For me, I prefer to receive the discount at the time of purchase. Mail in rebates can be a bit of a hassle, but they are often bigger than the in store ones. What are your views on this?
Perhaps this is a Canadian thing. You go into the store and see the price listed. It will look something like this: Item blahblahblah $500 less mail-in rebate -$50 ------------------------------ your price $450 It is pretty common in the electronics stores. You mail in the rebate card to (I think) the manufacturer and eventually you receive a cheque in the mail.
I think that mail in rebates are just a way of getting the customer to forget about the discount they are getting. Most people who actually apply for the rebate never seem to use it. I also like to receive my discount at the time of purchase, it feels alot better.
I am absolutely not a fan of mail in rebates. Like another poster said, the customer does usually end up forgetting about the rebate and thus the company looks good in the sense that they offered a "deal" but were able to make a full priced sale. In store discounts are much much much better because you really are able to see and reap the benefits of it immediately!
Mail in rebates are a great deal for the retailer, as it offsets the cost of the sale---nobody uses them, and even if they do, the retailer is often in a new fiscal quarter before the money gets back to the consumer! That's a real benefit for shareholders, but it doesn't do you much good when buying a new TV. I'd say retailers have cut down on this method recently, since people "aren't buying it".
