Mail In Rebates

I promised to talk more about Mail in Rebates.. so here goes:

Mail in Rebates, or MIR for short, is another mechanism, like discounts and coupons, for manufacturers to get rid of their goods. The way it works is like this:

You purchase a product, say, for $100 and get a $40 rebate. So the product, by right, only costs $60. But you have to pay $100 first (plus tax, which is 8% here in california, so it becomes 108). Then, in order to get your $40 rebate, you will need to first get a rebate form, your receipt (original), and the UPC (universal product code) sticker (original) on the box of the product. Fill up the form, and send it in to an address by regular mail. Thats it, you get your rebate 2-3 months later in the mail (if you're lucky. If you're not, they might "lose" your form, or "forget" about it, or simply deny ever accepting it.)

I know it sounds complicated. Its supposed to be complicated.

Mail in rebates are good for the consumer because they can say "hey, i bought xx for $60, because of the rebate!"

MIR are good for the manufacturer because
1- they can get rid of slow selling products
2- only a small fraction (i'm guessing 10%) actually fill up the form and send it in. And an even smaller fraction of those MIR that gets sent back contains a valid UPC and receipt.
3- They can meanwhile use your money (the $40) to invest. those big companies i'm thinking they can get a return of about 20% on that money in 1 year. and they keep your money for 3 months, so thats about 5%.
4- By submitting the original UPC and receipt, you are giving up the right to return the product.

Surprisingly, MIR seems to be exclusive to the United States. I wonder why.