Brian's Brain

I continue playing around with my Microsoft Zune, and I continue to be generally quite pleased with the player (an 8 GByte green unit) and service. About two weeks back, OfficeMax had the 8 GByte model in black for $119.99 (MSRP $199.99) and I thought about picking up a spare, but the deal had expired by the time I got around to visiting the website. On a hunch, seeing several in-store OfficeMax coupons trickle through Dealnews this morning, I revisited the site and saw that the deal was back on!

The closest OfficeMax to me is in Reno, 30-ish miles away, so I rang up my friend Keith in the Bay Area and he was able to snag me one for $108.24 inclusive of sales tax. Here's how to mimic his success:

1. Here's the page for the 8 GByte Zune. If you click on the words 'Click here for a $40 In-Store Only Coupon' it'll launch a PDF that'll let you print out the promotion.
2. Visit your local OfficeMax and hope they have units in stock (you might want to call first). This is an in-store-only deal; you can't even order online for in-store pickup.
3. Here are two more coupons, one of which (per Keith's experience) you can stack with the earlier-mentioned one: $20 off $100 (and $10 off $40, and $15 off $75), and up to 20% off.