Rebate This!

I am waiting, still waiting actually, for a rebate from the local office super mega store. It is not a big rebate, but one I am due for a couple of reams of printer paper I recently purchased. It is all of eight bucks, but I’m sure that I’ve already spent that on the twenty minutes trying to navigate a balky online rebate site and not losing track of ‘checking for rebate status updates’! I wasn’t looking for a rebate but I am a creature of habit and the paper that I usually buy was on sale…or so I thought. The advertisement said $1 a ream. Who could resist?

I was happy to learn today that my rebate has been approved and my check will be in the mail shortly! Ever see a rebate check? Looks like an advertisement and has a great chance of being thrown out in the daily junk mail purge. At least I hope it is a check and not a dreaded debit style gift card that gives the register person fits when I try to redeem it. Hear that, super mega cell phone company?

The sad thing is that I was a big fan of rebates when on the industrial buy side. I’d negotiate rebates all over the place, often with electrical and electronic distributors and happily dance into accounts receivable with a check for a percent or two of purchases. They always looked at me a bit sideways, not knowing where to deposit the funds or how to get me credit for ‘cost savings’ that came well after the fact.

My collective CFOs would tell me while they appreciated the influx of cash it never made it to the bottom line and had no impact on COGS. Even though I proudly took it as a cost savings and a major entry on my monthly report, the value was not as important as I thought it was. Years later, I’ll admit that they were right.

So, one of these days the postperson will deliver my $8 rebate check. I’m not sure where I will spend it, but looking back I would agree with my last CFO who said, “Nice work Rich, but get it up front the next time.”