Rebate Hell

TheAgitator.com has an interesting post (and link to this Slate piece) on the current rebate madness at electronics stores. The piece caught my eye in particular as I just put in the mail two different rebates on my new laptop.

And no joke (from Slate):

All of this hoop-jumping fuss—the paperwork, the postmarking, the sales slips—is quite unnecessary, says Leonard. Fulfillment centers can now do it all online—whether or not the purchase was online, with a credit card, or with cash. They don't need the UPCs or the old phones or any such nonsense. The sales receipt could contain a unique code number that the consumer could enter into a Web site. Think of that the next time you are dissecting a box to get a lousy UPC code.