My previous blog entry had me raving about the terrific free after rebate deals at Menards. This entry is about how easy it is to get even more out of these deals.
First off you will need to get the Menards credit card. It's called the BIG CARD. Why get their card? Two reasons - first, they send you a scratch off certificate (usually worth $2 but it can be more) and second, you will get a certificate worth 2% of your purchases somewhere down the road. I just got my certificate enclosed in my cc statement for $10! Oh, I forgot - with each credit card statement are 2 pages of Menards coupons just for their Big Card customers! There is usually a FREE item amoungst those as well!
The FAR items are free BUT the rebate checks that are sent out are to be used against additional purchases at Menards. In other words, you can't cash these checks at your local bank. Menards wants your business and your money and they've come up with an ingenious way to get both. Doesn't matter. I'll show you why in a bit.
Menards has even made tracking rebates easy. They've set up a site www.rebateinternational.com where you can see if your rebate is pending or whether the check was issued. This site lists all your rebates for the past year. Wonderful.
If you're thinking this is too good to be true, well, you're right. Menards does have quantity limits and if you're doing the FAR deals they want you to buy an additional $10 worth of non-rebateable items. So, what do I buy for $10 of non-rebateable items? A Menards $10 gift card! Takes care of everything.
Let's say that you're hooked and on board for all these deals and are swimming in rebate checks, Menards gift cards and Menards reward certificates. Too many to juggle and keep straight. What do you do then? Since I'm somewhat ADD here's what I did - added all the dollar values up, which came to just under $100, went to Menards and grabbed (2) $50 gift cards and bought those cards using the rebate checks, reward certificate and smaller value gift cards plus a couple of bucks out of my pocket!
What am I going to do with my $50 GCs? The most obvious thing would be to keep rolling this sum into FAR deals but then I'd be missing out on the 2% from charging the purchases on the store card. So I'm thinking of offering them as a trade for other store GC's. I understand there is a website for doing just this. Gotta find it.
Menards is the hardware store equivalent to Walgreens health and beauty rebates. Love it!
More about Menards
September 30th, 2006 at 07:21 pm
November 6th, 2006 at 03:09 pm 1162825797
In addition to this horrendous policy, you can't make a payment in their own stores. "The system does not take cash payments." How antiquated is that in the year 2006? Is it possible to accept cash payments? Absolutley! Afterall you can return merchandise and have it credited to your account. Why not give them cash and have it credited to your account?
Regarding rebates. All rebates are for in-store purchases only. The mark up on items in the store are at least 100%. Meaning if you get a $2.00 rebate certificate, it's true value is $1.00. Because you can only use it in their store. Real rebates come in the form of a cash checks not in-store certificates.
Menards makes it all seem wonderful, but the bottom line is that the whole system is designed to get you to use your Big Card, so they can make their money on interest and late fees. If Menards was truly for the customer, why don't they make it more convenient to make a payment on your card in the stores themselves?
For the record Home Depot, Best Buy, Kohls, Sears, JC Penney, and Lowes all allow you to make payments on your credit card in their stores. Menards is all about money, cheap products and fan fare. I use Menards for ancillary things and Home Depot for true quality merchandise!
November 25th, 2006 at 07:42 am 1164440578
November 25th, 2006 at 07:48 am 1164440913
November 28th, 2006 at 02:53 pm 1164725631
November 28th, 2006 at 07:08 pm 1164740901
December 14th, 2006 at 03:23 pm 1166109791
December 31st, 2006 at 10:09 pm 1167602984
January 1st, 2007 at 09:30 am 1167643812
January 22nd, 2007 at 04:53 am 1169441602
February 15th, 2007 at 10:30 pm 1171578605
But the rebates and coupons are nice.
February 27th, 2007 at 10:06 pm 1172613967
March 9th, 2007 at 09:38 pm 1173476302
March 16th, 2007 at 04:03 pm 1174060981
March 19th, 2007 at 06:25 pm 1174328707
April 19th, 2007 at 02:59 am 1176951544
Of course Menards is about taking your money. I work for them. Think about that statereement and apply it to Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, Meijer, Walgreens, and every other retailer out there. Sure we are there to provide a service, but the bottom line is making money. John Menard didn't get into the business over 50 years ago for any reason other than to take your money. Thats not just Menards, thats any business.
April 19th, 2007 at 05:53 pm 1177005212
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:36 pm 1177371415
May 1st, 2007 at 05:52 pm 1178041969
They try to make it hard for you to not get a rebates (I guess). I have no complains about the price front, but I know ace provides lot of rebates for free, they send the checks which can be cashed anywhere and the rebate checks usually arrive within 30 days of filing. Here I have 45 days and I cannot even see my rebates yet online.
