Cash Back, what's the point?

What's cash back all about then?
Why do people have to go to the nause of cutting bar codes of their boxes just to get promotional price?
Why can't they just sell the stuff at a discount price?
I suppose this was the result of a corporate moron meeting!

Canon board meeting.

"How can we make it a real pain in the arse to give people a discount"
"I know, we'll make them destroy their boxes and wait for a long time to get their money back!"

Maybe it's because once you cut up your box, you can't return the item. Just guessing - I have no idea if you can still return it.

Stefan

As far as I'm aware it's to stop unscrupulous companies from bagging extra profit out of it, in the past Canon have lowered prices and stores have kept them the same so as they get the extra profit, rather than the discount getting to the customer.

I think they save/make alot of money because a large portion of people generally forget or don't submit the forms before the period lapses.

LotsToLearn wrote in post #5131739
I think they save/make alot of money because a large portion of people generally forget or don't submit the forms before the period lapses.

Hadn't thought of that one.

HEY CANON - I'm still waiting for my 20D rebate. Will you be sending it soon!?

I think it's the corp's way of increasing sales for whatever sales period and/or sometimes to get their product out there. Walgreens and similar stores often have rebates on "new" items to spark customer interest, so it seems. And of course they're banking on the fact that a great deal of people forget to send in the rebate or submit it incorrectly.

Marketing scheme that only really benefits the company.

They are banking on the fact that you won't mail it in or forget.

Look at the gift card market. There is something like a 40% or 60% rate of the un-cashed cards. That is millions and millions of dollars literally being handing to the stores/companies for free.

The gift card/gift certificate programs are more a double edged sword for companies (at least in the US) than the rebate programs. When a company sells a gift card, they cannot record it as a profit until the card is used and remains in their books as a liability until then. This is especially problematic for the company if the cards/certificates do not have expiration dates (by choice or by law). Of course, they're rectifying/circumventi​ng that issue by starting to charge fees for non-use after a period of time.

TheReal7 wrote in post #5133229
Marketing scheme that only really benefits the company.

They are banking on the fact that you won't mail it in or forget.

Look at the gift card market. There is something like a 40% or 60% rate of the un-cashed cards. That is millions and millions of dollars literally being handing to the stores/companies for free.

Bingo

bishop13 wrote in post #5133750
The gift card/gift certificate programs are more a double edged sword for companies (at least in the US) than the rebate programs. When a company sells a gift card, they cannot record it as a profit until the card is used and remains in their books as a liability until then. This is especially problematic for the company if the cards/certificates do not have expiration dates (by choice or by law). Of course, they're rectifying/circumventi​ng that issue by starting to charge fees for non-use after a period of time.

Good point. We were talking about this the other day and didn't know how the companies were dealing with unused cards. Clears it up a bit.

OK...just a thought. What if instead of gift cards they sold them as rebate cards? Would that be a work around to the liability issue?

In the US the last several Canon Rebates were Instant rebates. Nothing to submit.

TheReal7 wrote in post #5134065
OK...just a thought. What if instead of gift cards they sold them as rebate cards? Would that be a work around to the liability issue?

I wouldn't think so. The delivery vehicle is the same, regardless of what they call it, but I could be wrong. A lot of companies now are only giving prepaid credit cards/gift cards instead of a rebate check. I wonder if those companies get kind of a "kickback" from the gift card company from the "monthly service fees" they charge

EDIT: Come to think of it, I don't think they can "sell" a "rebate card". A rebate is legally defined as "the special reduction allowed in the selling price of any product sold or transferred", so in order to get a rebate, you would actually have to buy/transfer something beforehand so you can be entitled to the rebate.

So WHEN are we going to be seeing those Canon rebates this spring? I would think with tax season and all those "incentive checks" they will be printing out soon that now would be the perfect time to tempt us with more glass!