Just wait until you visit the website for information about what you must do by February 17, 2009, if you have any old TVs in your house that are not connected to cable or satellite. Does anyone still use rabbit-ears (besides me, I mean)?
The correct website is http://www.dtv2009.gov/ When you get there, you can order up to two coupons (no charge), which entitle you to savings on the purchase of the required converter box, which may retail for about $60.00. (The coupons are worth $40 off the retail price.) If you don't connect your non-cable or non-satellite TV through this box, it's not going to work when the government-mandated switch-over from analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting occurs in February.
I ordered my coupons today and the auto-response informed me that the coupons will be mailed on August 1st.
You'll love this part: one sentence on the website told me, "IMPORTANT: Coupons will expire within 90 days of the date they are mailed." Now that's scary. The word - "within". So, will the coupons expire "within 90 days"? You know, there are many days "within" 90 days. Obviously, what they meant to say was that the coupons will expire 90 days after mailed.
But wait! There is more!
On the Receipt Page is this message: "Note that coupons do not expire until 90 days after they have been mailed. Note also that coupons are being mailed via Standard mail (not First-class mail), with delivery expected around 2-9 days from the mailing date."
Does anyone have a clue what "Standard mail" (not First-class mail) is?
The correct website is http://www.dtv2009.gov/ When you get there, you can order up to two coupons (no charge), which entitle you to savings on the purchase of the required converter box, which may retail for about $60.00. (The coupons are worth $40 off the retail price.) If you don't connect your non-cable or non-satellite TV through this box, it's not going to work when the government-mandated switch-over from analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting occurs in February.
I ordered my coupons today and the auto-response informed me that the coupons will be mailed on August 1st.
You'll love this part: one sentence on the website told me, "IMPORTANT: Coupons will expire within 90 days of the date they are mailed." Now that's scary. The word - "within". So, will the coupons expire "within 90 days"? You know, there are many days "within" 90 days. Obviously, what they meant to say was that the coupons will expire 90 days after mailed.
But wait! There is more!
On the Receipt Page is this message: "Note that coupons do not expire until 90 days after they have been mailed. Note also that coupons are being mailed via Standard mail (not First-class mail), with delivery expected around 2-9 days from the mailing date."
Does anyone have a clue what "Standard mail" (not First-class mail) is?
Our government at work; right? How many people do you think they had working on this project? And they didn't even coordinate the messages on the two pages. This page says that the coupons do not expire until 90 days after they have been mailed. OK! Which way is it?
I'll tell you what the shame is. The government workers who created this nonsense are probably earning $90,000/year. Kind of makes you sick, doesn't it? And then there are all the layers of supervisors, managers and directors. And you can bet your bottom dollar that not one of them earns less than his subordinate!
If you have old TVs, go now to http://www.dtv2009.gov/ and order your free coupons. They will save you money when it's time to go to your favorite retailer and buy your converter box.
© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT
I'll tell you what the shame is. The government workers who created this nonsense are probably earning $90,000/year. Kind of makes you sick, doesn't it? And then there are all the layers of supervisors, managers and directors. And you can bet your bottom dollar that not one of them earns less than his subordinate!
If you have old TVs, go now to http://www.dtv2009.gov/ and order your free coupons. They will save you money when it's time to go to your favorite retailer and buy your converter box.
© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT
No comments:
Post a Comment