What are Orange Slices?

[Gregjazz]

As you might have noticed in the "My Rewards" section of your account, there are something called "Orange Slices". These are essentially a customer loyalty discount. For every dollar you spend, you get an Orange Slice. These can be redeemed for a discount on your next purchase, up to 50% off.

With the new website now live, all your orders have been transferred, so if you've bought any Orange Tree Samples libraries on the old website, you should already have Orange Slices in your account, ready to get you a nice discount on your next purchase!

To redeem your Orange Slices, first add the sample library/libraries you want into your cart. If you have any Orange Slices, there'll be a link in the cart page to redeem them for a discount.

[rrichard63]

Greg and company,

On the shopping cart page it says, "You currently have nnn Orange Slices. Redeem them for pp% off your order." Does clicking on "Redeem them ..." use all of my slices, regardless of how many I have and regardless of the total value of my order? Or is it possible to have slices left over for my next order depending on the number of slices and the value of the order?

Thanks in advance,
Bob Richard

P.S. I mistakenly posted the same question in the thread about the new website. It really belongs here.

[Gregjazz]

Yeah, they'd get redeemed all at once, just for the sake of simplicity (at least for now). Afterwards, you won't be back to zero Orange Slices, though, since you'd get more for that purchase itself.

EDIT: This has been changed! Orange Slices beyond the maximum redeemable discount (50% off) now roll over--plus the points you gain from the purchase itself, of course.

[rrichard63]

Yeah, they'd get redeemed all at once, just for the sake of simplicity (at least for now). Afterwards, you won't be back to zero Orange Slices, though, since you'd get more for that purchase itself.

Fair enough, thanks.

[zakufan]

so if I have 500 slices, I can
take $10 off an order of $20
or take $250 off an order of $500,
and in both cases my orange slices will become zero?

[Gregjazz]

Yes--you're redeeming the Orange Slices for a percentage discount. So it's generally better to save them for larger purchases.

That being said, we've improved the way they work to allow points to carry over. In other words, if you have 600 Orange Slices and redeem them for the maximum 50% off discount, you'll still have 100 points left over that stay in your account (plus the additional Orange Slices you get from your order).

[rrichard63]

Yes--you're redeeming the Orange Slices for a percentage discount. So it's generally better to save them for larger purchases.

That being said, we've improved the way they work to allow points to carry over. In other words, if you have 600 Orange Slices and redeem them for the maximum 50% off discount, you'll still have 100 points left over that stay in your account (plus the additional Orange Slices you get from your order).

Thanks. A good explanation -- and a nice improvement to the original policy.

[ThePhonk]

After some animal testing, my understanding is as follows. One earns one Orange Slice per dollar spent; the number of earned slices is tied to the absolute transaction volume. When redeeming Orance Slices however, each slice pays for 0.1% of the transaction volume (up to 50% of it), thus a relative share of the transaction volume; what's tied to the absolute transaction volume then is not the number of redeemable slices, but their absolute spending power, if you will.

That's... erm... innovative! And it alignes well with the preceeding posts, but did not become immediately obvious to me.

So for someone who wants everything and can afford it, but is a cheapskate anyway, the most cost-effective procurement strategy is to buy libraries for exactly 500$ and then burn the earned slices on buying everything else in one go, right? Any mathematicians aboard?

[Ou_Tis]

After some animal testing, my understanding is as follows. One earns one Orange Slice per dollar spent; the number of earned slices is tied to the absolute transaction volume. When redeeming Orance Slices however, each slice pays for 0.1% of the transaction volume (up to 50% of it), thus a relative share of the transaction volume; what's tied to the absolute transaction volume then is not the number of redeemable slices, but their absolute spending power, if you will.

That's... erm... innovative! And it alignes well with the preceeding posts, but did not become immediately obvious to me.

So for someone who wants everything and can afford it, but is a cheapskate anyway, the most cost-effective procurement strategy is to buy libraries for exactly 500$ and then burn the earned slices on buying everything else in one go, right? Any mathematicians aboard?

Suppose the total cost with no discount would be c, and the amount you spend before using Orange Slices is x. To simplify, assume that x can be take any rational value (in reality it will depend on the particular limited set of values x can actually take):

For x < $500, discounted cost would be:
d = x + (c-x) - .001*x*(c-x) = c - 0.001*c*x + 0.001*x^2
At inflection points, 0 = dd/dx = -0.001*c + 0.002*x
x = c*0.001/0.002 = c/2
Because x^2 eventually dominates x, and c/2 (being rational) is unique, this is the minimum cost.

Suppose c = $600. Your method (wait until x = $500 before using Orange Slices) would cost 500 + .5*100 = $550. The c/2 method would cost 250 + (1-0.001*250)*250 = $437.50

The difference decreases until c = $1000, after which your method works.

Here's a graph for c = 500:

[Edit: when you include 100 bonus Orange Slices from your first purchase, the minimum changes to c/2 - 0.1/0.002 = c/2 - 50]

[monomox]

can orange slices be combined with other discounts, e.g., the current orange friday code?

[Gregjazz]

Yes, they can be combined with other discounts, including the current Orange Friday discount code.

[OwenLJJ]

you can do the survey and earn the orange slices that can make further discount during group buy period.