Bureaucracy
I was pulling out of the garage the other day when my neighbor from across the alley came up to the car. He handed me an envelope marked "Kellog Watch Offer" and said that his wife was a vegetarian and ate Rice Krispies all the time. He had saved 4 tokens from the box for a Barbie "Mommy and Me watch set". If you send in the 4 tokens plus the entry form from the box you will receive 2 matching watches- one Mommy sized and one kid sized.
I thought this was really sweet of him to think of us, especially since our contact with him is really limited to the occasional wave in the alley. Ellie is starting to get really into accessories (don't know where she gets that from), so I decided to fill out the form and send it in.
I was reading the fine print on the form, mostly to make sure there was no shipping cost (there isn't if you have the 4 tokens) and something struck me as odd. "You will receive your watches in 90 days."
Ummm... 90 days? Really? Why???????
It's not that I have a burning desire to wear this watch and I can't bear to wait 3 months for it. I just wonder why. Why does it take 3 months? Is there that much of a back-up? Could there possibly be that many other saps who saved the 4 tokens and sent them in? It's the same for rebates- most of them say to allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Ok , I can wait that long, but 90 days... Come on! We might not even be living here in 90 days. What then, I ask, what then????
Is it some sort of conspiracy set to deter people from applying for the offer? "Oh, that's too long. I better just forget it then."
Ha Snap! Or is it you, Crackle, are you the one? Ha! I'm sending it in! And you better just send those damn watches! I'll be counting the days!
I thought this was really sweet of him to think of us, especially since our contact with him is really limited to the occasional wave in the alley. Ellie is starting to get really into accessories (don't know where she gets that from), so I decided to fill out the form and send it in.
I was reading the fine print on the form, mostly to make sure there was no shipping cost (there isn't if you have the 4 tokens) and something struck me as odd. "You will receive your watches in 90 days."
Ummm... 90 days? Really? Why???????
It's not that I have a burning desire to wear this watch and I can't bear to wait 3 months for it. I just wonder why. Why does it take 3 months? Is there that much of a back-up? Could there possibly be that many other saps who saved the 4 tokens and sent them in? It's the same for rebates- most of them say to allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Ok , I can wait that long, but 90 days... Come on! We might not even be living here in 90 days. What then, I ask, what then????
Is it some sort of conspiracy set to deter people from applying for the offer? "Oh, that's too long. I better just forget it then."
Ha Snap! Or is it you, Crackle, are you the one? Ha! I'm sending it in! And you better just send those damn watches! I'll be counting the days!
posted by kroushlconflict at 7:29 PM
3 Comments:
I can explain. They wait for enough orders to fill a batch for a Standard Class Mail drop. They used to call it Bulk Mail, but it's the same thing. There's a minimum number of items in packages that meet a certain specification for weight and dimension that you can place into the mail system for something around 20 cents a package. They work their way through the system with the lowest priority. At any point in the system, when there is nothing to do, nobody is on break and they think of it, your items progresses to the next point. The 90 days accounts for the time it takes to amass enough orders and then to sloth their way through to you.
And THAT'S how it's done!
Wow!
Are you sure it's not because Snap, Crackle and Pop are some lazy bitches?
I can explain. They figure you won't check up on it for 90 days and most people will have forgotten about the whole thing three months out. They were never going to send your watches because Crackle is named that for a reason. He's trading your coupons for rocks, yo.
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