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Thread: Home Depot sure likes to waste money issuing rebates!

  1. #1
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    Home Depot sure likes to waste money issuing rebates!

    Home Depot has a 11% rebate match whenever Menards has their 11% rebate. (Only offered if Home Depot stores have Menards stores in the local market.) They give a minimum $1 gift card no matter the size of your purchase. If the registers aren't busy during rebate time I will put each item that is under $9 on separate transactions so I get a $1 gift card for each item. I sometimes get $1 gift cards for stuff that costs less than $1.

    Home Depot mails each physical gift card separately rather than combining rebates onto a single gift card. With many $1 gift cards I sometimes get a 1/2" thick stack of Home Depot envelopes in my mailbox. It is a complete waste of money to send me all those individual cards. The biggest waste is a few days ago I got a Priority Mail envelope from Home Depot. I thought it seemed strange they used Priority Mail, but I thought maybe my bigger gift cards were in the envelope. There were two sealed envelopes inside the big envelope with gift cards in them. Each gift card had a value of $1! They spent at least $5 to mail me $2 worth of gifts cards instead of $1 to mail them in two separate envelopes. They normally mail them 1st class in separate envelopes. I did like a dozen rebate requests online one after another on the same day. If they are going to use Priority Mail why not put them all in one envelope then? Instead, they ship two or three cards one day, another two or three a day or two later, and so on until they are all shipped.

    The way Home Depot handles their rebates is just a huge waste of money and resources. Menards is a lot harder to do the rebates since the receipts have to be mailed, but at least they combine everything on a single merchandise credit to save money. Menards uses paper that I think they recycle. Home Depot sends a ton of plastic gift cards that end up in the trash.

  2. #2
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  3. #3
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    I don't think the rebates are a waste of money. They are only matching Menards so all their customers don't go to Menards instead. How Home Depot processes the rebates is a huge waste of money. They would save a lot of money by combining all the rebates submitted in one day on a single gift card sent via first class mail.

    I shop at both Home Depot and Menards mostly depending on what I am purchasing that day. They are a block apart for me. Home Depot gets the nod sometimes when Menards has the rebate because the Home Depot rebates can be submitted online.

  4. #4
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    What are you buying at Home Depot for less than a dollar?

  5. #5
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    Some electrical parts like PVC conduit couplers, PVC conduit threaded adapters, and the like cost less than $1. I bought a lot of this type of stuff in 2020 and 2021 for major electrical work on my house.

  6. #6
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    Hadn't thought of those, thanks for clarifying although I'm not sure I would go to much effort to get a $1.00 gift card and I consider myself pretty cheap err frugal.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    If the registers aren't busy during rebate time I will put each item that is under $9 on separate transactions so I get a $1 gift card for each item. I sometimes get $1 gift cards for stuff that costs less than $1.
    This... is why I abandon residential/retail sales in my business. These box operations are breeding a mentality that simply can not exist outside destroying other countries for dirt cheap goods to feed the foolishness of the U.S. consumer. Sorry Brian.. while I find this stuff (and this mentality) utterly disgusting, on a flip side I have to applaud you in hopes that that this type of consumer will bankrupt the corporate box. That said, it will never happen because they have their margins protected and the wrath of things like this are taken out on the vendor, the customer, and the planet.

    This kind of stuff has us headed for nothing but misery. Imagine someone sitting at a register ringing out one item at a time... utter foolishness.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    This... is why I abandon residential/retail sales in my business. These box operations are breeding a mentality that simply can not exist outside destroying other countries for dirt cheap goods to feed the foolishness of the U.S. consumer. Sorry Brian.. while I find this stuff (and this mentality) utterly disgusting, on a flip side I have to applaud you in hopes that that this type of consumer will bankrupt the corporate box. That said, it will never happen because they have their margins protected and the wrath of things like this are taken out on the vendor, the customer, and the planet.

    This kind of stuff has us headed for nothing but misery. Imagine someone sitting at a register ringing out one item at a time... utter foolishness.
    This is self checkout so I'm not tying up a cashier and I certainly don't do it if there are people waiting to check out. I don't think I've ever done more than five separate transactions in one trip. All of the PVC electrical items I buy at Home Depot are made in the USA. A fair bit of the Leviton stuff I buy is also made in the USA. Wire is pretty much made in the USA too.

