Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweetpea
Simple: bookkeeping.
For instance: I buy 10 credits for $100 this year, but I don't spend them. Which means that the company I buy those credits from has $100 profit (they got my money and gave me back nothing in return).
So, the next year, I don't spend anything, but those 10 credits I bought the year before. That means the company has a $100 loss. That they made $100 profit last year doesn't matter, that was last year. This year is this year.
Naturally, I'm absolutely no bookkeeper, so I probably put it down waaaaaay too simple, but it is the bottom line.
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Most coupons expire at some point, just like checks become void after a certain time. It's probably not realistic to expect credits to remain on the books forever. O'Reilly books gives monthly download credits for online books and those credits expire after 3 or 4 months, so it's a very common business model. I suspect the real reason is simply because that's how we have always done it rather than specific intent.