Method and apparatus for facilitating the sale of subscriptions to periodicals

Abstract

A POS terminal receives a signal that indicates an item, for example, via a bar code scanner. The POS terminal ascertains whether the item is associated with an offer for a rebate. If so, a code is generated and output to the customer, such as on a printed receipt. The code is associated with an offer for a rebate in exchange for establishing a subscription to a periodical. If the customer subscribes to a required periodical, he will be credited the amount he paid for the item. Subsequently, the customer requests a subscription to a periodical from a subscription fulfillment house, and provides his code in conjunction with the request. If the code is valid, the customer is provided with a rebate. The rebate may be provided directly by the subscription fulfillment house (e.g. a credit to a credit card account) or may be provided by a merchant (e.g. a discount on a future purchase).

1 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for directing a computer to:
 receive a signal indicative of at least one item being purchased by a customer at a point of sale terminal;   determine that the at least one item is associated with an offer for an amount in exchange for establishing a subscription to a periodical, wherein the subscription to the periodical is different from the item; and   provide the offer to the customer.