CHICAGO, April 16 (UPI) -- Illinois shoppers lined up early Friday to take advantage of a $6.5 million federal rebate program for purchases of energy-efficient appliances, observers said.
About 670 stores in Illinois are offering rebates of 15 percent in a program that could be over quickly -- Arizona and Iowa dispensed their total available rebate amounts hours after their programs began, The Chicago Tribune reported.
"Everyone is worried the money is going to run out in a day or two," Mike Abt, president of a suburban appliance retailer, said. "It's going to get tricky."
George Klein of Chicago got to a Sears Roebuck & Co. store early as he worried the money would run out.
"Absolutely. I heard it was a limited amount of money," he said.
Officials have warned the money may be gone as soon as this weekend, the newspaper said.
Shoppers must place orders in person in the stores, in contrast to other states which allowed reservations online or by phone in advance of the sale.
State officials face the complicated logistics of informing hundreds of retailers in real time when the funds have run out, the Tribune said.
