Post by elalacran on Mar 7, 2012 11:42:06 GMT -5
Wednesday is the day Sean Field's column appears in the AJ newspaper. Good source of information.
Information is the well-spring of consumerism. Without accurate complete information about products and services, the consumer is up the creek without a paddle.
Some of Mr. Field's info doesn't apply to me. I don't buy a lot and am not reliably a repeat customer who builds a relationship with CVS or Walgreens.
While I clip coupons and look for rebates I don't use them that often. Coupons are only offered for name-brand items that are expensive to begin with, and unless a coupon can be combined with a sale on that item, they just don't save, in my opinion.
Stacking coupons, for example combining a store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon is fine -- except that on more than one occasion the cashier has refused to accept two coupons on one item. Happened at Walgreens. So you may be buying into an argument/call-the-store-manager type problem if you stack coupons.
Rebates are another problem. On fully half of the things I am induced to buy by a rebate, I end up not getting the rebate!
I hate rebates. They are deceptive.
Why? The other day I bought a couple of items at Southerlands that carried a $10 rebate. They didn't have the rebate coupon. I went back; still no coupon. I have to go back again, and soon the gasoline wasted will neuter the rebate.
Often times, we buy a product because of a rebate and then forget to send in the rebate. That's why they offer a rebate in the first place -- because so often the rebate claim is never submitted. Or the rebate claim is not properly submitted.
One time there was a rebate on a case purchase of -- I think it was motor oil. I cut the proof of purchase off the box the oil came in and mailed the receipt and proof off just in time to beat the deadline. WRONG! I got my letter back a couple of days later; the post office refused to deliver it because the thickness of the envelope exceeded 1/4 inch, so they said. So I missed out on that rebate and was out a stamp and time besides. Wonder how many others did that too. Wonder if the company offering the rebate was not aware of that and factored it into their decision to offer a rebate with that kind of proof of purchase.
After that experience I started peeling the paper off a cardboard proof of purchase. More time and trouble to claim a rebate.
Rebates are deceptive because when we see the "price after rebate" advertised, we are not factoring in the sales tax on the product before rebate, the cost of stamp and envelope, or the time and trouble of submitting a rebate claim. We just see the "price after rebate" in big bold print and don't add dollars and cents for tax and mailing costs.
Rebates allow manufacturers to advertise a deceptively low price on their product. Plus, so many rebates are never claimed!
Mostly, what rebates do is to generate income for services that contract with manufacturers to process rebate claims.
So much simpler and more fair to put an item on sale.
Information is the well-spring of consumerism. Without accurate complete information about products and services, the consumer is up the creek without a paddle.
Some of Mr. Field's info doesn't apply to me. I don't buy a lot and am not reliably a repeat customer who builds a relationship with CVS or Walgreens.
While I clip coupons and look for rebates I don't use them that often. Coupons are only offered for name-brand items that are expensive to begin with, and unless a coupon can be combined with a sale on that item, they just don't save, in my opinion.
Stacking coupons, for example combining a store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon is fine -- except that on more than one occasion the cashier has refused to accept two coupons on one item. Happened at Walgreens. So you may be buying into an argument/call-the-store-manager type problem if you stack coupons.
Rebates are another problem. On fully half of the things I am induced to buy by a rebate, I end up not getting the rebate!
I hate rebates. They are deceptive.
Why? The other day I bought a couple of items at Southerlands that carried a $10 rebate. They didn't have the rebate coupon. I went back; still no coupon. I have to go back again, and soon the gasoline wasted will neuter the rebate.
Often times, we buy a product because of a rebate and then forget to send in the rebate. That's why they offer a rebate in the first place -- because so often the rebate claim is never submitted. Or the rebate claim is not properly submitted.
One time there was a rebate on a case purchase of -- I think it was motor oil. I cut the proof of purchase off the box the oil came in and mailed the receipt and proof off just in time to beat the deadline. WRONG! I got my letter back a couple of days later; the post office refused to deliver it because the thickness of the envelope exceeded 1/4 inch, so they said. So I missed out on that rebate and was out a stamp and time besides. Wonder how many others did that too. Wonder if the company offering the rebate was not aware of that and factored it into their decision to offer a rebate with that kind of proof of purchase.
After that experience I started peeling the paper off a cardboard proof of purchase. More time and trouble to claim a rebate.
Rebates are deceptive because when we see the "price after rebate" advertised, we are not factoring in the sales tax on the product before rebate, the cost of stamp and envelope, or the time and trouble of submitting a rebate claim. We just see the "price after rebate" in big bold print and don't add dollars and cents for tax and mailing costs.
Rebates allow manufacturers to advertise a deceptively low price on their product. Plus, so many rebates are never claimed!
Mostly, what rebates do is to generate income for services that contract with manufacturers to process rebate claims.
So much simpler and more fair to put an item on sale.