    I don't think going to an electrical supply house is going to yield any more USA made things than a big box store. The electrical trades are very competitive and more and more is being imported to win bids. I have purchased stuff at a local electrical supply before, but only for stuff I can't get elsewhere.

  9. #9
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    This kind of stuff has us headed for nothing but misery. Imagine someone sitting at a register ringing out one item at a time... utter foolishness.
    Worse than that - -I've been behind that person in that line - while I was making a run to pick up materials for the crew that was going to be standing around looking at each other when I didn't get back as quick as I should.
    My granddad always said, :As one door closes, another opens".
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  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    This is self checkout so I'm not tying up a cashier and I certainly don't do it if there are people waiting to check out. I don't think I've ever done more than five separate transactions in one trip. All of the PVC electrical items I buy at Home Depot are made in the USA. A fair bit of the Leviton stuff I buy is also made in the USA. Wire is pretty much made in the USA too.

    I don't think going to an electrical supply house is going to yield any more USA made things than a big box store. The electrical trades are very competitive and more and more is being imported to win bids. I have purchased stuff at a local electrical supply before, but only for stuff I can't get elsewhere.
    I completely understand your logic Brian. And the honest answer is if they are offering it, take it. Take every ounce of it you can. No different than the coupon shopper walking out with a truckload of stuff for $3. Its no different than when they had no questions asked no receipt return policy and contractors were buying nail guns to shoot a job then returning them. As I said, the flip side to my questioning the people who do such things (not that you are a scammer) is that you should be applauded for pushing their boundaries without any wrong doing and taking their money. Robin Hood in effect lol...

    The point is... its unsustainable. But thats not your concern.. they are going to make their millions regardless so in hind sight ring everything out at sub $9 or >$1 and keep it up til they close he loophole.

    The wild part of it all is the amount of money these places technically "lose" with this sort of stuff and they are still wildly profitable. Cant help but to wonder if we are in an unrecoverable spiral.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Rich Engelhardt View Post
    Worse than that - -I've been behind that person in that line - while I was making a run to pick up materials for the crew that was going to be standing around looking at each other when I didn't get back as quick as I should.
    Well yeah.. but that is what it is. My argument for years with that is to be dealing with a yard/supplier that when you get in your truck and head after something you call it in, and its sitting in a box on the dock waiting for you when you get there and you dont have to walk inside or even sign a sheet of paper... again.. we've sold our souls and now we pay.

  12. #12
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    Personally, I would rather Home Depot just combine all the rebates submitted on the same day into one gift card even if I "lose" a few bucks. I think I do the separate transactions thing partially to get back at HD for sending me so darn many gift cards. Just my normal shopping at HD I can end up with a dozen receipts to enter for the rebates. They then send me a dozen gift cards so I end up at the register for five to ten minutes typing in PIN numbers to redeem all the gift cards after I get them.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    This is self checkout so I'm not tying up a cashier and I certainly don't do it if there are people waiting to check out. I don't think I've ever done more than five separate transactions in one trip. All of the PVC electrical items I buy at Home Depot are made in the USA. A fair bit of the Leviton stuff I buy is also made in the USA. Wire is pretty much made in the USA too.

    I don't think going to an electrical supply house is going to yield any more USA made things than a big box store. The electrical trades are very competitive and more and more is being imported to win bids. I have purchased stuff at a local electrical supply before, but only for stuff I can't get elsewhere.
    How do you do that at self checkout? I thought you had to go to customer service to ask for the rebate equivalent.

    Scott

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Brader View Post
    How do you do that at self checkout? I thought you had to go to customer service to ask for the rebate equivalent.
    For the Menards 11% rebate match you take your receipt home and enter the details online on a website to get your rebate, or download a rebate form from the website if you want to use postal mail for some reason. The Home Depot stores have not done the Menards 11% match in store in my area for at least three years. Customer service used to have a paper handout with the directions to get your Menards 11% match rebate. https://www.homedepotrebates11percent.com/

    They still manually match the Menards 15% bag in the store.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    For the Menards 11% rebate match you take your receipt home and enter the details online on a website to get your rebate, or download a rebate form from the website if you want to use postal mail for some reason. The Home Depot stores have not done the Menards 11% match in store in my area for at least three years. Customer service used to have a paper handout with the directions to get your Menards 11% match rebate. https://www.homedepotrebates11percent.com/

    They still manually match the Menards 15% bag in the store.
    Thanks! I have both options in my area but I prefer to shop at HD when I can.

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