Have you ever been paid to brush your teeth?
I’m guessing probably not. Unless, your parents were trying to bribe you when you were younger.
Do you want to get paid to brush?
I’m guessing the answer is yes?
Given, it’s a task you should be doing twice a day anyhow, who wouldn’t?!
Well there is a way…
Hey, it’s Jon from Electric Teeth here.
Ok, so let me be clear from the start. You won’t be handing your notice in at work tomorrow
and earning an annual salary off the back of brushing your teeth just a couple of times a day.
But, there are a couple of companies out there that will reward you each time you brush.
It isn’t much, but it all helps towards reducing the cost of your oral care and
considering you should be brushing anyhow I think it can eb worthwhile for some.
I’m aware of 2 companies that will give you a small reward each time you brush your teeth.
They are Quip and Colgate.
To qualify, you do have to own specific brushes,
that is the Quip Smart brush and the hum by Colgate electric toothbrush.
There are smart, connected brushes that pair with apps on your phone.
Both of them will track and log your brushing habits and in return for doing so,
you are paid via rewards within their app.
The Colgate system works are follows.
As a rough average you will be earning about 4 points per day,
if you brush twice a day for 2 minutes each time. This equates to about 1,460 points per year.
You then get additional points for configuring the apps and other things as you go along.
The app offers up to 3 eligible brushing sessions per day, each of which entitled you to a point.
So if you brush 3 times a day you would be earning approx 2,190 per year.
A qualifying brushing session must
last longer than 30 seconds and achieve more than 50% coverage.
Each point earned is equivalent to $0.01 to
spend in the store built into the app. So, 100 points = $1.
These points have to be spent at the Coglate online store.
It is not a massive saving, but with a pack of 2 brush heads costing $9.99 or 999 points,
you should get approximately 3 free brush heads per year.
You need to buy replacement brush heads, so it is better than nothing. It is essentially free money.
Another slight catch is that the points reset on the 31st December
of the following year. So, you need to be mindful of this.
Quip’s reward system is similar. Although you can cash out your points slightly differently.
You get 1 point for brushing in the morning and 1 point for brushing in the evening. You then
get another if you complete both sessions for 2 minutes. Essentially 3 points per day can be won.
A further 5 points can be unlocked when you achieve a weekly streak
of 2 minute sessions, twice a day for 7 days.
These points equal prizes. And we are not just talking about money off replacement brush heads.
4500 points is is equal to a $5 credit towards the
brush head subscription or $5 to spend in Target or Walmart.
Excluding other points bonuses that might come along,
you are looking at around 330 points per quarter.
I know this isn’t life changing money and the trade-off is committing to logging and
sharing your brushing habits with the respective companies.
But there are other brands like Oral-B and Sonicare who have smart brushes and
obtain the same data and don’t offer such rewards.
And their brushes typically cost a lot more in the first place.
You don’t need a smart toothbrush to clean your teeth well. Healthy teeth
can be achieved with some simple and low cost habits, as this video demonstrates.
But, despite not typically recommending smart brushes here at Electric Teeth,
there is a place for them. And when you can in a roundabout way earn back
some of the additional cost to buy them, then this has to be a win.
The data the apps track might well encourage you to master your brushing
technique and achieve healthier teeth and gums in the long run.
I would like to see more brands introduce such a scheme.
For those outside of the US, I am not aware of such schemes existing. But,
in time, maybe they will.
These large oral care brands spend a lot of money trying to win your custom and lock you into their
eco system. Giving you money off is one way to lock us in further. It’s a win for both parties.