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Isn't this the idea of a mail in rebate? That they attract attention and people buy the product but hardly nobody bothers to mail them in? I might be off base on that, but that was my thought as to why they are offered.

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From my recollection, the industry stats on mail-in-rebates on (say) hard disks is something like 80% are unclaimed. Cutting a UPC out of the side of a box (and finding a stamp, and copying a tricky address exactly, etc) is a >$15 job for most people...

But for elementary school age me growing up with my poor single mom, when I could string rebates and sales together to build a computer inside $5 case with similar deals on components, it's crazy magic. Thank you lazy people, for making my childhoodd hobby (and the consulting career that has followed) possible.

The mail in rebate is also trying to get feedback from the customer, which is very difficult.

How so?

I always thought mail in rebates were a good way to experiment with the price-sensitivity of the purchase. Is that the feedback you mean?

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