Discount programs for home appliances in the past

Am curious if anyone knows...how did the appliance manufacturers in the past handle employee discounts (say, to GM employees for Frigidaire appliances; Ford--Philco-Ford; AMC--Kelvinator; General Electric...ditto)?

When I worked for GE Capital in the very early 90s (unconnected to a GE factory) there was a table of rebate amounts by model number which was pretty static (they didn't do much/any tinkering with the rebate amounts). I also vaguely remember an "adopt a washer" program as they were testing/perfecting the post-Filter-Flo washer design. At the Evendale GE plant in Cincinnati, there apparently was a "company store" in that era (you could just glimpse it from I-75....I never was in it).

Presently, it seems that you get access to online stores (from my retiree status at one of the Big 3 I can access discount sites for Haier/GE; Bosch and Samsung); I have acquaintances at WP who can hook me up with the same thing.

Just curious what it was like in the 60s/70s.

The analogous way the auto manufacturers handle discounts is to give one a "code" which one takes to the dealership which handles the delivery; the "code" commits the dealer to selling at a fixed price with access to most rebates (some are specifically excluded). You can buy from stock or order a vehicle at that price. Vehicles which have been driven by employees have further discounts and can be assigned to your chosen dealer where you complete the transaction; likewise still eligible for the new vehicle rebates etc as they have not been titled by the vehicle manufacturer.


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Post# 1039573 7/27/2019 at 08:31 (1,734 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)
Checkrate/Likes Am curious if anyone knows...how did the appliance manufacturers in the past handle employee discounts (say, to GM employees for Frigidaire appliances; Ford--Philco-Ford; AMC--Kelvinator; General Electric...ditto)? When I worked for GE Capital in the very early 90s (unconnected to a GE factory) there was a table of rebate amounts by model number which was pretty static (they didn't do much/any tinkering with the rebate amounts). I also vaguely remember an "adopt a washer" program as they were testing/perfecting the post-Filter-Flo washer design. At the Evendale GE plant in Cincinnati, there apparently was a "company store" in that era (you could just glimpse it from I-75....I never was in it). Presently, it seems that you get access to online stores (from my retiree status at one of the Big 3 I can access discount sites for Haier/GE; Bosch and Samsung); I have acquaintances at WP who can hook me up with the same thing. Just curious what it was like in the 60s/70s. The analogous way the auto manufacturers handle discounts is to give one a "code" which one takes to the dealership which handles the delivery; the "code" commits the dealer to selling at a fixed price with access to most rebates (some are specifically excluded). You can buy from stock or order a vehicle at that price. Vehicles which have been driven by employees have further discounts and can be assigned to your chosen dealer where you complete the transaction; likewise still eligible for the new vehicle rebates etc as they have not been titled by the vehicle manufacturer.