Anybody else getting fed up with the mail-in rebate hassle?
Case in point: this past weekend we bought a new computer and accessories for the household. Part of the reason for buying was the low advertised price. Of course, the low advertised price is always the amount after you subtract the various instant and mail-in rebates.
This morning it took me 45 minutes to sort out the receipts, fill out the rebate forms, cut out the UPC codes from the original packaging, make copies of the receipts, forms and UPC codes, circle the purchase prices on the receipts, stuff the right forms, receipts and UPC codes in envelopes and then write mailing addresses on the front of each of the envelopes.
I do all this with a smile, knowing that I’m not going to end up a statistical casualty of laziness. Retailers work closely with manufacturers in analyzing the percentage of those lazy customers who never end up sending in rebate forms. Without any knowledge of the actual amount, I’m going to hazard a guess that the non-redeemers are at 20%.
Well, I may be stuffing rebate envelopes, waiting 8-10 weeks to receive the rebate check and clicking on the rebate website everyday to make sure those rebate yahoos in the sprawling rebate hubs of Miami and Mesa, AZ aren’t sitting around by their 14,697 different PO Boxes and intentionally tossing my precious $15 rebate request into the +2 Bag of Seeyoulaterville, but I sure as hell won’t be the loser down the street who loafed my way into the 20% category.
If it’s even 20%.
Somebody get me statistics on this.
“A study by Leflein Associate
“A study by Leflein Associates determined that roughly half of 1,001 people polled don’t take advantage of rebates, but the reasons are varied. 41% of the people who missed out admitted that they just flat out forgot about their rebates, so they never sent them in. Another 25% lost one of the required bits of paper, while 20% thought they weren’t ultimately worth the effort. A scary 14% thought that the process was too complicated, and apparently gave up. ”
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050203-4578.html?92032 — The One-and-Only Bryan Gregg
50%? Worse than that
I don’t know about that one study, but the word I heard is that the MAJORITY of people do not take advantage of mail-in rebates. This is a well-known and well-exploited fact — it gives companies the ability to offer the illusion of offering something for a much cheaper price without having to actually do it.
Of course, there’s always the chance that a large percentage WILL do just that, and the business will have to pay up. A lot of it depends on the amount of the hassle, the time limit on the rebate, and the amount of the rebate. For a lousy $5 – $10 rebate, with enough hassle most people just Will Not Bother. But they’ll still perceive the item as costing less because of the opportunity, even if they subconsciously know they won’t take advantage of it.
Rebates
I am in the industry and my experience shows that most rebates in the $25-50 range only see a 40% redemption rate, meaning 60% don’t even bother. I am sure that the higher the rebate, the higher the redemprion rate. I just read something else that said it’s about 50% who don’t even try. That is why manufacturers offer rebates. They can’t afford to offer that type of discount to 100% of the people who buy. And more poeple than you think try ot get rebates redeemed w/o actually buying anything, so we have to be very fastidiuos on our requirements for redemption. There are a lot of dishonest people out there.