What's Going On: Red Oak Cold Cash promotion a winning proposition for all

 Instead of sleeping in a little longer than normal, when the children started filtering into my bed Saturday morning, I actually rolled out of it just before 8 a.m. 

I stumbled my way around the bedroom and got dressed, brushed my teeth and headed out the door to buy some Red Oak Cold Cash. 

This was the first time I’ve participated in the Chamber and Industry Association event in which you can purchase $100 packets of “cold cash” certificates for $80. 

The cold cash certificates can be spent at any Chamber and Industry Association member, which includes nearly every business in town. 

It’s a great incentive to spend money locally, especially during the holiday shopping season as essentially, every purchase you make with cold cash carries with a 20 percent discount. 

Last year, the amount distributed was increased to $50,000 and each year, has sold out in less than a day.

Beyond the obvious benefit to consumers, it’s a no-lose proposition for businesses as well, who are reimbursed dollar-for-dollar for cold cash they receive. Savvy business owners will also be able to market cold cash specials to these consumers with the full knowledge there is a limited amount of time (Jan. 15, 2015) and number of places where consumers can spend their cash. 

What remains unknown, though, is how many more years this campaign will continue in its current format. 

With $50,000 in certificates sold for $40,000, the $10,000 revenue gap is subsidized by sales tax dollars. The City Council approves the $10,000 disbursement from funds collected specifically for economic development, for which this qualifies. 

However, this year when approving the Association’s $10,000 reimbursement request, the council and Mayor Bill Billings expressed a desire to see more of the cold cash spent on retail, rather than necessities such as gasoline and groceries. 

The broad-reaching goal of the program is to keep Christmas gift dollars in the community instead of being spent in Omaha or Des Moines Malls, or Shenandoah’s Wal-Mart. If the $50,000 is simply being used on items (like gasoline and groceries) that would have been purchased locally anyway, the campaign doesn’t really serve its purpose. 

Instead of using sales tax dollars to boost retail spending, we are instead using them to subsidize our everyday expenses. 

With that in mind, and with our $500 in cold cash in hand, my wife convinced me to go out to eat Saturday night under the premise we technically had an extra $100. So while it wasn’t in retail, a Red Oak restaurant received $30 it wouldn’t have Saturday night had it not been for the cold cash campaign. 

And I think that probably happens more often than not. With the “extra” money in hand, consumers, are more likely to spend more freely, which is difficult to measure. 

As a consumer can’t receive more than $1 in change from cold cash, they are also more likely to spend a couple extra dollars to get closer to that $10 denomination. 

I’m certain a good portion of our remaining $470 will be spent at the local grocery stores and gas stations as we head out of town to visit family. But I’m equally certain we will be spending some of that cold cash on Christmas presents as well, and as a consumer, I will have in the back of my mind that everything I buy in Red Oak will be 20 percent off. I’m equally certain that piece of knowledge will motivate me to buy more items than I ordinarily would have. 

To that end, I would encourage business owners to develop and promote specific cold cash specials that would encourage consumers to spend that money in their store. 

There’s $50,000 of those certificates floating around the community right now, and thanks to the legwork done by the Chamber and Industry Association, it’s pretty simple for businesses to redeem the cold cash. 

Granted, some of the money, maybe even most, will be spent on everyday expenses, but if properly marketed, there is no reason this program shouldn’t keep some retail dollars in Red Oak. 

And that’s a scenario in which everyone wins. 

Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Red Oak Express and Glenwood Opinion-Tribune. He can be contacted at publisher@redoakexpress.com.