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OfficeMax Drops Mail-in Rebates
DrEldarion writes "Looks like OfficeMax is dropping mail-in rebates. 'Rebates were the #1 customer complaint we were getting,' said Ryan Vero, OfficeMax's chief merchandising officer. Hopefully other retailers will realize what a good idea this is and follow suit." The best part is that the discount is applied now at the register, so those of us who always thought that the rebates were a scam (or were too lazy to mail in the card) finally get some savings.
but a scheme.
those of us who always thought that the rebates were a scam (or were too lazy to mail in the card) finally get some savings.
Because not everyone will ask for their rebate retailers are able to squeeze more cash out of their customers.
perpetually dwelling in the -1 pits
This might have been news, sort of, back on June 30... http://news.com.com/OfficeMax+bids+farewell+to+mai l-in+rebates/2100-1047_3-6090290.html
Better to
I think that this is huge step in the right direction. It makes the cost after rebate a real cost, simplifies the process, and will go a long way towards customer satisfaction. I know that if OM has the same merchandise as a competing store, and I get the rebate at the register, I am going there. One more thing, if the rebate is instant, it will stop problems with rebates that are based on purchases of items in certain combinations. "I am sorry sir, but this rebate only applies if you buy x and y. Would you like to get y as well?"
My
Ah, marketing at its finest. This isn't even really news. Most major retailers have been very quietly phasing out mail in rebates for months, if not years. It's in the freaking article, if you read it. People are saying " should do this too", and if you look, they probably already have.
As it says, Best Buy did this over a year ago, they just don't have all the manufacturers on board yet. If you look in their computer department, most laptops have discontinued mail in rebates, and are either instant or normal price. Circuit City has the same thing, in almost the same way. Many of their home office electronics manufacturers are instant-rebate only now.
If you read the article, it just states that "Beginning this Weekend" they'll start to phase the rebates out. It doesn't specify when they'll end, or exactly what will be phased out first. Best Buy made this exact same announcement in 2005.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it, but people should try actually reading what's posted now and then. Then again, this is Slashdot, so what am I thinking?
Part of the whole reason for rebates was that many people never sent them in (I've seen numbers in the 90's showing about 5% of people would send them in). This allowed retailers to put a really low price on the shelf, but in fact make far more money for the item. Disregarding the outright fraudulent rebate scams, this practice wasn't fraudulent but it was obvious that the retailers are simply hoping that few people will actually send the documentation in to get the rebate.
With rebates taken at the register, expect them to be far more in line with a standard sale discount.
Do you have ESP?
http://promomagazine.com/incentives/best-buy_04130 5/index.html (Karma whore link)
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1. You will make more in interest by putting the rebate money in a savings account
2. You provide the company with verified name, address, phone number etc that they sell to other spam companies.
3. If they REALLY wanted to give you the rebate they would deduct it in the store. With mail-in they know that only a subset of the customers will actually ever receive the rebate, money saved.
I can come up with more, but those are the 3 main ones for me.
If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
Thaw your punctuation and it will spread more easily and not bunch up in one place that way.
What pisses me off is having to pay the full sales tax on the artificially inflated price, not the true (or "rebate") price.
"Look, its $200.00, but they have a $50.00 instant rebate, plus $100.00 mail-in rebate ... " but you're still taxed on $200.00, for what is in reality a $50.00 purchase.
It gets ridiculous and difficult to comparison shop without a notepad, thanks to every retailer having multiple rebates that occur in multiple ways. Say you want to buy a PC.
Retailer #1: $499 with $50 in-store rebate, $200 manufacturer's mail-in rebate (paperwork available only from manufacturer), $20 store mail-in rebate, and an additional $75 mail-in rebate if you use this PC to join AOL (rebate only available after you join, contact AOL for details). In order to get the full set of rebates, you will need to make and mail three copies of your receipt, after following up directly with the manufacturer to get their forms, then join AOL and once their paperwork arrives, try to get their customer service operator to understand what promotion you're referring to.
Retailer #2: $399 with $100 mail-in rebate and $100 bonus mail-in rebate if you also buy a PowerSurge[TM] surge protector. In order to get the full set of rebates, you will need to make and mail two copies of your reciept and buy a surge protector whether you need one or not.
Retailer #3: $449 with $75 in-store rebate, $10 instant manufacturer's rebate, $10 repeat buyer rebate for return customers, $150 online rebate from customer survey site (electronically credited only), and $25.99 mail-in rebate for new customers only. In order to maximize rebates, you will need to fill out an extensive survey on a consumer research website, giving away your personal details and also your receipt # and your credit card # so that they can credit you, and you will theoretically either receive one party's rebate if you've never filled out a rebate for this manufacturer (or any of its subsidiaries) in the past or the other party's rebate if you are a repeat customer, but good luck trying to prove either when they say that their database doesn't confirm your status.
