November 2004
 The Gift Certificates Program
MEMBER NEWS
One of the various functions of your Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce is to be a part of the process in creating ideas that will promote our Chamber member area businesses. Most of the ideas find life through the various committees that are a part of the fabric of this Chamber.
Chamber Gift Certificates, sometimes referred to as Chamber Bucks, do keep customers Shopping Plymouth First.
What follows is the pertinent information as to how this program works. There is now a new addition to this service gift certificates may now be ordered online from the Chamber's web site. From our web front page, see CHAMBER GIFT CERTIFICATES at the top bar and click.
This Gift Certificate program is very easy and safe to use.
The certificate(s) may be ordered from the Chamber office and online by any person or company, and be presented as general gifts or perhaps, as part of an employee bonus program. There is no cost above the face dollar value of the certificate. The purchaser picks up the certificate(s) ordered at the Chamber office (120 N. Michigan St.) and tenders payment to the Plymouth Chamber in cash or check (sorry, no plastic).
The gift certificate is a legal check, purchased by any gift giver and can be accepted with the same confidence as a cashiers check or as cash by any participating Chamber business.
The certificates are individually typed with the pertinent information - the dollar amount (up to $100.00 per certificate), the recipient's name, if applicable, and a greeting or the name of either an individual or the company giving the gift certificate(s).
Each certificate is then placed in an envelope along with a cover letter and the list of participating Chamber member businesses. The recipient of the gift certificate then chooses from this list of Chamber member businesses the business or businesses from which to make their purchase or purchases.
The participating Chamber member merchant treats this form of tender just as they would any cash transactions. Although these may look like a second party check since they may be personalized to the recipient and must be endorsed like a second party check, these are pre-purchased gift certificates. The money goes directly into one bank account specifically for gift certificate purposes only, thus making these checks "as good as cash." The merchant therefore treats these like cash and makes change just as if he or she has received cash.
These gift certificates will bring new and previous customers to the participating store a form of advertising dollars that Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce member merchants do not have to expend.
Enclosed with this NewsMonth is our current list of participating members. If your business is not listed and you want to participate, please call us at 936-2323 and have us add your business to the list. If for any reason you no longer wish to participate, let us know and we will remove your listing.
These past several years there has been a tremendous increase in the purchase of Chamber gift certificates. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of these Chamber Bucks have been in circulation over the Christmas Holidays. A vast number of these certificates are purchased by many of Plymouth's Industrial businesses for their employees. And throughout the year, individuals purchase gift certificates as gifts for all occasions.
We sincerely hope that the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce members will take advantage of this program, both as gift givers and especially as participating businesses. It is a great way to give and a great way to keep our member businesses in the public's spending loop.
This is a great way to "Shop Plymouth First!"
 The Christmas Basket Promotion Program
Your Response is needed as soon as possible.
This Holiday Season promotion is now a Chamber tradition and anticipated by our community with great delight. We want to thank each of you for your past participation and we want to extend this invitation to all members, present and new, to participate this year. The Christmas Basket promotion continues to be a very successful community effort and terrific exposure for our membership. Thousands of customer entries are received each year from our participating member businesses.
The basis is simple. This promotion brings customers into your store to sign up for one of four drawings and they must come into your business each week to sign up. At the end of each week, you bring the sign up slips to the Chamber office for the following Monday drawing. Each of the four baskets contains one of the four like items you have donated.
During this Holiday Season, four (4) Gift Baskets highlighting products and services either sold or produced here in Plymouth are given away, one each week before Christmas. Obviously retailers can focus on a specialty item they would like to promote. Every year the Retail Merchants Committee extends this invitation to our Industrial members to feature products and services manufactured here, for example, DelMonte Foods Corporation ketchup or Dean Pickle & Specialty Product pickles. With your help we can raise the public awareness of items sold and produced in our community and where to purchase that special gift item they need.
If you would like to participate, please bring (4) four like items (one for each basket) to the Chamber office by November 15 before 2:00 PM. We prepare the baskets, display the contents of one basket in our large front window, and list the contents and donors beginning the week of Thanksgiving. So that we know what our participation will be, please call (574-936-2323) as soon as possible to let us know if your business will be a registration site and /or if you are bringing four items for the basket.
Note - give your company credit - if the product or promotional item does not in itself identify your business, please attach some identifier to each item...your business card is perfect. And remember, actual products are wonderful and gift certificates for your store will bring the recipients back to see you. Starting November 29, the first of the four drawings will begin. Thanks for your help in this promotion! We all look forward to a prosperous holiday season! |
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