Mail in rebates are bull shit

I would love to get a hold of the evil genius that invented the mail in rebate. Just finished purchasing something online, and got sucked into the mail in rebates. After getting all my codes together, filling out the paper work online as well as in paper form, and submitting this info, I realize I put in the wrong zip code. Maybe it was the pressure, maybe the lack of focus. So now I get to call up and spend an hour on hold to let them know I am a looser and put my zip in wrong.

The genius comes in, knowing that most people won't take the time to get all the serial numbers, tracking numbers, postage proof, and rebate proof information together. That is if you don't lose the receipt in the process. There has got to be something illegal about this process and damn it I will find out what it is. (queue evil laugh, goes something like this... a ha ha ha ha ha!)