May 5th, 2007 at 02:59 am 1178333942
May 10th, 2007 at 06:01 pm 1178820118
1. To Brian Stafford, I've personally made credit card payments at both Home Depot and Best Buy.
2. To Menard's employee, Finance companies do make their money per what you said, but it is up to the company as to what kind of contract they make with "retail services" and can easily opt to allow payments in store. Thank you for confirming the 100% markup on store items, and you are right many are only 10 - 20%.
3. Van Natter pay attention to #2 above
4. To BV, excellent use of low-level terms. An individual uses terms such as yours when they don't have anything intelligent to say.
5. To Gunz, you are right, but John Menard could let his customers make their payments in his own stores couldn't he? After all, what is the right or decent thing to do?
6. To Matt, sorry for your unpleasant experience. In most workplaces, there's always one bad manager who has a God complex.
7. To Mary, thanks for confirming my experiences.
8. To Coupon queen, Can you say loss leader? Many companies put items on sale at below cost prices to get people in their stores. Even free, it is still a tool to get you in the store. Haven't you ever seen eggs for 19 cents a dozen at Easter time - they might as well be free? Or Turkeys for 29 cents a pound at Thanksgiving time? The Free stuff is to get you in the store. Are these items expensive to start with or are they cheapo things? They're loss leaders. Give something away and you'll get'em in the stores, customers will come out with more than just the freebies!
In conclusion, I am definitely biased. Perhaps I've run into more knowledgeable people at Home Depot & Lowes. Maybe I've fallen for the Oak Floor sale that turned out to be a laminent oak floor, maybe I've spent 45 minutes in the paint section because the lady who was helping me didn't know what she was doing, or maybe I went to buy a simple hardware item and Menard's didn't carry it. Maybe I've had to bag my own merchandise and had to make sure I took my own receipt because the store is set up to save money by making the customer do it. Maybe when I read the phrase "rebate", I expect to get a check in the mail rather than another marketing instrument to get me to go back to the store. I don't know, all I know is that somewhere down the line Menards has let me down more than their competitors.
Have a great day and thank you all for your comments.
August 14th, 2007 at 07:07 pm 1187118420
I need a rebate form for a Bowman Plymouth Handle and I can not find it anywhere on the rebate international website. I bought the handle at Menards and they did not have a form!
August 29th, 2007 at 04:52 pm 1188406328
November 4th, 2007 at 03:42 am 1194147768
To even think they mark things up 100% is nuts... with the competition from lowes, home depot, and other big box retailers, they wouldnt stand a chance.
mendards will guarantee an 11% lower price then anyone. Home Depot, by far the largest mega hardware retailers can buy HUGE amounts of products for an unbelievably low price (its another walmart), if we promise an 11% lower price, were lucky if we make 3% profit on an item over $500.
However, there are some very reasonable critiques here. The rebate center isnt what people want. people want cash back, not store credit.
Next, the payments in cash on the big card in store. There is no reasonable explanation on why this cannot be done. EVERY OTHER MEGA HARDWARE RETAILER does this.
i will have to ask this during the next meeting.
The knowledge of employees. Menards has recently put in place a new policy that requires a department to now review one type of item a month. It includes going into details on how an item works, the most common questions asked by customers, and other various related items. There are a few problems with this.
#1. The training is only for items within that department. Hardware will never review a plumbing item.
#2. The majority of workers at menards are people under 25. This is usually the person first job, it could be that they are part time workers home from college, or just people who want a paycheck. With the high turnover rates, it would be nearly impossible to inform every new employee about the item.
My final point is that menards has a pretty liberal view of workers. they are satisfied (to an extent) withemployees as long as they continue to show up at work on time. If i had it my way, you do a bad job, you are out the door.. i wish the store would follow this policy.
November 15th, 2007 at 02:56 pm 1195138568
January 16th, 2008 at 10:55 pm 1200524142
Just my opinion but you seem to be a Home Depot Employee!Many of your facts (fairy tales) are just untrue!!! A little more research and a little less talking! You sound smart but you truly are retarded!!!!
February 2nd, 2008 at 07:20 pm 1201980012
Note: if you keep good (say scanned) records be sure to scan the checks when they come in. I was once able to spend the balance on one (printed out) that had not been returned to me by some new trainee. The courtesy counter simply scanned my printout and gave me the odd amount on gift certificate.
April 12th, 2008 at 11:28 pm 1208042908
April 30th, 2008 at 07:40 pm 1209584412