffee鈥攜ou鈥檙e excited when you roll up the rim, but it doesn鈥檛 really sink in until you actually go to get your prize. I鈥檓 not sure it will really hit home until I get the keys in my hand.鈥