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Why Borders, why?




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DarkWarLord



Joined: 03 Aug 2005
Posts: 141
Location: Tucson, Arizona
PostPosted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:54 pm Reply with quote
I've recently noticed that Borders coupon system has changed for the worse. You have to spend $20 before they can even let you use the coupon. Also, you only get 20% off of one of the items that you bought. I just wanted to know if everyone elses coupons were like this too.
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LydiaDianne



Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 5634
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:08 pm Reply with quote
DarkWarLord wrote:
I've recently noticed that Borders coupon system has changed for the worse. You have to spend $20 before they can even let you use the coupon. Also, you only get 20% off of one of the items that you bought. I just wanted to know if everyone else's coupons were like this too.


I use B. Dalton/Barnes & Noble. If you get a Barnes & Noble card, which is $25 a year, you will get 10% off of everything you buy. And since I do buy a lot of books, this pays off quite nicely for me.

I did think about getting the Borders rewards card but when they told me that it just accumulates points that you can only use at certain times of the year (I was told November/December), I passed.
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Wolverine Princess



Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1100
PostPosted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:35 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I did think about getting the Borders rewards card but when they told me that it just accumulates points that you can only use at certain times of the year (I was told November/December), I passed.


I've got a Borders Rewards card. 10% of whatever you buy during the year goes into your account, and you can have a mini shopping spree around Christmas time. If you don't buy a LOT of books, it's a big rip off, though. I've only got about $11 saved up.
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LydiaDianne



Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 5634
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:45 pm Reply with quote
Wolverine Princess wrote:
Quote:
I did think about getting the Borders rewards card but when they told me that it just accumulates points that you can only use at certain times of the year (I was told November/December), I passed.


I've got a Borders Rewards card. 10% of whatever you buy during the year goes into your account, and you can have a mini shopping spree around Christmas time. If you don't buy a LOT of books, it's a big rip off, though. I've only got about $11 saved up.


Yeah, that's it. That's why I passed. Barnes & Noble's better Very Happy Exclamation
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ShadrachAnki



Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 180
Location: New England
PostPosted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:17 pm Reply with quote
DarkWarLord wrote:
I've recently noticed that Borders coupon system has changed for the worse. You have to spend $20 before they can even let you use the coupon. Also, you only get 20% off of one of the items that you bought. I just wanted to know if everyone elses coupons were like this too.

The coupons have always been for a single item that you purchase, so that much hasn't changed.

As for the change to where you have to spend $20 before you can use the coupon...well, it makes logical sense. Without that restriction a person could go in every single day the coupon was valid with a new printed copy and buy one thing at 20 or 30 percent off the cover price. If you had a Borders and a Borders Express/Waldenbooks in the same rough area, you could get two books a day this way.

While that is really nice for the consumers, it isn't good business sense, so they put restrictions on it to protect their profit margin.

I have a Borders Rewards card because it's free, and in general Borders has a better manga selection than Barnes & Noble does. Sure, the rewards aren't as nice as B&N, but they're still there. I also have access to a B&N rewards card, so it works out nicely. Between the two programs, I tend to prefer Barnes & Noble, but Borders isn't bad.

~Shadrach Anki
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DarkWarLord



Joined: 03 Aug 2005
Posts: 141
Location: Tucson, Arizona
PostPosted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:36 pm Reply with quote
I have a Borders Reward card and I do shop there a lot so I guess that helps, but it was so much cheaper for me to only buy one book at a time. Oh well....
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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:26 pm Reply with quote
Wolverine Princess wrote:
Quote:
I did think about getting the Borders rewards card but when they told me that it just accumulates points that you can only use at certain times of the year (I was told November/December), I passed.


I've got a Borders Rewards card. 10% of whatever you buy during the year goes into your account, and you can have a mini shopping spree around Christmas time. If you don't buy a LOT of books, it's a big rip off, though. I've only got about $11 saved up.


Eh, that's not how mine works. After spending $50 a month, you get an additional 10% off for the entire day IN ADDITION to any coupons you use. As for the mini-shopping spree, I was under the impression it was a bit different (get a $5 gift card for every $X you spend or something, but it amounts to the same thing). And I just looked and it's 5%, not 10%.

EDIT: You also save more with the coupons than if you didn't have the card. The coupon's only give you 10% off without the Borders card.

But unlike the B&N card, which costs $25, the Borders card is free.

Maybe the B&N card has changed since back when I had one, but when I had one, it only gave you 10% off of purchases. That was it. No shopping sprees or anything. Is that still all it does, or are there more benefits now?

LydiaDianne wrote:

Yeah, that's it. That's why I passed. Barnes & Noble's better Very Happy Exclamation


I disagree, but to each his own.

