Sprint To Eliminate Mail-In Rebates?

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It’s being reported on tech blogs across the web that Sprint, the #3 wireless carrier in the United States by customers, is looking to replace their mail-in rebate system in favor of “instant savings” at the point of purchase. It’s something that Verizon did a while back on phones over $150 and Best Buy has done it forever on mobile phones. It’s sure to make a few Sprint users happy.

Mail-in rebates are of course a hassle for any product you buy. You have to fill out the card, get the proof of purchase, get the receipt, get a DNA sample of yourself, get a DNA sample of the guy in China who made it and mail it all in. Joking, of course, about the DNA samples, but it really feels like the manufacturers are putting you through the ringer with these mail-in rebates. And it’s no secret that they do it because they’ll save a few bucks on the folks who don’t bother to mail them in.

According to a Sprint spokesperson who talked to BGR (formerly Boy Genius Report), it should begin around March 27th and will continue for an indefinite amount of time. All mobile carriers consider most of this stuff “temporary promotions” so they can cover themselves if they want to cancel it (see Verizon and their “New Every Two” upgrade program, which they had for years, and when they finally cancelled it, they played the “Oh, it was only a limited time promotion.”)

Great time for Sprint to introduce this program, as they’ve got some new phones like the Kyocera Echo, the HTC EVO 3D, the Nexus S 4G and the HTC EVO View 4G – great stuff all around.