How We Drew the 2026 New Year Giveaway (Transparency)
For total transparency, we detail below how we design and drew the winners of the 2026 New Year giveaway!
Overview
This giveaway was conducted using a weighted random draw to ensure fairness. Each eligible order received a number of entries based on the giveaway rules (for example, bonus entries for larger purchases or promotions).
Orders with more entries had a proportionally higher chance of winning, while each order number could only win once.
How Entries Were Counted
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Each order number was assigned a weight representing how many entries it received, according to the number of bags of coffee purchased and whether or not you had, or subscribed to, the Library Coffee Subscription (which had double entries i.e. 1 box = 2 entries, 2 box = 4 entries and 3 box = 6 entries.
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Example:
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Customer A had: Order #12345 with 3 coffees → 3 entries
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Customer B had: Order #67890 with 2 coffees and a live 2 box subscription → 6 entries
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How Winners Were Selected
We used a cumulative weighting method, a standard and widely accepted approach for weighted random draws.
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All entries were added together to calculate the total number of entries.
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Each order was assigned a range of numbers based on its weight.
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A random number was generated within the total range.
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The order whose range contained that number was selected as a winner.
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The winning order was removed from the pool.
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Steps 1–5 were repeated until three unique winners were selected.
This was executed within an Excel spreadsheet using the function =RANDBETWEEN(1, ENTRIES)
Where 'ENTRIES' was the total number of entries in this giveaway (or 'tickets'), in this case it was 1356 meaning there were 1356 tickets in the draw.
If you had 6 entries in the draw, you were assigned 6 consecutive numbers somewhere in that range 1-1356.
Why This Method Is Fair
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Every entry has an equal chance of being selected.
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Orders with more entries have higher odds, as advertised.
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Winners cannot be selected more than once (removed in sequence of draw)
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The process is transparent, reproducible, and auditable.
Final Result
Using this process, three unique winning order numbers were selected at random from all valid entries.
Thank you to everyone who participated!