ShadrachAnki wrote:

As for the change to where you have to spend $20 before you can use the coupon...well, it makes logical sense. Without that restriction a person could go in every single day the coupon was valid with a new printed copy and buy one thing at 20 or 30 percent off the cover price. If you had a Borders and a Borders Express/Waldenbooks in the same rough area, you could get two books a day this way.


True. By buying each book separately, I was able to buy a bunch of books in one day and get 20-25% (without the extra 10%) each Thursday. While you can do something like that, it's a bit more difficult to abuse. So it DOES make sense.

While the new coupons aren't quite as good, they basically give you the same discount as B&N if you get two $10 books (more if you get one thats more than that and one thats a bit less but still equals $20).

So with the Borders card, I can get the same discounts plus earn money towards a shopping spree and my card is free, while a B&N card member has to buy $250 worth of books before they actually start getting the benefits for their card.
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Krylancelo



Joined: 04 Jun 2006
Posts: 27
PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:17 am Reply with quote
Books-a-million (Bookland) is the one around where I live. Or i can go to a bigger city for Borders. Books-a-million seems to have the same setup as Barnes and Noble though. Also I dunno if this happened to anyone else but i got this coupon from Borders (the one you guys are talking about i think), but I had to use it within like a three day span, which is not good since that store is like an hour away from me...they need to change that IMO.
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freshkazuki



Joined: 27 May 2005
Posts: 235
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:25 am Reply with quote
From what I've seen, the coupons vary each week, so sometimes they say you have to spend a certain amount like
$20 but others have no such minimum. The thing that has bothered me about their coupons is that some of them say you can only use one per day! To me, it's not a ripoff because you're not paying anything for it anyway.
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Abarenbo Shogun



Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 1573
PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:10 pm Reply with quote
1. Go into Borders. Buy something cheap (their Truffles is like 3 for a dollar at Express). Request a new card. (Helps if you have multiple locations aruound your area).
2. Register new card.
3. Get the 30% off coupon. You have a week and a half to go crazy with the coupon.
4. Repeat as needed.

Keep track of the Holiday Savings Account so that you can also take advantage of the 5% dollar back credit between November to January. That, or register two accounts (One for the 30% coupon, one for the $5 credit into that Holiday Savings Account) and use the $5 account card with the 30% off coupons.

freshkazuki wrote:
The thing that has bothered me about their coupons is that some of them say you can only use one per day!


Once in the morning, once at night. Simple as that.
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joel_s95387



Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1804
Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn
PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:44 pm Reply with quote
LydiaDianne wrote:
Wolverine Princess wrote:
Quote:
I did think about getting the Borders rewards card but when they told me that it just accumulates points that you can only use at certain times of the year (I was told November/December), I passed.


I've got a Borders Rewards card. 10% of whatever you buy during the year goes into your account, and you can have a mini shopping spree around Christmas time. If you don't buy a LOT of books, it's a big rip off, though. I've only got about $11 saved up.


Yeah, that's it. That's why I passed. Barnes & Noble's better Very Happy Exclamation

As mentioned before, Borders Rewards is free. And you get $5 (to add to the credit you've built up), or a 25% coupon, just for signing up. Why pass on something that is free. I've only accumulated about $11 as well, but with Spring semester looming around the corner, Those points/moneys will add up real soon. I buy my most expensive English books at borders with those coupons they always give away. But this year, I'll be seeing money back from the books I buy, even if it's not that much, it'll probably get me a couple of manga volumes.

As for those coupons where you must spend atleast $20, it sucks for manga buyers, but doesn't hurt us who buy anime there. They always seem to have hard-to-find titles that are either not available at Best Buy, or retail at Suncoast. Borders has them near retail, but with the 25% off coupon, it evens out.
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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 8:11 pm Reply with quote
Abarenbo Shogun wrote:

freshkazuki wrote:
The thing that has bothered me about their coupons is that some of them say you can only use one per day!


Once in the morning, once at night. Simple as that.


That may not be necessary. The clerks at the Borders I go to didn't care and just did each book (or books, depending on the coupon requirements) as separate transactions.
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Abarenbo Shogun



Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 1573
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:31 am Reply with quote
HitokiriShadow wrote:
Abarenbo Shogun wrote:

freshkazuki wrote:
The thing that has bothered me about their coupons is that some of them say you can only use one per day!


Once in the morning, once at night. Simple as that.


That may not be necessary. The clerks at the Borders I go to didn't care and just did each book (or books, depending on the coupon requirements) as separate transactions.


Depends on the location.
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Dargonxtc



Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 4463
Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:18 pm Reply with quote
Krylancelo wrote:
Books-a-million seems to have the same setup as Barnes and Noble though.
Except at BAM it is only $10, which means you only have to spend $100 to break even, where as at B&N you have to spend $250 to break even. Only down-side is BAM has about 75% the selection of B&N, but it's still pretty good.
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