Sadly, Starbucks won’t pay me $500 a week to drive around SLO with its logo on my car
The text came in at 5:33 in the morning: “Would you allow Starbucks to put their logo on your car for 500 weekly payment? If yes, click blah-blah-blah.”
Sure, I took it for a scam. Why would anyone pay me to put their logo on a car that spends 90% of its time in the garage? And if companies actually do pay that kind of cash, wouldn’t it go to some Gen Z TikTok celeb who hangs out with Kardashians at fancy L.A. places ... not to a boomer who vacations in Palm Springs during the summer because the hotel rates are so good?
Except — and I blame this on my groggy morning mind — there was the teeny, tiniest bit of hope.
$500 a week? For that kind of money I’d let PreparationH slap a huge logo on my car .
So, I let my finger hover over the web address for a second or two before I decided to play it safe and Google this: “Is Starbucks paying $500 a week to put its logo on cars?”
Which led me directly to a warning from the Federal Trade Commission with this headline: “Car wrap scam targets college students.” (Apparently, some really desperate scammers also are targeting olds.)
The scam works like this: Successful applicants are sent a check, and are then instructed to use some of that money to pay a “specialist” who will provide the car wrap. The specialist never materializes — and unfortunately, the check turns out to be a fake.
Readers responding to the FTC warning reported being offered payments to advertise everything from Cadbury chocolate bars to Marlboro cigarettes.
A few of them bit on the offer.
“Just got scammed by the wrap scammers wow I feel like such a idiot!” was one post.
A little more online digging reveals there are some legit companies that will pay you to use your car as a mobile billboard.
But there are catches:
Some of these wraps are super obnoxious. We’re talking screaming neon colors covering the entire body of the car.
Companies mostly want people who live in large metro areas.
There may be some daily minimum mileage requirements — and fines if you break the rules.
The pay is modest — $50 a month in some cases. Or gift cards.
In other words, even if you do qualify, you won’t be able to quit your day job.
But you might be able to afford a couple of nights in Palm Springs in December.
