This was something that I often thought about back in my extreme couponing days (10-15 years ago). Â Companies would run these promotions where stuff was free, almost free or even a moneymaker. Â So you would go to the store, sometimes multiple times at multiple stores, and the employees would act all in a huff like they were so annoyed that you were there and act like you were stealing things and/or taking money directly out of their personal paycheck
Two examples of this have come to mind this week
Radpad discontinuing free rent credit card payments
I wrote about this a few weeks ago – Radpad introduced a promotion where, through the end of the year, you could pay your rent with a credit card with no fees, rather than 2.99%
While it was supposed to last through the end of the year, according to Doctor of Credit, that promotion has now ended prematurely. Â A few stats from their blog post
- Prior to the promotion, Android Pay users represented less than 5% of all rent payments on RadPad. Six days after the promotion, Android Pay users represented 70% and the number continues to climb.
- Thousands of renters have signed up in the last two weeks to pay their rent using Android Pay,
- equating to more than $5M in rents.
Although we are overwhelmed that the promotion has gained so much traction, we drastically underestimated just how many people would sign up to pay their rent with Android Pay; and within only a few weeks we’ve surpassed the budget for the entire year that was allocated to subsidize the credit card fee.
Now I get that they had to change it if the promotion dynamics were not what they were expecting but my problem is…. why weren’t they expecting it?
Again, when you are giving away free money (and in this case, we’re talking about free points due to removal of fees), do not surprised when lots of people want it!
Probably at least partially in response to this, Plastiq introduced a promotion where you can pay your rent or mortgage for only 1.75% fee with a credit card
Office Max / Office Depot free money deal
Also this week, there is a deal where Office Max / Office Depot is giving away free money. Â You can buy $600 in Visa gift cards for ~$590, not to mention 3000 Ultimate Rewards per transaction. Â So again, I’ve visited multiple stores multiple times (I’m surprised at how much the $200 cards are still in stock!)
And again, when I go, there is this attitude that I am somehow stealing money. Â And I get that there is often fraud with gift cards but it’s annoying to by default be treated like I am doing something illegal. Â And that’s not to mention the fact that some stores say that it’s “corporate policy” to CALL IN the auth for my credit card so it seems to take forever…
Though I guess there is one reason that cashiers keep giving me the stink-eye when I’m trying to buy lots of gift cards….
I think we all should have learned by now that there’s something magical about the word “free”….
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nothing against them (and i think many have worked hard to earn their posts), but people with strategic discretion in financial institutions have perhaps not experienced a true “working-class” lifestyle for years, if ever. i simply think they don’t understand how tight the average American’s budget is. when you live paycheck to paycheck, you’ll take every dollar you can touch without crossing your own moral boundaries. and i think execs forget HOW MANY folks are living paycheck to paycheck in this country.
They are a start up, not the size of über. Give them a break. Do you really want them going out of business?
Yes
To this I would add the Lounge Buddy $40 free promotion which was supposed to go until 10/31 but was ended after only a few days. Granted, the terms said the promotion ended on 10/31 “or while supplies last”, but did they really think no one was going to take advantage of this offer? Why even give a totally ridiculous end date of 10/31. They had to know that their supply of passes would be totally gone in no time.
In my travels I frequent Office Depots and find that the attitude of the store varies wildly from store to store and from geographic location to location.
“My store” lost their mind when I dared to open the gift card door hiding the back stock. Today I am much further south and when the girl told me they had been out of Visas for over a week I showed her how the door opens and she about threw a party celebrating with all her co-workers over the stacks of Visa Cards behind the “secret door”.
All OD in my area were happy to for more $200 cards. One was surprised when we suggested opening the gift card door. She never knew it existed but was friendly and brought them out. Of course there is always one store manager who hates being bothered with this deal and says there are no more. Luckily not many bad managers that I’ve run into. It was a great week.
What is the gift card door?? New guy here
Inside where all the gift cards are at OD/OM is a “secret stash” of more gift cards. Sometimes there are more cards in there.
Isn’t the secret door to the stash at the om’s only?. That’s my experience as ods often hide any additional stash in other nooks and cupboards.
But the point is u should always ask if you don’t see your favorite…flavors…on the display,