Clark is not a big fan of rebates. So, when his computer died recently, he was not excited about having to shop for a new one. But he saw an ad for a computer that he liked, and it was on sale for $339 after rebates. The only problem was that he had to purchase the monitor and printer, which Clark didn’t need, in order to get the computer at the advertised price. Then, he found out that the price upfront was actually $739, with $400 worth of rebates! To make matters worse, there were seven different rebates he had to submit to get the sale price. The process took Clark more than an hour to organize and send, which worked out to be about 10 minutes for each rebate. Now, he has to wait six to eight weeks for his rebate checks to arrive, and that’s hoping they come at all. The point is that it’s up to you to decide whether $400 is worth more than an hour of your time and a 6-to-8 week wait. That’s a lot of time. But, to Clark, it’s worth it. In the future, figure out if the rebate is worth your time before you purchase an item. The only company that does not make the process very involved and lengthy is Costco, as far as Clark knows. Costco has a very simple online rebate filing process that is unlike any other. But until other companies catch on, you’ll have to put some time into it.