Rebate stacks that incent the same shelf twice

Rebate design often optimizes for growth in isolation. Distributor A earns a tier for volume while Distributor B earns a display bonus in overlapping stores — neither team meant to collide, but the payout structure did.

We model combinations in a shared workbook so finance sees conflict heat before sales signs another promo rider. The workbook is boring on purpose: auditable, copy-paste friendly, and hard to mythologize.

Governance then adds guardrails: who can approve stacking, what data must be attached, and when escalations freeze payouts. Those procedural brakes matter more than another margin point in the abstract.