To celebrate (or commiserate) China's Singles' Day last week, one Chinese store offered a lifetime's supply of liquor (presumably from which to drown one's sorrows at being single?) for a one-off payment of 11,111 yuan (around US $1,674).
Perhaps anticipating the likely demand for such a service, SCMP reports, Jiang Xiaobai, a Chongqing-based online retailer, is limiting the offer to just 33 tickets on a first-come, first-served basis.
A wide variety of Chinese retailers now offer promotions to mark the event, and the lifetime’s supply of drink is just one of the more eye-catching offers.
Under the terms of the deal, Jiang Xiaobai will send subscribers a dozen bottles of baijiu, a fiery Chinese spirit, every month until their death, according to Beijing Youth Daily.
If they die within five years of signing up family members can inherit the contract.
The bottles of the spirit normally sell individually for 196 yuan, and after five years the total value of the shipments will pass the 11,111 yuan mark.
After that, the drinkers will be able to toast a profit.
Chang Sha, a lawyer based in Beijing, said the deal was legal, the report said.
But she warned that it could be cancelled if the company went bankrupt, and raised the obvious long-term implications of the deal for the firm’s finances.
The shop said it had sold 19 such packages in the past. It was not clear how many were sold on Singles’ Day...
“I have bought a lifetime guarantee,” one customer said in the comment area of the retailer’s website. “Hope they will keep the promise.”
We wonder how long before Jeff Bezos gets wind of this idea and decides to 'Amazon' the likes of Bevmo... one can only hope!
