Q&A Hero

Question

Used Car Sales. Walter sells used cars. He is seeking a way to increase sales and profits because he would like to take his girlfriend on a nice diving trip to the Grand Cayman Islands. The first thing that Walter does is say that during the first week of December, he will give a $500 rebate on used cars under two years old. To spice things up, he also offers to sell any car on the lot that is under five years old for $1,000 to the first three customers who can hula hoop ten hours straight on December 7^th. (Hula hooping was a practice popular some years ago in which a large hoop would be swung around by a person, usually around the waist.) Walter was not very concerned about the hula hooping issue because he thought that no one would be able to hula hoop for ten hours straight. Walter put an advertisement pertaining to the rebate and hula hoop opportunity in the local newspaper. The promotion went over very well. Although he had several on hand, Walter ran out of cars under two years old within one day. During the rest of the week shoppers were told that no cars of that description were available. A customer named Sam was very unhappy when he discovered the next day that no cars under two years old were available. On December 7^th, while Walter was watching the hula hoopers, Sally was shopping for a car. She was in college and did not have much money. She saw one, an older car, that she liked but she really did not know if it run or not. She was going to talk to her parents. Walter eventually approached her and Sally asked him if he would take $3,000 for the car. Walter said, "Yes, sold." Sally tried to explain that she needed to talk to her parents first, but Walter would not hear of it. While Walter was still fuming from his encounter with Sally, Zack walked up and started to criticize the nature of Walter's inventory. Walter told him that he had great cars. Zack pointed at an old jalopy that was banged up, had 200,000 miles on it, and a cracked windshield. Zack said, "Sure, I'll pay $10,000 for that car." Walter said, "Sold." Zack said, "Wait a minute. I was only kidding." Walter said, "No way." Meanwhile all the hula hoopers dropped out well prior to ten hours of hula hooping except for Barbara. One minute before the ten hours were up, Walter yelled out "I revoke!" Barbara completed the hula hooping anyway and asked for her car for $1,000. Walter refused saying that the offer was revoked. Sam was very angry and sued Walter for not having a car available that was under two years old so that he could get a good deal and a $500 rebate. Additionally, Barbara sued Walter, and Walter sued Zack and Sally. Which of the following is the likely result in the lawsuit brought by Sam complaining that Walter ran out of cars available for a rebate?

A. Sam will win because Walter was required to have sufficient cars on hand for anyone who requested one.

B. Sam will win because a rebate was involved.

C. Sam will win because Walter should have run another ad revoking the offer.

D. Sam will lose because he did not properly accept the offer.

E. Sam will lose because court would interpret the intent of Walter as being to invite readers to make an offer that Walter was free to reject.