It looked like a piece of junk mail – just a postcard, really – and had the look of those sneaky marketing ploys whereby you cash the check and are automatically enrolled in some overpriced program. I reckon Rite Aid counts on people treating it like junk mail too. Well not me – I’m delighted with my $19.97 repayment! And since some of the deals last month were especially good, I did them, ahem, on behalf of my mother and both sisters. I quickly texted my sisters and called my mother to warn them about the junky looking check, because that’s another $30 or so owed back to me. And I want it!
Filed under: Frugality |
MoneyMate Kate 
I’ve had that problem with mail before, where it looks like junk mail but it’s not. The junk mailers count on this confusion as well, if it looks important you’re more likely to open it. What will you do with the rebate?
I had a Rite Aid rebate post card in the mail last night. Hubby and I were both examing it. It doesn’t matter what it looks like, if you read it carefully.
Mine was deposited at the bank.
Now I know what to look for in the future.
thanks for the post! i saw it earlier today at work and got excited because i figured mine would be in the mail when i got home too. it was. guess walgreen’s should be coming soon…
(and i thought it was an odd way to mail a check too!)
Thanks for mentioning rebates. In the past I would NEVER send them in but after reading about your sucess I decided to send one in.
Miss M – the money for most of my rebates is “recycled” from my little pot of donation-fees for a special deal I offer on Thai massage during off-peak hours. The money just goes back in the pot to be “recycled” into future Adventures in Giving.
JPT – I got my first ever Walgreen’s rebate card thingie in the mail this weekend. I was only able to do it on one item because my store never restocked the other things on monthly special. But hey, it’s $8.79 for an item I only paid $5.99 + tax for in the first place, thanks to a handy dandy little $2 coupon.
Ambercouric – I’m thinking that pharmacy rebates are safe, and probably other low value ones too as long as they’re not on electronics. I’ve never had a tech rebate (SD cards back when they were pricey, laptop, printer, camera, etc) work, whether it was for $10 or $100.
well cool! maybe i’ll get mine today today. do you ever ask for rainchecks? i noticed last week the Sambucol coupon on-line was cancelled, and my local Wags looked like they just totally 86’d the item. the place where it USED to be on the shelf was replaced with something else. guess that’s one way to get around it. i hadn’t planned to get any more anyway, but it just strikes me odd to run a promotion and then not let people have it!
JPT – I’ve stopped asking for rainchecks at Walgreens for the monthly rebate items because they never restock. Part of it is no doubt a profit thing, but also stores in Manhattan have pathetic storeroom space. Sambucol is also, I believe, an odd product to begin with (homeopathic, flavored, etc), so I could definitely see stock issues being a bigger problem (even nationally!) than profit margin, bearing in mind that all those coupons are manufacturers. In other words, it doesn’t hurt Walgreens at all. In fact, wouldn’t it benefit them since their one-coupon-per-item rule would require you to buy one more thing along with the Sambucol in order to use both coupons?
interesting. you have a one coupon per item rule? i haven’t hit that one here. i did have a register war (it beeped and they listened!) with two coupons once – one being a wags register coupon and the other a manufacturer coupon. the two coupons would have exceeded the item price anyway so i didn’t care that they only used one. i have always wondered why they did let us stack when one is the wags manuf. coupon and the other is ANOTHER manuf. coupon. but i read on-line all day long that people are stacking them. too bad they don’t let you there!
Oh, I stacked for the two boxes of Sambucol I did get. And by the way, if you want more non-Wags MFR coupons to stack, there’s a $3 one in the box (exp end of the month, which works out just fine with the deal). I just had to get a 49-cent pack of Reese’s cups to make it two items – didn’t matter that the coupons were both for Sambucol. I should have done my waistline a favor and picked something I don’t like, e.g. Baby Ruth, Almond Joy, anything with coconut basically. Blech.
well that is interesting. i’d never heard of this one item per coupon thing and the fact that it includes a completely non-related item is very funny! maybe i’ve just always had enough items that it didn’t come up. and i was amused at your description of Sambucol. honestly, i didn’t know WHAT it was other than it was a cold remedy and gave me overage! i did get three boxes early in the month (gave two away) and i had some IP printables left over before they killed it plus some from the box. it was only $10.99 here. cheap even with just the wags coupon. glad your last deal there went better. i was in there today and used my $6 in RR’s to get a bunch of stuff, including the $20 memory gels. so i spent $20 today and they owe me $20 back. i like it. and i REALLY did need those memory gels! haven’t seen my wags rebate yet but it should be here soon. either that or it got lost in my junk mail! yikes. was it in a real envelope this time? i didn’t do the 10% thing so maybe mine comes differently.