Post

Jon
@musselwhite.dev

Has anyone else tried claiming Box Tops for Education's "free snack with purchase via rebate"? It is turning out to be quite an epic adventure for me. First, the app couldn't recognize any Box Top products in the picture of my Martin's receipt, but that's no big deal; OCR is hard. ...

Jon
@musselwhite.dev

The app invited me to request a correction, so I sent it and promptly forgot about it. A few days later, a template-style email arrived from their support department saying that upon checking my receipt from "S&S Fuel" (never heard of it), they were "happy" to credit $0.20 for the school. ...

Jon
@musselwhite.dev

No mention of my snack rebate and they asked me to reply if I was expecting more. Odd, I thought, but I replied anyway with a photo of the snack's box (UPC visible), a scanned copy of the receipt, and a screenshot of the in-app call-to-action for the offer (just for fun). ...

Jon
@musselwhite.dev

Few days later, they replied: I qualify for a $4.49 rebate because the offer is for the lower-cost of qualifying snacks purchased. The problem is $4.49 was for Red Baron pizza. That's not a snack, it's not a General Mills brand, and (more importantly) it's not on their list of qualified snacks. ...

Jon
@musselwhite.dev

Plus, they didn't identify it the first time, so picking it only when faced with the prospect of paying what they owe slaps of "sludge", the art of friction and bad intentions to make a process more difficult in order to arrive at an outcome that is not in the best interest of the sludged. ...

behavioraleconomics.comSludge

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Jon
@musselwhite.dev

They owe me $11.99 for Nature Valley bars, the only qualifying snack on the same receipt as the cereal with the offer, and $0.10 to the school, but it's not worth it. Having lost hope that @generalmills.com will honor the rebate through their designated process, I cc-ed a few people in my reply. ...

Jon
@musselwhite.dev

Schwan's should know that General Mills' Box Tops for Education is calling their pizza a "snack" and using it to avoid paying what they really owe. General Mills corporate officers should know that their process is failing spectacularly (or working perfectly, depending on your perspective). ...

Jon
@musselwhite.dev

Unfortunately, a quick web search uncovered a Florida TV station's news report from 2020 about the transition to the app resulting in a decrease in payouts to schools, and based on this experience I can see why. Perhaps it is working as intended. Perhaps "Lucky Charms" aren't so lucky after all. ...

winknews.comSome schools say Box Tops revenue is down one year after its app goes liveMany parents and students alike remember clipping Box Tops off of their groceries and taking them to school. Each clipping could mean a ten-cent donation, resulting in additional funds for