Menards Rebates

So..... I have been doing some thinking (which is almost never a good thing -- HA).

Many of you are familiar with Menards, right?  It's a lumberyard like Lowe's, like Home Depot, etc.

Menards sells a whole lot of stuff where rebates are offered.  Rebates that come in the form of store credit.

You buy the item.

You get a rebate receipt.

You pick up a rebate coupon.

You fill out the rebate coupon.

You mail the coupon and receipt to Elk Mound, Wisconsin.

The rebate is processed.

A rebate certificate is mailed to you.

You spend that certificate at Menards.

Money spent at Menards becomes more money spent at Menards.

It is a genius marketing strategy.

Gets customers in the store.

Gets them to buy stuff -- stuff they might not otherwise buy.

Then gets them back in the store to spend their rebate bucks.

Round and round and round and round.

I figure that Menards has a little overhead wrapped up in this.....

- printing all the forms

- keeping the shelf announcements about rebates updated

- paying for all the rebate processing up in Elk Mound, Wisconsin

- dealing with a few headaches about lost submissions, etc.

But, I have to think they are making out like bandits on this program.

Why?

What percentage of rebate forms are never submitted?  It's gotta be in the 15-25% range.

Then, what percentage of rebate forms that are mailed get lost in the mail?  It would be small, but there are some.

And, what percentage of rebate forms get rejected at the processing center for not following the rules -- such things as filled out wrong or submitted past the due date?  Maybe 2-3%?

Then, what percentage of the rebate certificates get lost -- either in the mail on their way back to the customer or by the customer at home?  Again, the number lost in the mail would be small, but the percentage never redeemed by the customer could reach 5%, I'd think.

So, based on that unscientific analysis, somewhere between 18% and 35% of rebates earned never become rebates redeemed.

That is huge, ABSOLUTELY HUGE, for Menards.  Money that goes right to their bottom line, after appropriate accounting treatment of course.

Money they can use to..... print more rebate forms.

Round and round and round and round.

Out for now......

Matt