I agree that Tupperware.com has the right to close the loophole -- but taking punitive action against those who exploited the loophole is silly and not going to solve anything. Only closing the loophole will.

My personal political preferences aside (because they're completely irrelevent; I'm just using logic here), I'm awfully curious about why people can get so outraged at people for "taking advantage of" a business, but not businesses taking advantage of people. Hey, if a business screws you, that's your problem. But if a business gets screwed because of its own stupidity, then tough for them. As I say, this is capitalism. Nobody's going to sit around and babysit you.

Tupperware.com has to deal with the fact that their system was flawed. I assume they'll take care of that. In my opinion, though, they are also taking a greater risk by lashing out their customers. After all, even $1 gift certificates amount to something. If it's not profitable enough for them, they need to change the way they do business. But by taking this silly and, honestly, immature punitive measures against people, they run the risk of putting off far more people -- including loyal customers (I assume there are some out there). So I don't think it's worth it. Close the loophole, learn a lesson, and be done with it. Why run the risk of losing a single, perhaps more legitimate customer?

As far as all the economics I've ever learned (which actually happens to be quite a bit), that's just good business sense and has nothing to do with politics.

Also, as to whether I'm in business or not, I actually am and don't understand your assumption that I'm not. I just happen to be someone who has no time for businesses that are poorly run and then moan about that fact once it's exposed. Get your ship in order and run it. When you screw up, take a hit, and make sure it doesn't happen again. Instead of whining so much, do things right!

[This message has been edited by gutt22 (edited 03-26-2003).]