Hick Brings Hot Water Upon Himself

Hick is a schemer and a redeemer. It's tough to sneak a bargain past him. 

A year or two ago, Hick signed up for a Lowe's Pro account. It's for contractors, I think. Or anyone who plans to buy a lot of stuff at once, like a contractor would. I was against it, because the bill comes separately from the regular Lowe's credit card bill. And the itemization is very confusing, because apparently you can pay off a purchase separately, and wait to pay the rest. I don't need that kind of headache. One bill a month, paid in full. That's my routine to pay Lowe's and Menards for the flip house expenses. 

Anyhoo... in questioning one such itemized Lowe's Pro bill, Hick discovered that he can pay right there at the store. No need to wait on a confusing statement in the mail. Also, Hick gets points on his account that can be redeemed for future purchases. In fact, he cashed in $86 just before Christmas, he says, buying stuff for Bargain House.

Now comes the scheming. Two events that Hick could gleefully join together.

Hick has been upgrading one of the senior apartments. With approval from his boss, of course. It's getting new laminate flooring to replace the old carpet. Plus a new refrigerator, stove, and air conditioner.

Last week, while fiddling around in his basement workshop, Hick discovered that our water heater has a leak. He got it fixed up, but we need a new water heater. This doesn't surprise me. We've had this one since the boys were living here. A couple times, Hick hauled it out the basement door, and made them help him drain it and remove the lime deposits that had formed. So we've definitely gotten our use out of this water heater.

The scheme? To add our water heater to the Lowe's order for the apartments. It's a win-win, because there weren't enough apartment purchases to make the bill over $2000, which is required to get the discount prices. The cost of our water heater would put the total above $2000.

I'm not sure if Hick got his scheme approved ahead of time. But here's how it worked out. There was no specific percentage of discount like I had assumed. "They just had contractor discount prices on certain items. So you get whatever it is. They're all different amounts."

According to Hick, the total savings was $550. So the apartments saved $430 on their items, and we saved $120 on our water heater. Hick says the apartment savings is like them getting the flooring for free. Also, Hick got points worth $21 on his account for the order. 

The bookkeeper for Hick's apartment job gave him a check to pay when he picked up the order. I asked if he needed a check for $360.05 to give the bookkeeper for the cost of our water heater. He said no, she wanted it in cash. Which seems odd because she doesn't want Hick giving her the elderlies' rent in cash, but who am I to question an agency that helps old people?

Anyhoo... our water heater is paid for, the apartment appliances are paid for, the apartments saved money, we saved money, and Hick got $21 worth of points to redeem, plus a message that he can get 25% off a future order of $2000 or more.

That was a pretty good scheme.