MENARDS REBATE

Ok, no fee or shipping cost in store. Got that. How about rebate can I use that in store for the train set I'm buying? Thanks Dave

Grampstrain is correct. Once you make the purchase, you have to submit the rebate request by mail, and they send a card with the rebate. You take that to Menards and can apply it to subsequent purchases.
Train aisles are up in at least two Menards’s stores I’ve been to recently.

Just a thought here..... Why not buy your set and mail in your rebate. Then you could use the rebate later to add a piece of rolling stock or an accessory for your new train set.

@B rad posted:

Just a thought here..... Why not buy your set and mail in your rebate. Then you could use the rebate later to add a piece of rolling stock or an accessory for your new train set.

That's fine IF one lives within reasonable driving distance of a store.  The requirement to use the rebate in-store isn't user-friendly for many train purchasers.  But that's their rule, and I suspect that the vast majority of Menards' online sales are to people who live near a store - trains are a tiny slice of what Menards sells.  They also don't carry a lot of train items in the stores - about one side of a short aisle for the Christmas season, far less at other times - so the likelihood of finding a particular item in the store is fairly small.

For those who don't live near a store, I have two suggestions - 1) submit the rebate, then send it to a friend who lives near a store, or 2) if you have a friend or family member who lives near a store, have the items shipped to their store and have them bring the stuff when they come to visit you, then give them the rebate.

The whole rebate process includes a lot of manual work and hoops to jump through.  Given the amount of technology that Menards uses, that's gotta be by design to reduce the redemption rate.  But if we don't like the conditions, there are plenty of other places to spend our money.

I think the rebate cards also don’t expire. The receipts do need too be mailed in within a date period, but the actual rebate card itself could be saved for some annual trip to Menards.

Out of curiosity, what set were you going to get? The train isle is up at my local Menards. They have sets with one loco (no dummy), two freight cars, and some track for $250. Ouch.

The nearest (or maybe most convenient) store to me is about 425 or so miles away in Chillicothe, OH so I have anything that I want shipped to that store in time for my annual visit on my way to Springfield. The OH sales tax is less than the shipping and the handling fees so I make out a bit there, plus I have found a few non-train items that I could use.

@Sam Jumper posted:

I think the rebate cards also don’t expire. The receipts do need too be mailed in within a date period, but the actual rebate card itself could be saved for some annual trip to Menards.

Correct that the rebate cards don't expire, but they're like cash - don't lose them.   And if you're making a special trip to the store, don't forget to use them.  Can't tell you how many times I've forgotten to use a rebate.

The receipts have a "last mailing date" on them, but staff at Menards have told me that they don't really adhere to that, at least within reason.  The rebate tracking website has a facility for resubmitting rebates that have been lost, but you need information from the original receipt in order to do that. 

Thanks for all your help everyone

It would be nice if Menards let us use the rebate online.  I would buy more stuff there if that were the case.  There are no Menards within a thousand miles from here so I give the rebates away to forum members who have one nearby.

John

I very much enjoy going to a Menards store. I love their O gauge train equipment. Their rebate system is convoluted. But there is an interesting part about it. If I buy $100 of merchandise and get $11 back a few months later, and then go into the store and buy another $100 of merchandise, then I pay them $89. The interesting thing is the rebate the second time around is not based on the $89 I paid. It is based on the $100, and again I get an $11 rebate. So even though it is convoluted, it is fair for the consumer.

Of all the Fantastic merchandise that Menards sells, only some of their model railroad equipment can be shipped to my address in California. So, they are making special arrangements just for model railroaders. The rebate system is designed to bring traffic into their store. The rebate system was never really meant to accommodate model railroaders.

I have lived in California for 77 years. If I were to list pros and cons about moving from California for model railroading purposes, Menards would be a "pro" for moving to a state that has one of their stores.

(Full disclosure: I have already purchased a house in Cincinnati and I do have a list of pros and cons about moving from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Cincinnati metropolitan area for model railroading purposes)

The mail in rebate (mir) is not that difficult. Keep your receipts, mail them in by the time on the receipt. The form is super easy as you’re allowed to use a return address label instead of entirely filling out the form. Address the envelope, stick it in the mail, that’s it. It’s not hard. The slightly cumbersome part is printing the rebate receipt when buying stuff online. But that’s because of how my computer, et al, is setup. For me it takes about 4 to 5 weeks to get the rebate. I save all of mine and when Menards has the, so far, annual 15% off sale in the first part of the year, that’s when I use them. Unfortunately, that doesn’t fair well for those without easy access to a Menards. I do agree with another poster, I wish they could be used for online purchases.

Steve

@John in California posted:

I very much enjoy going to a Menards store. I love their O gauge train equipment. Their rebate system is convoluted. But there is an interesting part about it. If I buy $100 of merchandise and get $11 back a few months later, and then go into the store and buy another $100 of merchandise, then I pay them $89. The interesting thing is the rebate the second time around is not based on the $89 I paid. It is based on the $100, and again I get an $11 rebate. So even though it is convoluted, it is fair for the consumer.

Of all the Fantastic merchandise that Menards sells, only some of their model railroad equipment can be shipped to my address in California. So, they are making special arrangements just for model railroaders. The rebate system is designed to bring traffic into their store. The rebate system was never really meant to accommodate model railroaders.

I have lived in California for 77 years. If I were to list pros and cons about moving from California for model railroading purposes, Menards would be a "pro" for moving to a state that has one of their stores.

(Full disclosure: I have already purchased a house in Cincinnati and I do have a list of pros and cons about moving from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Cincinnati metropolitan area for model railroading purposes)

While Cinci isn’t San Francisco, there are a lot of things to do in the area. If you like train watching or chasing trains, it’s a great area. CUT is a required visit . A couple of decent train shows in the area. Louisville is about 90 minutes away and there are a couple of decent train shows there as well. There is a Menards, in northern Kentucky, accessible from I75. There’s also one off of I75, north of Cinci (that one I found a little cumbersome to get to due to location). Also two major sports teams, well some would debate the Bengals, “we’ll make the playoffs next year” and a decent hockey team.  I hope you enjoy the area.

Steve