State buys $7.5 mil in appliances in 145 minutes
April 30, 2010 by Shane BorerPosted in: General Economy, Home equity loan, Latest News
If you were in the market to buy a microwave, dishwasher or other appliance as part of this state’s rebate program, we hope you brought a stopwatch.
The heavily hyped Massachusetts Save Great Appliance Exchange program had consumers state-wide excited to upgrade some of their worn home fixtures. The program offered residents hundreds of dollars in rebates on any number of Energy Star-rated household appliances, including standalone freezers, refrigerators and washing machines.
But one big problem got in the way for many hopeful Bay State purchasers: The rebate budget was exhausted in 145 minutes. The program began at 10 a.m. on Earth Day, but $5.4 million in rebates were captured by 11:52 a.m. An additional $2 million was added to a wait list, but those funds were completely drawn by 12:25 p.m.
State officials expected the rebates to dry up quickly, but they were nowhere near prepared for the landslide of purchases — the program was originally expected to last until May 5.
Tags: Energy Star, Home appliances, Home equity loan, Rebate
May 3rd, 2010 at 2:00 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rebel Saffold. Rebel Saffold said: I guess I will have to settle with keeping my old toaster… How do you buy 7.5 million in appliances in 6o minutes. http://bit.ly/9Bm1CD [...]
May 3rd, 2010 at 3:16 pm
So the government, who doesn’t have any money, is offering consumers money if they buy new appliances. I wonder, are these appliances made by the government’s partner in crime – GE? Maybe they’ll report on it on the government’s lapdog media site, MSNBC. (also owned by GE)
May 4th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
wow. giving away free money and they ran out. maybe they should print some more like the feds did with the cash for clunkers. buy something i don’t need with money i don’t have that’s been given to me by the government (who doesn’t have the money either) that they took out of my pocket. absolutely freaking brilliant. you couldn’t make this stuff up.
May 4th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Same thing happened in Iowa last month. Ok, so Iowa was one of the first states, so I can kind of see why the response was unexpected, but nobody should be surprised that this happened in Massachusetts a month LATER!
May 4th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
MA folks are a whole lot smarter than the dummies they elected.