I love living in the future, rebates chapter

[gerisullivan]

I'm mostly hopeless when it comes to using coupons. Yes, I occasionally manage to 1) have a coupon with me when I'm at the store; 2) find the product it's good for; and 3) hand the coupon over to the cashier at check-out. Far more often I manage two one, or even none of those three steps. More than once, heck, more than a dozen times, I've found myself thanking a cashier for noticing a tear-off instant savings coupon on a package after forgetting about it myself in the few minutes between the time I put the item in my cart and when I checked out. I'm lucky to remember to turn in bottle deposit refund slips. I often hold them in my hand while shopping to help me remember. Last spring, I ended up backtracking my steps through the Stop'n'Shop after dropping a $5 bottle deposit refund slip without noticing I'd done so. Found it, yay, but coupons are a pain.

I'm even worse with post-purchase rebates. Last year, I missed out on a $50 rebate on my new cell phone and a $30 rebate from Norton because I just didn't get around to filling in the necessary coupons and mailing them in. Yes, I know the companies are counting on that, and I even take my failings into account when deciding whether to buy something that offers a mail-in rebate -- I usually only do so if I like the price without the rebate.

I'm still annoyed that I blew off that $80. Over the years, I've picked up a couple free bras and some underwear from manufacturer's promotions that typically offer buy two, get one free in the store, then get another one free by mail. Those involve a lot of label snipping and annoying little forms, but the promised products eventually show up. So it's not that I never benefit. I benefit just often enough to suffer from the delusion that I'll collect on the big offers. And then remain peeved with myself (and with the companies) when I screw up.

Which brings us to Staples, and their lovely Easy Rebate program. They do a lot with automatic in-store savings. Look, ma, no coupons. I'm all over that. Yesterday, I finally picked up a paper shredder. I've been meaning to buy one for years, but have been balking at the price. There was a $25 in-store rebate on a $70 shredder, and a $15 post-purchase rebate. I had $37.70 in Staples Rewards checks, and using them toward a shredder seemed like just the thing. As I was checking out, I made some comment about how bad I am with mail-in rebates. Wayne, the Staples employee with the 1,000-watt smile and personality, pointed out that I could register for the rebate online. Whoohoo. And, y'know, today I even remembered to actually do it. Which means I actually got a medium-duty paper shredder for the $30 I think it's worth. And that $30 came from total purchase rebates earned on previous purchases. Rebates I most likely never would have realized if I weren't living in the future where this stuff is either automated or easier than it used to be. Sweet.

Comments

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

Fear not -- of all your friends, I am the least likely to mock you for failing to send in rebates...since I have personally saved companies thousands of dollars with this same behavior.

[thirdworld.livejournal.com]

I suck at rebates and once missed out on $150 phone rebate. I tend to avoid specials based on rebates as I see them as a scam. But I too get annoyed at myself.

[kaffy_r]

As we add to our store of years (so much nicer to say than "as we let entropy conquer us" don't you agree?), we grow wiser. It's been in the last five years or so that we've started paying attention to coupons and rebates. But just this afternoon, I deposited a $50 check from a computer purchase. As you say. Sweet.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Like Deb, I've contributed thousands of dollars to Corporations, in the form of unused rebates & coupons. But occasionally I do manage to (and greatly enjoy) taking some ("No Expiration Date") coupons in to the supermarket. Especially coupons that are at least forty years old. (I am not, usually, a hasty person.)

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

I adore you!

And you're plenty hasty enough at magically being out of the way whenever I turn suddenly while near the crank of a mimeograph. That's all that matters, right?

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

I guess so .... but have you considered the possibility that I was being Cautious lest you say something like "Here, Don, _you_ turn the crank for a while"? Hey, we're talking about (you should excuse the four-letter word) *w*o*r*k*, here, and I can be quite spry about staying out of the way of that.

And I qualified with "usually" because last week: After a very early-morning appointment with the Ophthalmologist (-"The plastic lens I implanted in your right eye is still there, in about the right place, and the incision is healing nicely; come back in a month and we'll give you a prescription for glasses"-) I noticed a Community Gardens thing (operated by the Baldwin Park School District) across the street from the back parking-lot of the Kaiser Hospital.

There were people working in it, so I dropped in to /S/u/p/e/r/v/i/s/e/ check it out. They had a plot open for adoption, only partly-shaded, and relatively weed-free, at no cost for Senior Citizens (for which I apparently qualify). I thought it over for two days (they're open MWF, 8-12) and signed-up on Friday. Today (Monday) I'll soon leave for breakfast at the Hospital Cafeteria (their bagels are passable, for California, and the coffee is reasonably good) and a bit of spading exercise. That was a hasty decision, especially considering the Overgrown Jungle aspect of my yard at home, but I don't expect to regret it too much. Except maybe the "Get up at 6:30 in the morning" part.