A foolish consistency

Father's Day

This past weekend was a big one for me - Sunday was both Father's Day and my birthday.

By family tradition (OK, my tradition) if my birthday falls on Father's Day, then we celebrate it on the 18th instead.  So Saturday was my "birthday day" and Sunday was Father's Day.  It was about me this weekend!

My children gave me some nice thoughtful gifts.  I'm a Mariner's fan, so Lea gave me a Mariner's T-shirt and Lisa gave me a new replacement for my worn-out Mariner's sweatshirt. I like to grill, so Lana gave me a rib rack to that holds ribs vertically to allow more to fit into the grill.  Also Lea gave me a new tape measure to replace the one I broke a few weeks ago, and Lana gave me a laser level which is an incredibly cool gizmo.  Another nifty gizmo Lisa gave me is an electrically charged bug zapper - looks like a small tennis racket.  I tried it out on some innocent bumblebees in the front yard, works great!

I have a tradition of seeing new Batman movies on my birthday, so Lea gave me tickets to the Sunday night showing. My wife of course also gave me some nice things - a gift certificate for a massage at a local day spa and some cologne.

The weather was quite nice all weekend.  Saturday morning my friend Larry and I went for a 25 mile ride.  Although I had once planned to do the Flying Wheels event, I somehow thought that was the 25th.  I didn't want to spend 7 hours on the 18th on a ride, but a 90 minute ride was just great.

Sunday I went for a 14 mile run at Marymoore Park.  I'm mostly ready for the Seafair Marathon on July 10th - I am certain I can complete the distance, now it's a matter of how fast I can do it and how challenging the experience will be.  So I have to keep up the long runs, holiday or no holiday.  My time was about 2:10, which is a bit slower than I'd like.  The mid-day heat was starting to get to me, raising my heart rate into 85%-90% of max which is way too high to run such long distances at speed.

After the run, my family joined me for a 14 mile bike ride on exactly the same path.  This time I was on my mountain bike, so we could do some of the little side trails that parallel the main trail.  It was a lot of fun to ride with my family.  Theresa is certainly feeling the 14 miles today, though - that's her longest ride since last year.

After the run, we had dinner at home on the deck. The great sunny weather continued, amazingly enough given our recent long run of gray and dreary weather.  Then it was off to see Batman Begins, which was enjoyable enough.  I'll probably write a quick review of that later.

I even managed to stay off email and the computer most of the weekend, so all in all it was a relaxing way to spend my birthday / Father's Day weekend.

The Rebate Game

I absolutely detest the rebate game that's so popular at places like Office Depot, Best Buy, etc.

The other day I purchased an LCD monitor for $379 with $130 in rebates.  Of course, that's two separate rebates ($100 and $30).   Each rebate form has to have the serial number of the monitor, my name & address, etc.  They must be mailed in a separate envelopes, but of course they go to the same address.  Both need the UPC code (one says original, one accepts a photocopy).  Both need the receipt (original or photocopy). 

So I have to cut out the UPC code, photocopy it (actually, scan and print on my system), same for the receipt, fill out two forms, address two envelopes, etc. 

Of course, it's worth it for 130 bucks, but you and I both know they just as easily could have sold it to me for $249 on the spot and been done with it.  And you and I both know that's exactly what they don't want to do.

They want me to jump through hoops, because they know that the rebate redemption rate drops with each hoop.  The whole thing gets forgotten so the deadlines get missed, the original packaging gets tossed (oops! I need the UPC!), people miss a step in the instructions or leave an entry on the form blank, and so forth.  I read an article on this a while back that said rebate redemption rates vary from 20% up to 90%, directly depending on the rebate amount.  But it's never 100%.  There's always some percentage of people who don't redeem.  And that's why the rebate game is so popular.  The company can advertise a low, low price "with rebate!", yet not actually sell every unit at that price.

This is really no way to treat your customers, but apparently we sheep are so used to the rebate game we all play along.  Pathetic.