[SRR500]

Am I the only one who doesn't understand the point to mail in rebates?

The phone is advertised as being FREE! (After $100 mail in rebate)

So you pay them $100 and then they give it right back. What is the benefit to the carrier? There must be one or they would just have the phone free in the first place.

Anybody have any ideas?

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[thecoach1999]

Because only 30% of ppl mail in their rebates.

[Jaguarr40]

Besides the previous answer it is just marketing with the carrier and nothing more. They all do it if it is not an instand rebate. No benefit really to anyone other than the marketing dept. and how the carrier wants to do it.

[SRR500]

Wow. I didn't realize that that many people would say no thank you to $100 (or whatever the ammount might be).

No wonder the carriers go the rebate route. I would too.

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[elvin1983]

Sam's Club and the majority of 3rd party retailers don't require you to do the mail in rebate. This is because they have to purchase their inventory, and aren't bound to offering the mail in rebate.

[Mister Xiado]

Separate companies provide and handle the rebates under the branding of the face company.

Most people don't know that Asurion is the company the provides phone insurance, not the actual carriers.

But then, many people still think that the carriers manufacture the phones.

[movi3king]

Best buy has instant rebates.
Also, Many people don't mail in their rebates and companies invest the $100 over the 60-90 days that they have it.

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[T�nis]

I think Sprint recently did away with mail-in rebates and changed over to all instant rebates.

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[Anonymous94587689]

see Rebate (marketing) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[southlander]

Wow. I didn't realize that that many people would say no thank you to $100 (or whatever the ammount might be).

No wonder the carriers go the rebate route. I would too.

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Yes people will surprise you. I know a couple of people within my circle of friends and family that do not mail in rebates. I even know people that will not bother to return products they order incorrectly or that are defective.

[T�nis]

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebate_(marketing)

From the linked article:

"A common complaint against rebates is the claim that rebates can be used as a form of 'price discrimination' against members of lower classes who are less likely to redeem rebates than a more educated middle class. Sridhar Moorthy, marketing professor at the University of Toronto also advocates a 'price discrimination' theory between 'people who are price-sensitive and people who are not price-sensitive.' A different view, as taken by the BusinessWeek article, is that rebates can be viewed as a 'tax on the disorganized' that is paid by those who do not submit their rebates as opposed to those who do."

Seems appropriate that there would be a price on ignorance, stupidity, and laziness

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[MobileMadness002]

Separate companies provide and handle the rebates under the branding of the face company.

Most people don't know that Asurion is the company the provides phone insurance, not the actual carriers.

But then, many people still think that the carriers manufacture the phones.

What do you mean, carriers don't manufacture the phones? Since when.....

[ChillFactorz]

Besides the 60% of people not redeeming, their is also the interest earned over the 2-3 months it takes to, cash in on the rebate. And the third thing is we pay the sales tax on the full price of the phone then receive the rebate. I can see why companies offer this rebate, I'm curious how much the company makes from offering a $100 rebate.

[SRR500]

A lesser benefit to the rebates (for the carrier) is the switch to pre-loaded debit cards. Most people probably aren't aware of the fact that if the balance is below $10.00 you can "cash out" the card.

I didn't know untill I read the linked article from the earlier post.

I would always have a little left on the card. Just some change, that was left to expire. Depending on the number of cards sent out that little bit could add up over time.

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[Mister Xiado]

And the third thing is we pay the sales tax on the full price of the phone

In California, yes.

You pay the tax on the pre-MIR price of the phone in any other state, and the tax rate is MUCH lower. As in, if a phone costs $50 with a contract and has no rebate, you pay tax on the $50, not the X-hundred dollar no-contract price.