iPod Recycling - good for mother earth, good for your wallet

This weekend I had the pleasure of visiting my local Apple store. Well, pleasure may be too strong of a word- if at all possible, one should avoid visiting the Apple store on a weekend, ever. (Especially a holiday weekend!) That said, here's a rundown of my exchange experience.

Being both a tree-hugger and a technophile, I was very happy to learn about Apple's iPod recycling policy. When it came time for my old Nano to visit the big Apple logo in the sky, I was happy to hand him over to a nice customer service representative (I'd like to give resound high marks to Kenny, the associate who helped me. He was polite, friendly and apologized for the ridiculous wait I had to endure...why did they remove all but one cash rap? I feel like I'm always standing over there, with some weird request that the Windows-toting hand held machines the staff all carry can't handle. Bring back the registers please, Steve!)
I was even happier to get 10% off my purchase of a new Nano, after filling out a simple form with my name and contact information. The associate then took my old iPod and wrote in the serial number on the form. A swipe of my credit card later, and Kenny was emailing me my receipt (yay less paper refuse!), while giving me the option for a printed receipt if I'd prefer. I can understand why you may want a paper receipt when making a major computer purchase, but I was more than happy to forgo the wasted pulp for a Nano purchase. The receipt showed both a scan of the recycle option (rings up as a penny) and the 10% discount on my 199.00 new iPod.