This is not an exaggerated set of examples, every year in most "newer" (i.e. heavily suburban) US cities around "back to school" season and again during the winter holidays, virutally every advertisement you see is for "NEW HP PC! $FREE [after rebates]" and "NEW 8 Megapixel Canon Digital Camera! $0.00 [after rebates]" and "Sanyo Jumbo Microwave Oven! $1.00 [after rebates]" and so on. Every mailer that comes around is full of "$0" products, but the problem is, given an entire marketplace full of "deals" like those listed above, how do you know which one is actually the better deal, or more importantly, the better deal for you? As you might expect, the number of people who ultimately do pay $0 is very small, if not nonexistent... and in the meantime, everyone scrambles to jump through hoopes in order to get back what they can after arriving at the store and paying the real price of $399, $449, or $499, on many occasions unknown or unclear until you actually arrive at the retail establishment.
More often than not, it ends up not being worth the time spent calculating and (afterward) filling out and mailing paperwork to get the rebates. Compound this problem with the fact that something like 50 percent of rebates experience difficulty (read: scam) at which time they tell you that you're not "eligible" or you've sent a bad photocopy of your receipt, or you purchased a day before the promotion began, or a day after it ended, or they suspect you of rebate fraud (buying and processing rebates, then re-selling the items on eBay at near full price)... and it becomes a giant farce.
Rebates are, in short, a way for stores and manufacturers to obfuscate real pricing, sell "tie-in" goods, and get your personal information for consumer research purposes at no cost to them, often while being able to duck responsibility even for producing the rebates that they've promised.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Honestly, I don't understand the hatred that people have for these things.
It just feels sneaky. Not even counting the rebates that you fail to get back for one reason or another, but why should I, an individual, loan a billion dollar company $50 for a couple of months? So that they can gain the aggregate interest on $50 x 10,000? Screw that.
Just sell me the item, and lose the rebate.
What pisses me off is having to pay the full sales tax on the artificially inflated price, not the true (or "rebate") price.
/rant -- I almost feel better :)
Well, I'm glad you stop getting pissed off there.
For the life of me, I cannot figure out why my $15.00 phone bill costs me $30.00 (round numbers accurate to less than +-$1.00).
I'm wanting to go to a completely grey/black/p2p market, and not do "normal" business with abnormal businesses.
Everything I pay for on the "white" market is between 10-100% more than the "price". When I buy things "on the street", the price is the price, and its usually round numbers, not $99.99 + mystery funds so that my $100 bill does not work any more.
Between the inflated prices at "legitimate" businesses, and then the taxes that get taken out of my pay check before I even get paid -- yes, I know I could manipulate this, but I'm tired and lazy of having to fight for every penny of the money that I make. In fact, I'm sick and tired of it, to the point that I've just succumbed to giving all of my money away, and just not caring anymore. What do I need it for? I can't take it with me when I die, and its also practically illegal to own cash that is not even backed by hard currency either, so what is the point?
Yeah, I'm fairly ambiently pissed off at the time because I'm in the process of downsizing myself at the request of the federal government, inflation, and some financial mistakes that I have made. I'll be alright, I mean I'm still above American average and supposedly way above the average in the world or whatever, but I'm not happy about being chronically pickpocketed with no legal recourse. I mean, even civil litigation against a corporation is _very_ timely, and _very_ expensive to the point that the gamble just does not seem worth the effort when its all said and done. I've been involved with civil cases against companies where they are clearly at fault, and if it were up to me to take care of it the old fashioned way, I would just break their kneecaps and call it even. But instead, the lawyers get their subsidies and play good lawyer/bad lawyer against each other, while they are actually for each other because the more they pretend to fight each other, the more money they make for doing nothing.
Yeah, I need a chill pill, but I ran out. I guess I just have to get used to living in a 3rd world country, but I was kinda getting accustomed to the middle class in the 1st world country, but that is disappearing as I type this. I know a number of people that feel the same way, and have settled up or avoided their debts and have simply dropped out of the American dream just to live their own. I openly ask people around the world where is a good place to live, and you know what? There is no definitive answer. So, I guess we just need to all take a dose of the opiate for the masses, and find a free/cheap religion.
Here's what really sucks aside from the hassle and deceptive pricing: If I buy something for my company with a rebate, I have to fill out an expense form and get reimbursed for the price AFTER the rebate because the rebate check will come to me. So the rebate money comes out of MY pocket until the I get the rebate check. And if something screws up with the rebate, I'm screwed.
I usually go to Comp USA for computer stuff for our office, but I will definitely be heading to Office Max whenever possible from now on.
-paul