2007-03-31 - 11:31 a.m.
Wow, here's my third entry in as many days. I guess these things go in cycles of interested/time available and not interested/no time available. As I am on spring break, I have time available!
I wonder, does anybody understand the deal with mail-in rebates? That was something I don't remember learning about in my marketing, business administration classes at Berkeley. There must be some positive reason companies use them. I mean, why don't they just simply take the money off at the store instead of putting you through all this Rube-Goldberg hassle? And there is an identical Rube-Goldberg hassle for the company, having to hire and pay a staff to do all the administrative work of checking receipts, UPC codes, rebate forms, applicable dates, and processing checks, whereas for the clerk at the store it would be an easy extra step. In the past couple of months, I have dealt with mail-in rebates for my new Hewlett-Packard All-In-One, my iPod, my iPod cases, and my D-Link wireless router, and a couple of other things I have temporarily forgotten about. As far as I can tell, the only reason they put you through all this hassle is that their EXPECTATION is that while the idea of the mail-in-rebate offer made you BUY the thing, what will ultimately happen is that you WON'T bother with the hassle of the rebate, or will somehow fail to do it right and therefore won't manage to get the money. I have gotten all of mine, but just barely!
I got my iPod rebate in on the very last day allowable (I did this in the midst of all the Christmas shopping hassle), and that was a $20.00 rebate, my most worth-while one. I wonder just how many mail-in rebates remain unclaimed? Probably just as many as the number of store gift cards that are never redeemed by their recipient, something I read about last Christmas. There are many reasons people fail to use their gift cards, but probably the main one is that they miss the expiration date (they don't all have expiration dates, though...for example, the Starbucks card seems to be "eternal"). When they receive their card, they think "Some day I'll go there and buy something," but that some day never comes. Gift cards really aren't the best gift to give somebody. If you can't figure out what to buy for them, then give them CASH. Cash they can spend anywhere. I did that last Christmas with my nephew and niece who normally don't seem to like what I buy them (or at least they aren't sufficiently expressive). This year, I bought each of them a book I thought they would like (so they would actually get SOMETHING), and then gave them brand-new 20s inside of a Christmas card. Now THIS time my gift was immensely successful! They even liked the books I picked out for them--this is what I could call "stress free" shopping, because (a) I am usually pretty good at picking out books, and (b) even if they don't like the books, they still have the MONEY, so they feel that they come out ahead. Besides, money really looks pretty inside of a greeting card.
But mail-in rebates, I really hope that there is a better reason for offering them than "We expect many customers will fail to redeem them", which ultimately I think is a bad way of doing business, riding on the crest of a negative wave rather than a positive one.
Now, credit cards...I am sure that by now everybody has noticed what all has been going on with changing around people's credit card plans, such as jerking up the interest rate or futzing with the due dates. One hardly-ever used credit card of mine recently raised the interest rate to something like 30%! And this isn't a punishment for bad credit or anything like that (in fact, I have a FICO score in the highest and best category)...my Discover card interest rate is only abut 9%. I think some companies do this simply because they can. The Long Island bank that has my 30% interest rate card is owned by the Mafia, I am pretty sure. So, even though I never carry a balance, I nevertheless always use my Discover card except at places that don't take Discover, in which case I use my Sears Mastercard.
I got really mad at the Sears Mastercard, though, when they raised the interest rate to 19% (which I thought was a terrible insult), and, much worse, when they made all the payments due in 20 days instead of 30. What's with that? Yet another nefarious method of extracting money out of customers who aren't quite paying attention, is all I can figure.
However, after that little shock from Sears, I ended up really liking them after all. The shock of their changes made me go on a search for a newer, better card, which led me to learning about all the different kinds of cards, interest rates, etc., from which I concluded that the Sears card was a really good one for me. That 19% interest rate, while high compared with a small handful of really low-interest rate cards (useful for people with really good credit but who nevertheless often carry a balance), was actually quite low when compared with other "rewards" cards. I had THOUGHT that maybe what I wanted was an airline mileage card, but then learned that my Sears card already was an airline mileage card, but offered so many other rewards in every other conceivable area, as well, something I hadn't known or paid much attention to. At this point, I have enough reward points already to get an airline ticket, or else any of several different kinds of awesome shop equipment, and so on, and this happened without my even knowing about it! My Discover card is also a "rewards" card, including cash rebates that I always take advantage of. (But that mafia bank card out of Long Island with the 30% interest rate offers no rewards, no nothing. All it is good for is extra available credit in case of some extreme emergency. However, I do use it from time to time just to keep it active. Lord help me if I don't pay my balance!)
Recently, I have discovered another cute bonus to my Sears card. Along with the bill always comes a flyer offering various "toys" for free, all you pay is postage. In the past, I've tossed those flyers in the trash along with all the other flotsam and jetsom that comes with the bill. However, last month I looked at what they were offering and saw that I could use every one of them. They were items like cordless stereo earphones, a pedometer and body-composition computer, a laser-picture-hanger-leveler, etc. Things I could actually use or else might be a good quick gift for somebody else (really useful as Secret Angel gifts for next Christmas), so for a few bucks shipping for each, I ordered them all to see if I really liked them. Now they are starting to come in, one at a time, and for a 59-year-old adult like I am, these actually are a cute form of visits from Santa Claus. Each one comes from China as a separate gift-wrapped package, neat little parcels as only the Asians seem to be able to put together with so much attention paid to precise detail. Not one item has been a disappointment. I mean, I think you are never too old to get excited about a surprise present coming in the mail, something cute and technologically useful that enhances your life a little bit. Or else, if you AREN'T cheered up by this, then maybe you are finally too old. As for me, there is always room for presents and money.
�
 |
 |
�
