Today, Plastic Jungle shut down their shop.  They sent an email to all of their customers announcing that they would no longer buy and sell discount gift cards directly from and to consumers.  Instead of doing business directly with consumers, Plastic Jungle will continue to offer gift card exchange services through their partners (United MileagePlus, FlexPerks, BestBuy, CVS, and Zeevex).  This means that, instead of selling your used gift cards to Plastic Jungle for cash, you can trade them in for miles or points instead. 

Of course, if you want cash for your gift cards, there remain several other options.  Cardpool, GiftCards.com, and ABC Gift Cards are a few examples of services that currently compete with Plastic Jungle and will presumably continue to offer the services that Plastic Jungle is giving up.

Since I began blogging as Frequent Miler in September 2011, many deals I’ve written about have involved Plastic Jungle one way or another.  For example, on September 22 2011, I published “Buy American Airlines Miles for less than 1.6 cents each. No limit.”  In that post I showed how to effectively buy AA miles by buying Sears gift cards via the AAdvantage eShopping portal and then selling the gift cards to Plastic Jungle.  This was back when miles earned from any source counted towards AA lifetime status.

More recently, I wrote often about how to take advantage of TopCashBack’s 4% rebate for Plastic Jungle purchases and sales (which later dropped to 2.5%, then recently to 1%).  Thanks to that extra cash back, it was sometimes possible to buy discount gift cards from Plastic Jungle and to sell them back at a profit.  It wasn’t easy, though.  Plastic Jungle was able to detect if you tried to sell the same card back to them, so it was necessary to “launder” the gift card first by using it to buy a new gift card (stores like Walmart and Target allow this) before selling it back to Plastic Jungle. 

In case you’re interested, here is the text of the email that was sent out today from Plastic Jungle:

The team at Plastic Jungle would like to thank you for your participation in our gift card programs over the past seven years. Since 2006, Plastic Jungle has been a leader in providing you with great deals on gift cards in a secure marketplace.

 

As our business has grown and evolved, we have seen that the greatest potential for Plastic Jungle’s long-term success is in working directly with our business partners. As a result, we will no longer be buying and selling gift cards at www.plasticjungle.com. This change is taking place effective today.

With this transition, there are a few important things you should know. First, all orders currently being processed will be honored with the same guarantee of service and safety that we have upheld for seven years. Second, our website will be available to allow you to access your account and retrieve gift cards until November 1, 2013. Third, Plastic Jungle will continue to offer gift card exchange services to customers through our partners. Finally, our customer service desk will remain open during this period to answer inquiries and resolve any concerns. If you have any questions, we encourage you to visit our FAQs page or contact Plastic Jungle Customer Success at customersuccess@plasticjungle.com.

Thank you again for being an important part of the Plastic Jungle family over the past seven years. We appreciate all of your support as we begin this exciting new mission as a company.

All the best,
The Plastic Jungle Team

On any flight, I’d rather be up front.  Yes, it’s true that compared to international first class, domestic first class stinks.  Heck, compared to international business class, domestic first class stinks.  Most domestic first class products simply offer a bigger seat and a few snacks and drinks.  Sometimes you’ll get a meal.  So, it’s not an amazing “gotta write home” type of experience, but there’s no denying that domestic first class is considerably better than coach.  While John Fogerty likes to sing “Put me in Coach,” that’s not for me — I want to be up front (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself).

When looking at airline award charts, there’s a value gap when it comes to domestic first class.  As an example, let’s look at United’s award chart (Saver level) for a selection of round-trips originating in the United States:

Most domestic flights are two cabin, coach and first, so a domestic first class round trip is usually a 50K award (at the Saver level).

Note that domestic two-cabin first class requires twice the miles of coach whereas international 3 cabin first class also requires about twice the miles.  And international business class requires less than twice the miles.  With international flights, it’s easy to argue that the product you get in business or first class is more than twice as good as coach, but with domestic flights that’s a tough claim to make.  Domestic first class might be 30% better than coach or even 50% better, but few would argue that it is worth twice as much. 

This situational creates a dilemma for people like me.  I have lots of miles and I like to fly first class whenever possible, but I also like to get good value from my miles.  I don’t mind spending 50K for a long transcontinental flight and I don’t mind flying coach on very short flights, but what about the much more common (for me) flights in the two to four hour range?  Are there options for flying up front that offer good value?

Obviously one could achieve high level elite status with an airline and hope to get upgraded, but these days most flights run near capacity and the chances of scoring elite upgrades have gone down considerably compared to a few years ago.  Upgrading using miles is rarely a good value.  Sometimes paid upgrades make sense especially when they’re offered at a last-minute discount, but I’m looking for opportunities to book domestic first class from the get-go. 

Ideally, domestic first class would have no more than a 50% premium over coach.

Best Domestic Options

I’ll start this list with a few good options that I know of.  I’m hoping that readers will chime in with more ideas, and I’ll add to the list as we go along.

Free One-Ways

When booking an international or overseas award, it is often possible to add a free domestic one-way award before or after your trip.  Through this trick, when you book an overseas business or first class award, you can tack on a free domestic one-way in first class.  So, if you’re planning a big trip anyway, you might as well get a free domestic flight as well!  It’s outside the scope of this post to explain how to book these awards (or why they work), but you can get the scoop here from MileValue:

• Free Oneways on American Airlines Awards
• Free Oneways on United Awards
• Free Oneways on US Airways Awards
• Free Oneways on Delta Awards

Best ways to earn American, United, US Airways, and Delta miles:

• Sign up for credit cards for big sign up bonuses.  Details here: Best credit card offers.
• Transfer from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) to American, US Airways, or Delta.  Don’t bother with United, though, because the transfer rate is poor.  Details here.
• Transfer from Chase Membership Rewards to United
• Transfer from American Express Membership Rewards to Delta

Three domestic one-ways for the price of two

Delta is unique among the major airlines in that their domestic round trip awards allow free stopovers and open-jaws.  What this means is that it is often possible to construct an itinerary of three one-way trips (a round trip plus a one-way) for the price of a single round trip award.  At the lowest level, Delta charges 45,000 miles for a round trip first class domestic award.  Delta is notoriously stingy about opening saver-level award space, but with this trick it is at least theoretically possible to book three one-way flights for only 15,000 miles each.  Unfortunately, there are quite a few limitations to this trick and it works best only if you live near a Delta hub.  For details please see:

• Free Oneways on Delta Awards
• Delta SkyMiles: Value from domestic flights
• Delta: two one-way awards for 12,500 miles

Best ways to earn Delta miles:

• Sign up for a Delta credit card. Details here: Best credit card offers.
• Transfer from American Express Membership Rewards
• Transfer from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG).  Details here.

Miles & More

The recent flurry of attention regarding a 50K offer for Lufthansa’s Miles & More credit card had one really good outcome: It brought to light a terrific use for those miles.  You can use Miles & More miles to book United Airlines‘ domestic two-cabin first class (or business class on their 3 cabin flights) for only 35,000 miles round trip or 17,000 miles one-way (yes, booking two one-ways is slightly cheaper!).  35,000 miles is a reasonable 40% premium over usual 25K coach awards.  MileValue has the details here.

Best ways to earn Miles & More miles:

• Sign up for the Lufthansa credit card (currently with a 50K bonus).  Details here: Best credit card offers
• Transfer points from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG).  Get a 5000 point bonus when you transfer 20,000 points.  Details here.

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank

JAL’s Mileage Bank program requires only 35,000 miles to fly business class or two-cabin first class on American Airlines.  Hat Tip Murtuza.

Best ways to earn JAL Mileage Bank miles:

• Transfer points from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). Get a 5000 point bonus when you transfer 20,000 points. Details here.

Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Miles

Like Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines is a Star Alliance member.  And, like Lufthansa, their miles can be used to fly United first class within the continental U.S. at a lower rate than with United miles.  Singapore charges 40,000 miles round trip, which is 10K better than United’s price, but 5K higher than Lufthansa’s price.  40K for first class is 60% more than 25K for coach, so this deal doesn’t quite meet my goal of paying no more than a 50% premium, but it’s certainly better than the usual 100% premium!

Best ways to earn Singapore Krisflyer miles:

• Transfer from American Express Membership Rewards
• Transfer points from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). Get a 5000 point bonus when you transfer 20,000 points. Details here.

British Airways Avios

There’s no question that the sweet spot for British Airways Avios are short non-stop flights on partner airlines in coach.  For example, any non-stop one-way flight on American Airlines of less than 650 miles will cost only 4500 Avios in coach (9000 round-trip).  Unfortunately, BA charges triple for first class awards.  So, the same round trip flight would cost 27,000 Avios in first class (vs. 9000 in coach).  This is a huge premium over coach when using BA Avios, but it is a tiny premium over coach vs. other mile currencies.  So, if you really want to sit up front on a short flight, this can still be an excellent option.  As flights get longer, this option sours quickly.  Flights between 650 and 1149 miles would cost 45,000 miles round-trip in first class.  With longer flights… forget about it.

Best ways to earn British Airways Avios:

• Sign up for Chase’s British Airways card (currently with a 50K bonus), or any Ultimate Rewards card, Membership Rewards card, or SPG card with a good bonus. Details here: Best credit card offers
• Transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards (often with a transfer bonus)
• Transfer points from Chase Membership Rewards
• Transfer points from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). Get a 5000 point bonus when you transfer 20,000 points. Details here.

Cheap Tickets

Every now and then, the price for a paid first class ticket isn’t so bad.  Sometimes, if you search for one-way tickets rather than round-trip you’ll find good prices in one direction or the other.  In either case, it may make sense to pay for cheap first class tickets with cash or with fixed value points.  Either way, you’ll save your hard earned airline miles for better future redemptions, and you’ll earn additional airline miles for the trip.  Here are a few fixed value points worth considering:

FlexPerks: U.S. Bank’s FlexPerks program has a tiered reward structure.  Flights costing up to $400 require only 20,000 points to purchase.  Flights costing up to $600 require 30,000 points, and so on.  The best use of these points is when a paid flight costs just a bit less than the tier maximum (e.g. $399, $599, etc.).  That way, you can get up to 2 cents per point value.

Amol (@PointsToPointsB) points out that, with FlexPerks, you can call in to request a specific fare class to be bought.  He says “That’s useful if you need a specific fare class to use a SWU or upgrade instrument.”  I think that’s a great idea.  In fact, even without an upgrade instrument, if you’re using FlexPerks to buy a ticket and the price is significantly below the tier maximum, it may make sense to ask for a higher fare class as long as it stays within the same FlexPerks tier.  If you have elite status, this would significantly increase your chance of an upgrade.

ThankYou: Citibank’s ThankYou points are worth using for booking flights when you have one of their premium cards such as the Citi ThankYou Premier.  With such a card, each ThankYou point is worth 1.33 cents towards flights.  Note that not all airlines are available to book through the ThankYou program so this won’t work for every situation.

Ultimate Rewards: Chase’s Ultimate Rewards points can be used to book travel at a rate of 1.25 cents per point if you have a premium Ultimate Rewards card such as the Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold, or Ink Plus.  This is not the best value use of Ultimate Rewards points, but it’s better than using points to get cash back, gift cards, or merchandise (all of which usually offer only 1 cent per point value).

Companion Pass

Some credit cards offer, as a perk, free or discounted companion tickets.  Most, though, only allow coach travel.  One exception is the Delta Reserve credit card which provides a companion pass each year when you renew the card.  That companion pass can be used for domestic first class travel.  The card has a hefty $450 annual fee so this approach is not really much of a money saver unless you also value the card’s other perks: free Delta SkyClub access for you and two guests, priority upgrades for elite members, ability to earn Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) with high spend, etc.

Details here: An Analysis of the Platinum Delta SkyMiles credit card

Reader Input

Do you know of other frugal ways to fly domestic first class?  Please share your ideas below, and if I like your idea I’ll update this post and send a hat tip your way.  Thanks in advance!

An incomplete reservation.  Bottom tier elite status.  No free breakfast.  No free internet.  Would I survive? 

A few weekends ago, I was scheduled to visit Washington DC for the Freddie Awards (Thursday), the Travel Executive Summit (Friday), and Frequent Traveler University (Friday through Sunday).  Before going, I thought that my travel plans were all set.  I was wrong.

On Wednesday night I packed for the trip and then opened TripIt to review my itinerary.  “Thursday morning: Depart DTW to IAD.  Friday: Check into hotel.”  Uh oh.  I was scheduled to fly out on Thursday and return on Monday, but I only had Friday and Saturday night booked at the hotel.

I called Hilton to see if they could extend my reservation to arrive a day earlier and leave a day later.  They told me the hotel was sold out.  Sure, I could have booked another hotel in the area, but I really wanted to stay in one place, so I logged into Hilton.com to see what I could find.

It turned out that there were a number of special rooms available.  All were listed at $300 per night or higher.  Luckily, I found some that I could book for “only” 40,000 Hilton HHonors points per night.  Compared to the $300 room rate, this was a pretty good value for my otherwise devalued Hilton points, so I booked the rooms with points.  Now I had three reservations for one long weekend.  Problem solved.  But, then I had to face the real challenge….

While researching room options, I discovered that I no longer had Hilton Gold status.  I was a lowly Silver elite!  Horror!  No more free internet or free breakfast!  What could I do?

Sure, I could have signed up for free Hilton Gold status by temporarily becoming Australian and making up a credit card number (see this post), but that just didn’t feel right to me.  And, it was far too late to get Gold status by spending $20K on my Hilton credit card or by signing up for the Citi Hilton Reserve card.  What other options did I have?

I remembered reading this LoyaltyLobby post about Hilton status matches.  According to LoyaltyLobby, I could send an email to hhonors@hilton.com to ask for a status match.  I would have to send a year-end activity report from a competing chain where I had status to prove that I was match-worthy.

Luckily, last year I had completed Marriott’s Taste of Platinum Challenge which resulted in my getting Marriott Platinum status that would last throughout 2013 and I had quite a few Marriott stays on the books for 2012.  I couldn’t find anything like a year-end report, but I was able to get Marriott’s website to display activity for the last 9 months of 2012.  I copied that info, along with a screenshot showing my Platinum status to Microsoft OneNote and then used OneNote to save the whole thing as a PDF.  I then emailed the PDF to Hilton along with a request for a match.  I received an automated response saying “Our goal is to respond to all inquiries within a 24-48 hour timeframe from receipt of the message.”  Would I get my status match in time?  Would I avoid having to pay for internet and breakfast?

On Thursday, there was no response from Hilton about the match.  I arrived at the hotel in the afternoon to check in.  The desk agent found my three reservations and click clacked away at the keys for many minutes to ensure that I had one room for the entire stay (which I appreciated very much!).  My Friday and Saturday night stays were booked as Executive Club Floor rooms (which included breakfast, but not internet), but the club lounge was closed for renovations (no wonder they had such a good rate for those rooms!).  Instead, I was given a bunch of breakfast and snack coupons that were valid through Sunday.  This meant that I was covered for breakfast for every day except Monday morning, even without Gold status.  Whew.

On Thursday night I paid for one night of internet service.  I had to work on this blog, after all.  The internet service lasted until Friday evening.  On Saturday, I called the desk to ask if internet was included in my Club Floor room rate.  Nope, but the desk agent offered to make an exception, and she gave me a code for two days worth of internet for free.  Score!

I was all set for the rest of the weekend, but Monday morning loomed ominously ahead.  That was the day I would have to pay for breakfast.  Oh no!

On Monday morning, I checked my email and found a wonderful sight (bolding is mine):

Re: Status Match

Dear Frequent Miler,

Thank you for your inquiry regarding a status match. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us.

First, we are always thrilled any time a member reaches out to us in an effort to attain our most prestigious Diamond membership level.
As you have reached the highest achievable level of membership with one of our hotel competitors, we are happy to extend a special one-time offer to fast track to Diamond tier level. If within the next 90 days, from today’s date, you record 21 eligible nights at any participating HHonors hotel, your account will be automatically upgraded to the Diamond tier status through March 31, 2015.  In the interim, we have upgraded your account to Gold membership level so that you may begin to enjoy the benefits while working to earn Diamond.

Sweet.  I have no intention of trying to stay 21 nights to get Diamond status, but I was happy to get free Gold status!

So, I got dressed and scampered to the front desk to let them know that I had earned Gold status during my stay.  The desk agent was incredibly gracious.  She told me to go sit down for breakfast and she would bring the breakfast coupon to me.

At the restaurant, I asked about ordering from the menu instead of the buffet and was told that there would be a $7 upcharge with the breakfast coupon.  I was OK with that.  When the coupon arrived, however, I was told that this coupon was good for anything on the menu, for free.  Score!  Breakfast was fantastic.

Background: Million Mile Madness was the mad quest to earn a million points in one month. Throughout March, I did everything I could to earn as many points as possible while keeping within my ethical boundaries. During the month, I tracked all of the points that I expected, and I declared victory when the expected total topped one million.

Final tally… not yet

Yes, I succeeded in earning a million points in one month, but there was another aspect to the challenge: my goal was to keep my net costs below $1000.  That meant that when I bought items to earn points and sold the items to earn back my money, there was very little room for error.  At this point, I still have some items that remain unsold, so I can’t yet give a final tally.  Did I succeed in keeping net costs below $1000?  I don’t yet know.  From my latest projections it looks like it will be close one way or another.

Million Mile Headaches

I’ve written before about some of the challenges I had during Million Mile Madness: A setback from Sears and Bumps in the road.  Some issues, though, popped up late in the game and I haven’t previously had a chance to report on them.  Sometimes bad results can be just as instructive as good ones.  Here’s my SunTrust story…

SunTrust Plan

SunTrust offers a debit card that earns one mile per dollar spent on all credit or debit transactions.  This is pretty amazing since very few cards offer rewards for debit transactions and those that do tend to offer much smaller rewards. 

I signed up for the SunTrust card on March 7th with modest goals for Million Mile Madness.  I wanted to earn the 5K sign-up bonus, and I intended to make about $10K in debit purchases for a total of 15K Delta SkyMiles.  This would have made a small, but positive contribution towards my Million Mile Madness quest.  My real reason for wanting the card, though, was for tax payments beginning in April.  Pay1040.com charges a flat fee of only $2.99 for tax payments made by debit card, so this would have been a great (and very easy) way to earn miles while paying taxes.

Signup Process, March 7

To sign up for the debit card, I visited suntrust.com, clicked “Open an Account,” and then clicked “Chat Now” to bring up an instant messenger style chat window.  I told the rep what I wanted, and he setup the new account for me.  He told me that they needed $100 to start the account and that I could pay by debit card.  I tried using a Visa gift card for that purpose (before gift cards had PINs), but I got a call a few days later saying that it didn’t work.  So, I used my Mio debit card instead.

First Contact, March 20

After the sign-up process, I waited eagerly for my new card to arrive.  The first sign that anything was happening was an email on March 20th saying that my online banking enrollment had been activated.  The email included instructions for competing the activation, which I did.  I didn’t yet have the debit card, though.

Funds Transfer Initiated, March 24

A few days later, on March 24th, I received an email stating that I could transfer funds from external accounts.  I logged on to my SunTrust account and initiated a transfer of $7000 from my CapitalOne360 account (formerly ING Direct). 

Card Received, March 25

On Monday, March 25th, I finally received my SunTrust Delta Debit card.  It was the last week of my challenge, so I was glad that it finally arrived!  I was also glad that I had proactively transferred in some funds so that I could use the card soon.

Transfer Stopped, March 26

On March 26th I received an email from CapitalOne360 informing me that SunTrust had initiated a $7K withdrawal.  The same day I received the following email from SunTrust:

For security reasons, your funds transfer request from ING Direct, Savings account to SunTrustBank, Checking account has been stopped.
As a policy, we need to review the transaction. Based on the results of that review, we will either cancel the transaction, or the funds may take a little longer to reach the destination account. We will notify you of the status of the transaction by email.

I thought that was odd, but I figured that they would finish up their investigation quickly and credit my account as expected.

Account terminated, March 27

The next day I tried to log into my account to see if the transferred funds had been deposited.  I only had a few more days remaining in my challenge so I really needed to start using the debit card!  Unfortunately, the system told me that I had entered an incorrect ID or password.  I reset my password and tried again but received the same error.

I called SunTrust.  At first, the rep I spoke with tried to help me with my password, but eventually he noticed a note on my account: SunTrust was closing my account and terminating all business with me.  No reason was given.  I asked why this happened, but the rep was unable to give me an explanation.

Crap.  I had to find other ways to earn 15,000 miles before the end of the month.  Luckily both Amex and Chase came through for me with big retention bonuses (see “Million Mile Madness: Easy points“).  Whew.

“Show me the money”, March 29

On Friday, March 29th, I logged into my CapitalOne360 account and noticed that the $7K I had transferred was still gone.  Crap.  I called SunTrust.  They claimed that there was no record of a transfer into my SunTrust account.  “But, I initiated the transfer from suntrust.com” I exclaimed.  Sorry, they said, but most likely the money will be automatically re-credited to my Capital One account in about 5 business days.  I had no choice but to wait.

No, really, “show me the money!”  April 8

On the first week of April I went on vacation and tried to forget about SunTrust (UnTrust?).  On Monday, April 8th, SunTrust reminded me of my dilemma by sending a box of checks.  Huh?  I distinctly remembered telling them that I didn’t want checks when I signed up.  And, if they terminated my account, why send checks anyway?  Had they re-established my account?  Maybe they realized that the account closure was a mistake and reinstated it?  I tried again to log on, but with no success.  I checked my Capital One account and saw that the $7K was still missing.

I called SunTrust and told the rep my dilemma.  The account was still closed.  Supposedly I had ordered checks in the middle of the month and so my account that previously had a $100 balance was about $14 poorer (I don’t actually remember the exact amount).  They still couldn’t explain why my account was closed or where my $7K had gone.  They couldn’t even re-credit my account for the checks I hadn’t ordered because my account was frozen.  They said that I could get my balance returned to me after my account had been frozen for 30 days and finally terminated completely.  It was still unclear if I would get back the money for the checks, but the bigger issue was my $7000 dollars!

I called Capital One and they offered to open an investigation.  I filled out and faxed a form describing the issue.

Capital One comes through!  April 9

To this day, I still have not heard about the results of the investigation, but on April 9th I logged into my CapitalOne360 account and found a wonderful sight:

• 04/09/2013 Withdrawal Reversal    7000.00

Great!

What happened?

I still do not have the $100 used to fund the SunTrust account, nor do I have an explanation of why my account was terminated.  My best guess is that they figured out that I don’t live in one of the States that they serve.  Of course, they knew that when I applied for the account in the first place!

On May 1st, I received a letter from SunTrust’s Enterprise Fraud Management department.  The letter read as follows (bolding is mine):

SunTrust continually reviews its products, markets and client relationships to ensure that we are able to provide the best possible client service while also meeting our corporate business objectives.  There are circumstances where the company will identify a specific account relationship that no longer meets these criteria.  In the interest of our clients and SunTrust, the company will request those accounts be closed.

When you opened your account with SunTrust, you received a copy of our Rules and Regulations for Deposit Accounts, our contractual agreement with our depositors.  The Rules and Regulations stipulate that SunTrust may close an account for any reason without advance notice to the client.

In accord with these Rules and Regulations, and as a result of information we have received after the account was opened or the unsatisfactory handling of the account, we find it necessary to discontinue our banking relationship immediately.  If the account is overdrawn, the overdrawn amount is a debt owed to SunTrust, and we require payment of any such debt within 30 days of the closing of the account.  If the payment of the overdraft is not obtained within that time action will be taken to collect the debt.  You will be responsible for all items, along with any associated fees, that are presented against the account after closure.  If there is a positive balance at the time of closure, SunTrust Bank will make a determination on the disposition of the funds.

We regret that we will not be in a position to continue to provide you with banking services, however this decision is irrevocable.

In other words, “We can do what we want… na, na, nuh, na, na.”

Learn about Million Mile Madness:

• A crazy million mile idea. Should I do it?
• Million Mile Madness, it’s on
• Million Mile Madness: Strategy
• Million Mile Madness: Preparing to buy & sell
• Million Mile Madness: Tracking points and expenses
• Million Mile Madness: The big churn story
• Million Mile Madness: buying, selling Kohl’s
• Million Mile Madness: Banking on Lowe’s
• Million Mile Madness: A setback from Sears
• Million Mile Madness: Pending Success
• Million Mile Madness: Bumps in the road
• Million Mile Madness: Credit scores and pulls
• Million Mile Madness: Easy points
• Million Mile Madness: Success!!!!!
• Million Mile Madness: Which points?
• Million Mile Madness: How it was done

The pace of change in the miles & point world is staggering.  The most recent big change is with the latest and greatest way to earn 5X everywhere.  There was a special link to sign up for the Citi ThankYou Preferred card that offered 5X in drugstores, gas stations, and supermarkets.  That link now appears to be dead:

More than a week ago, at Frequent Traveler University, the theme of my presentation was change.  In that presentation, I highlighted the following developments in the 5X everywhere game:

• May 1 2012: I published “One card to rule them all.”  In that post I showed how to earn 5X Ultimate Rewards points everywhere credit cards are accepted.
• October 16th 2012: I published “Bluebird takes flight and changes the game.” In that post I showed how to earn 5X Ultimate Rewards points everywhere including billers that do not accept credit cards!
• November 10th 2012: I published “Office Depot discontinues Vanilla Reload cards.”  This change made 5X everywhere tough, but not impossible.
• February 3rd 2013: I published “Office Depot discontinues $500 Visa/Amex cards.”  5X everywhere was effectively dead.
• February 6th 2013 (just 3 days later), Personal Finance Digest published “The old Citi 5% gas/grocery/drugstore link is dead, here’s a new one.”  5X everywhere was alive again!!!
• April 6th 2013: Million Mile Secrets published “Breaking News: You Can Now Use Gift Cards For Cash Back, Loading Bluebird, and Buying Money Orders!“  Not only was 5X everywhere alive and well, but there were new ways to do it!

Now, just a month later, 5X everywhere with ThankYou points is effectively dead.  Those who got their cards in time can still enjoy 5X rewards for 12 months (unless they get shut down for perk abuse!).  Others will have to look to other opportunities.

For good or bad, change is coming.  And the game plays on…

This is the third of a three part series showing how you can earn 5X everywhere without gift cards.  In the previous posts I showed how you can earn 5X Ultimate Rewards points and ThankYou points in many categories including telecom, grocery stores, drug stores, and more.  In today’s post I’ll cover what to do with spend that is outside of those popular categories.

Three Part Series

1. 5X everywhere without gift cards, part 1: Ultimate Rewards
2. 5X everywhere without gift cards, part 2: ThankYou Points
3. 5X everywhere without gift cards, part 3: Everything Else
   (this post)

5X Categories

In the previous two posts I showed how you can earn 5 points per dollar (5X) at in the following categories:

Ultimate Rewards

• Office supply purchases
• Cell phone
• Landline
• Cable
• Travel (4.28X)
• Rotating categories

ThankYou Rewards

• Gas stations
• Grocery stores
• Drug stores
• Restaurants
• Bookstores
• Movie theaters
• Video rental stores
• Record stores

5X Everywhere Else

The Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature (and its twin, Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa) earns 5 points per dollar for all purchases (and 10 points per dollar at Club Carlson properties).  By falling back on this card for purchases that do not fall into the above listed categories, you will earn 5X for all credit card purchases.

Club Carlson point value

Using the Club Carlson card to earn 5X everywhere sounds good until you realize that Club Carlson points are worth much less than ThankYou points or Ultimate Rewards points.  In fact, while it is easy to get at least 1 cent per point value from Ultimate Rewards and ThankYou Rewards, Club Carlson straight up sells points for 7/10ths of a cent each.  So, even though it is sometimes possible to get more than 7/10s of a cent value from Club Carlson points, it is wiser to earn Ultimate Rewards points or ThankYou points, all else being equal.

A few months ago, I looked at Club Carlson hotel prices and redemption rates in a number of cities.  I found that, in my sample, the per point value of Club Carlson points ranged from .22 cents to .89 cents each.  The average point value came to .43 cents.  This is far less than the value of Ultimate Rewards or ThankYou points.

Two Night Stay Sweet Spot

Where Club Carlson points shine is in booking two-night stays.  The Club Carlson credit cards come with a benefit called “Bonus Award Nights” (see “Club Carlson rocks our world… Again“).  With this benefit, when you book a two night or longer stay, the last night of your stay is free.  That means that for a two night stay, the cost in points for your stay is cut in half.  In other words, you will pay for one night (with points) and get the second night free (up to 50 free nights per year).  So, when you have the credit card and you book two night stays, the value of your Club Carlson points is effectively doubled!

Going back to my old analysis:  Where I previously saw Club Carlson point values ranging from .22 cents to .89 cents in value, you can now get .44 cents to 1.78 cents value for the same hotels by booking two-night stays. 

By using your Club Carlson points primarily for two-night stays, and primarily in properties with the best redemption values, you can get value rivaling ThankYou points and (sometimes) Ultimate Rewards.

Diminishing Returns

It’s important to realize that points have value only if you use them.  Since Club Carlson points have specific limited use (e.g. use them for Club Carlson free nights and or Points & Cash awards) and are best used in limited situations (two night stays), you may soon find that you have more points than you know what to do with.  Once you’ve reached that threshold, earning points for someday may not be the best idea.  Instead, consider other options for your “all other” spend…

Other Options

Here are a few good options for maximizing your return on “all other” spend:

Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve 3.94%

The key to maximizing value with this card is to spend exactly $10K per year. At $10K you’ll earn a free weekend night at almost any Hilton property worldwide. You’ll also earn 30,000 points from spend (the card offers 3X everywhere, 5X airline & car rental, and 10X at Hilton properties). If you value the Hilton HHonors points at .48 cents each and the free night at $250, then the earnings per dollar come to 3.94%.  Owning this card is also a great way to ensure getting free breakfast and free internet at Hilton properties (thanks to automatic Gold status).

Delta Reserve Card 3.4%

If you are a big spender and you value Delta elite status, this card is a great choice (it is, in fact, my “all other” card).  At $30K of annual spend (and again at $60K), you’ll earn 15K bonus miles and 15K MQMs (“Medallion Qualifying Miles” are Delta’s version of Elite Qualifying Miles).  If you plan carefully and end the year just above the big spend threshold (either $30K or $60K) you can maximize earnings on this card: you will earn an average of 1.5 miles per dollar and .5 MQMs per dollar.  If you use the 1.29 cents Fair Trading Price of Delta SkyMiles, and 3 cents per MQM valuation, then your earnings per dollar come to 3.435%.  For more details, please see “An analysis of the Delta Reserve credit card” and “How much should you pay for Elite Qualifying Miles?“

Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard 2.2%

A simpler option for your all-other spend is to earn 2.2% per dollar with Barclays’ Arrival World MasterCard ($89 annual fee version).  This card earns two points per dollar.  Points can be used to pay charges on your credit card statement.  If you use the points to pay for travel expenses, you will get 1 cent per point value plus a 10% rebate in points.  This is a nice no-fuss way to earn very good returns.

Summary

Here, now, is a summary of the cards needed for 5X everywhere without gift cards:

• Chase Ink Bold (or Ink Plus): 5X for office supply purchases, cell phone, landline, and cable.
• Chase Sapphire Preferred: 4.28X for travel (when booking via Travelocity through the Ultimate Rewards Mall).  You must keep the card through February of the next year to earn its 7% annual dividend.
• Chase Freedom: 5X (or 5.5X) in categories that change each quarter.
• Citi ThankYou Preferred: 5X (for 12 months) at gas stations, grocery stores, and drugstores.  To get 5X earnings, you must sign up with the link shown here.  UPDATE 5/7/2013: The Citi Preferred 5X link appears to be dead. Sorry everyone.
• Citi Forward: 5X at restaurants, bookstores, movie theaters, video rental stores, and record stores.  New applications require proof that you are a college student, but some people have reported success calling and asking to switch a different Citi card to the Forward card.
• Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature: 5X everywhere (10X at Club Carlson properties).  Please see my note about diminishing returns above.
• Other options: Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve, Delta Reserve, BarclayCard Arrival World MasterCard.  For more options, see “Best Big Spend Bonuses“.

A number of interesting tidbits have been piling up lately, so rather than covering a single topic I’m simply going to give a rundown today of things on my mind…

Amex Financial Review

Gary, at View from the Wing, wrote up a terrific piece about Amex financial reviews (see “Preparing for the Dreaded American Express Financial Review“).  He argues that its something to get through rather than to fear.  This is a must read for anyone who manufactures spend.

10% off Amazon gift cards

This week OfficeMax is offering $5 off the purchase of two $25 Amazon gift cards.  Limit 1, but if you have a nice cashier they might let you split a purchase into multiple transactions.  Make sure to buy two $25 cards with each transaction.  Ideally, pay with a card that earns 5X at office supply stores (e.g. Ink Bold, Ink Plus, etc.).  Travel Summary has the scoop here.  I’ll run over to OfficeMax soon to see if I can buy these with OfficeMax gift cards.

10% off Lowes or $10 off $50 purchase

A number of coupons were posted to this SlickDeals thread.  Please go to that thread for details and questions.  Remember that you can also get a Movers coupon for 10% off by filling out an online form, and you can double or triple dip at Lowes for extra points.  Details here: Million Mile Madness: Banking on Lowe’s; and here: Maximizing Home Improvement Spend.

How to get the Citi Forward card

Last week I said that the Citi Forward card is great, but that you can’t get it unless you’re a college student (see “5X everywhere without gift cards, part 2: ThankYou Points“).  A number of people told me about a great workaround: Call Citi and ask to change your existing Citi card to a Forward card.  I can’t promise this will always work, but some people have reported success in blog comments and in this FlyerTalk thread.  5X restaurants, movie theaters, book stores (Amazon!), and more!

Hilton HHonors program only mostly dead

Indulge the Wanderlust reports that there are still deals to be had with the Hilton HHonors program despite recent huge devaluations.  I agree.  Details here.

Club Carlson whips the competition

LoyaltyLobby ran a series of posts analyzing the “earn and burn” rates of a number of hotel chains.  On the “earn” side, he estimated the number of points that would be earned at various properties with and without elite status and with and without a branded credit card.  He then looked at how many points were needed for free nights at various hotels (this is the “burn” side).  He then wrapped up the series by showing the amount of spend required within each chain to earn a free night.  Club Carlson beat the competition by a long shot.  Here’s an example graph showing the spend required for a free night based on someone with mid tier status:

It’s interesting that Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, and Marriott all came out about the same.  Club Carlson required less than half the spend of its competitors.  SPG required much, much more. 

Please see LoyaltyLobby’s series for details (or to complain about those details)

Best rate guarantee success

Angelina, author of Just Another Points Traveler, reports on her success in getting much cheaper hotel nights through the use of Best Rate Guarantees.  I need to try this trick out more often (I’ve only done a Best Rate Guarantee once).  Details here.

At FTU in DC last weekend, I presented “You can still earn 5X everywhere.” Many of the tips I presented involved reload cards, gift cards, and Bluebird cards, but I also showed how you can earn 5X almost everywhere without gift cards. In this three part series, I’ll show you how. 

Three Part Series

1. 5X everywhere without gift cards, part 1: Ultimate Rewards
2. 5X everywhere without gift cards, part 2: ThankYou Points
   (this post)
3. 5X everywhere without gift cards, part 3: Everything Else
   (coming soon)

The cards shown above on the left earn Chase’s Ultimate Rewards points. The cards on the right earn Citibank’s ThankYou points. In this post, I’ll focus on cards that earn ThankYou points, and I’ll finish up with a post about what to do with charges that don’t fit into the above buckets.

ThankYou Points

At first glance, the ThankYou Points program looks pretty weak.  For example, if you redeem points for cash, you’ll get only half a penny per point:

You can do much better, though, by redeeming for a mortgage payment, student loan rebate, or certain gift cards.  With these you’ll get 1 penny per point:

But, you can do even better.  If you have a premium ThankYou travel rewards card such as the ThankYou Premier card, you’ll get 1.33 cents per point value towards airline tickets.

The Citi ThankYou Premier card lets you redeem ThankYou points for 1.33 cents per point value.

Here’s an example of a flight search using ThankYou points.  I looked up one-way flights from Washington Dulles to Orlando.  For the date and time I chose, the best fare Kayak could find was $114 on United.  The ThankYou travel booking site found the same flight for $116.88 and priced it at 8,787 points.  For some reason the ThankYou booking engine seems to add a few dollars to each leg above the best available fare.  This means that you’ll get slightly less than 1.33 cents per point value, but it’s still a great deal.  In this example, I would get 1.3 cents per point value as measured against the best available rate ($114).

One great thing about booking flights this way is that you do earn miles from the airline you fly.  In contrast, most airlines would have charged 12,500 miles for this one-way trip (those that allow one-way awards, that is), and one would not earn miles for flying on an award ticket.

Combining points

When you have multiple credit cards that earn ThankYou points, all of the points will go into the same account as long as you link those cards to your ThankYou account.  To do so, log into ThankYou.com and go to “My Sponser Accounts” and add each card.

If you have the ThankYou Premier card, all of your points will automatically be worth 1.33 cents per point towards flights.

Transferring points

One great feature of the ThankYou program is that you can transfer points to any friend or family member for free.  This means that as long as you know (and trust) one person who holds a Citi ThankYou Premier card, you can get up to 1.33 cents value towards flights.  Simply transfer the points to your friend and ask them to book your flight.  Note that transferred points expire within 90 days if not redeemed.  See details in the ThankYou Rewards Terms & Conditions document.

5X almost everywhere

By filling your wallet with the right assortment of cards, you can earn 5 points per dollar almost everywhere you shop day to day.  Here are the Citi ThankYou Rewards cards that will help you get there:

Citi ThankYou Preferred 5X for 12 months

UPDATE 5/7/2013: The Citi Preferred 5X link appears to be dead.  Sorry everyone.

On Feb 6, Personal Finance Digest reported a working link to an application for the ThankYou Preferred card that offers a year of 5X earnings at gas stations, grocery stores, and drugstores.  Sure, the 5X earnings are limited to 1 year, but things change so fast in this hobby that one year is like a lifetime.

Don’t confuse this card with the similarly named ThankYou Premier card.  The Premier card is the one you need to get 1.33 cents per point value for flights.  That one comes with a $125 annual fee after the first year.  The Preferred card, on the other hand, has no annual fee.  And, if you use the sign-up link found by Personal Finance Digest, you’ll earn 5X for the first year when shopping within several very popular categories.

Citi Forward (for College Students) 5X

I signed up for this card last year just before they began limiting it to college students.  This card earns 5X for purchases made at restaurants, bookstores, movie theaters, video rental stores, and record stores.  To me, the restaurant category alone makes this card a keeper.

If you want this card, but you’re not a student, you may be out of luck.  I think that the best option is to find a student in your family who would be willing to get the card and sign you up as an authorized user.  Of course, all of your charges will be on the student’s account so while it might be a great deal for you, it might not be so great for the student… 

Wrap Up

By getting both the special Citi ThankYou Preferred card, and the Citi Forward card you will be able to earn 5X ThankYou points at gas stations, grocery stores, drugstores, restaurants, bookstores (including Amazon.com!), movie theaters, and more.  Since getting these two cards, I have found myself using them to get 5X for almost all day to day spend.

Finally, getting the two 5X cards is not enough if you want to enjoy 1.33 cents per point value towards airline tickets.  To do that, you will need to have (or a friend will need to have) the Citi ThankYou Premier card (or another premium ThankYou travel card).

More details about the cards shown above,and signup links for each, can be found on the following pages:

• Best Credit Card Offers
• Preparing for Miles
• The old Citi 5% gas/grocery/drugstore link is dead, here’s a new one (Personal Finance Digest)

Caution

The purpose of this series of posts is to show how it may be possible to earn 5 points per dollar almost everywhere, but that does not mean that you should. Not everyone can (or should) get all of the cards I’ve listed. While it is true that I have all of the listed cards, this is not meant to be personalized advice for you. Is this right for you? Only you can decide. And, as always, I do not recommend signing up for rewards credit cards unless you always pay your balance in full every month. Otherwise the cost of the interest payments will far exceed the benefit of points earned.

At FTU in DC last weekend, I presented “You can still earn 5X everywhere.”  Many of the tips I presented involved reload cards, gift cards, and Bluebird cards, but I also showed how you can earn 5X almost everywhere without gift cards.  In this three part series, I’ll show you how.

The cards shown above on the left earn Chase’s Ultimate Rewards points.  The cards on the right earn Citibank’s Thankyou points.  In this post, I’ll focus on Ultimate Rewards.  The next post will cover the ThankYou cards and I’ll finish up with a post about what to do with charges that don’t fit into the above buckets.

Ultimate Rewards

Ultimate Rewards points are my favorite form of currency.  Really.  All you need is one of Chase’s premium cards (e.g. Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold, Ink Plus) to unlock Ultimate Rewards full potential.  For a frequent traveler, the points are better than cash.  If you want or need cash, fine.  Ultimate Rewards points can be exchanged for cash with a value of 1 cent per point.  Or, book travel through the Ultimate Rewards website and get 1.25 cents per point value.  Better yet, transfer points to any of numerous partners and you can often get far more value.

Additional transfer partners not shown above include Marriott and Priority Club.

Some of the best redemption options for Ultimate Rewards points are via partners.  Here are a few examples:

• Transfer to United Airlines and redeem for international business or first class travel on Star Alliance flights.  Redemption value varies widely but you can usually expect to get at least 3 cents per point value and often much more (if you find saver level availability).
• Transfer to Southwest Airlines and redeem for “Wanna Getaway” fares.  For these fares, you’ll get 1.67 cents per point value.
• Transfer to Hyatt for luxury stays.  Hyatt’s award chart tops out at only 22,000 points per night for their most expensive properties.  When redeeming for expensive hotel nights (think $500 and up) you can expect to get over 2 cents per point value.
• Transfer to British Airways and redeem for short non-stop flights on BA partner airlines (American, Alaska, Aer Lingus, LAN, etc.).  One great example that I’ve taken advantage of is to use BA Avios to book American Airlines non stop from Detroit to NYC.  Non-stop round-trip flights are usually $700 and up for weekday travel, but I was able to book the same for only 9000 points.  That’s a value of over 7.7 cents per point!
• Transfer to Amtrak and redeem for bedrooms or special routes.  With Amtrak’s special routes, they charge only 1500 points each way.  I’ve used this deal several times to ride the Wolverine train from Ann Arbor to Chicago.  Prices fluctuate widely, but in my experience I usually get over 3.5 cents per point value.  You can also do well by using points to book otherwise very expensive bedrooms for long-haul routes.

Sure, Starwood points are arguably more valuable per-point than Ultimate Rewards, but Ultimate Rewards points are much easier to earn and faster to transfer to partners.

5X almost everywhere

By filling your wallet with the right assortment of cards, you can earn 5 points per dollar almost everywhere you shop day to day.  Here are the Chase Ultimate Rewards cards that will help you get there:

Chase Ink 5X

I’ve said many times that the Chase Ink Bold (and its twin the Ink Plus) is my favorite card.  I even wrote a secure message to Chase to profess my love.  My feelings haven’t changed.

Chase Ink cards offer 5 points per dollar for office supply purchases, cell phone, landline, and cable.  Just by using an Ink card to pay your cell phone, landline, and cable bills you’ll rack up thousands of points.  And, of course, don’t forget to use the card whenever you shop at an office supply store.  Since Staples, OfficeMax, and Office Depot regularly offer specials that I blog about (such as Free after Rebate items and other lucrative discounts), the Ink card provides many ways to rack up points!

There are multiple versions of Ink cards: Ink Bold, Ink Plus, Ink Cash, and Ink Classic.  The Ink Bold and Ink Plus cards are premium cards with high signup bonuses (50K!) and $95 annual fees that kick in after the first year.  These premium cards award 5X for up to $50K per year of spend.  The Ink Cash and Ink Classic are no-fee cards with smaller sign-up bonuses.  These cards award 5X for up to $25K per year of spend.  For details of how these cards differ, please see “Preparing for Miles“. 

All of the Ink cards are business cards.  Yes, you do need a business to qualify.  If you have a new business (rental property, buy/sell things, consultant, blog author, whatever…) you do not need to lie about your business income, even if your income to-date is zero.  Hopefully you have other income or assets that you can also list to help assure Chase that you’re credit-worthy!  For more information, please see “How to sign up for the Ink Bold (or Ink Plus).”  If you have multiple businesses, you can get multiple Ink cards and you should get the signup bonus for each one (at least, that was my experience).

Chase Sapphire Preferred 4.28X

If you had to settle for just one rewards credit card, for most frequent travelers I recommend the Sapphire Preferred.  While it doesn’t offer any 5X categories, it does offer 2X for all restaurant and travel purchases, and it offers a 7% annual dividend on all points earned.  So, regular earnings are really 1.07X, and 2X earnings are really 2.14X.  With no foreign transaction fees, this is a great card to have in your wallet when dining or travelling (although it does lack a PIN at the time of this writing).  Of course, the card offers a terrific 40K sign-up bonus, so that doesn’t hurt either!

The trick for getting nearly 5X when using the card for travel expenses is to take advantage of the Ultimate Rewards Mall.  By initiating your online shopping through Chase’s Ultimate Rewards Mall, you can earn extra points above and beyond those earned by your credit card.  So, when booking travel, go through the Ultimate Rewards Mall to a site like Travelocity (which currently offers 2 bonus points per dollar) and pay for your travel with your Sapphire Preferred card.  With 2 bonus points from the Ultimate Rewards Mall and 2X earnings for travel with the Sapphire Preferred, you will earn 4 points per dollar.  Then, if you factor in the Sapphire Preferred card’s annual 7% dividend, you would earn 4.28 points per dollar.  It’s not 5X, but its awfully close!

Chase Freedom 5X to 5.5X

The final piece of the puzzle is the no-fee Chase Freedom card which offers 5X in rotating categories each quarter.  For example, this quarter, from April through June, the Freedom card offers 5X for restaurants, movie theaters, and Lowe’s.  Note that 5X earnings are limited to $1500 in spend each quarter.

If you have a Chase checking account, you will also qualify for a 10% annual bonus on points earned (see “The new king of the Ultimate Rewards Mall“).  This means that regular spend earns 1.1X, and 5X spend becomes 5.5X!

Wrap Up

The cards detailed above give multiple opportunities to earn 5 very valuable Ultimate Rewards points per dollar across many types of transactions: office supplies, cell phone, landline, cable, travel, and rotating categories.  In general, if you have competing cards that earn 5X for the same categories, I’d recommend going with the card that earns Ultimate Rewards points whenever feasible.

In the next post in this series I’ll show how it’s possible to earn 5X ThankYou points across many other categories of spend.  And, I’ll show you how to make the most of those points.

More details about the cards shown above,and signup links for each, can be found on either of these pages:

• Best Credit Card Offers
• Preparing for Miles

Caution

The purpose of this series of posts is to show how it may be possible to earn 5 points per dollar almost everywhere, but that does not mean that you should.  Not everyone can (or should) get all of the cards I’ve listed.  While it is true that between my wife and I we have all of the listed cards, this is not meant to be personalized advice for you.  Is this right for you?  Only you can decide.  And, as always, I do not recommend signing up for rewards credit cards unless you always pay your balance in full every month.  Otherwise the cost of the interest payments will far exceed the benefit of points earned.

This past weekend I went to D.C. for the Freddie Awards, the Travel Executive Summit, and Frequent Traveler University (FTU).  As always, I had an awesome time making new friends and catching up with old ones.  Activities and hallway conversations ran non-stop all weekend and I barely had enough time to kill a deal or two let alone write up any new content for this blog.

So, today I’ll simply spit out a number of miscellaneous items…

FTU Presentation past and future

I gave a presentation at FTU titled something like “You can still earn 5X everywhere”.  I’m not one to give the same presentation twice so this was very different from the presentations I gave last year at FTU LA, and at the Chicago Seminars.  I thought it went well.  People laughed at the right moments and seemed engaged throughout.  It was fun!

Photo courtesy of Kadence @ Iluvtravelfotos

Mileage Update generously tweeted:

@FrequentMiler Who knew you had a stand up routine as well?? Great speech at the #FTUDC

I’ll run a few posts in the near future to give readers an overview of my talk.  For those who’d like to meet up in person, I’ll also be at the Ann Arbor Art Fair DO in July (wait listed), at FTU Tampa in September (maybe speaking there – don’t know yet), and at the next Chicago Seminars (definitely speaking there) in October.

Staples: Save $15 when you buy $150 or more in MasterCard® gift cards after easy rebate

Valid through Saturday, May 4

You have to go into the store for this one.  Buy $150 or more of MasterCard gift cards (not Visa gift cards!) and you should qualify for a $15 Easy Rebate.  The rebate should print automatically along with your receipt.

Limit 1 rebate per household (no, I don’t know if this limit is easy to circumvent)

It should be possible to set PINs on these gift cards to use at Walmart, but I haven’t tried these yet and some people have reported issues with MasterCard gift cards and PINs, so as always, it may or may not work for you.

Hat Tip: Joshua

Staples: $10 off coupon

Valid through Saturday, May 4

UPDATE: The coupon is no longer working for gift card orders

This one is online only.  $10 off any order of $100 or more.  Seems to work with some items that you wouldn’t expect (see photo above for an idea of a related product).  Limited to one order per household.  Use coupon code 43994 at checkout.  Start your session from uPromise to possibly get 5% cash back.  Pay with a card that gets 5X at office supply stores (see “Best Category Bonuses“).

Here’s an example checkout receipt:

Hat Tip: Grant

Venmo ups limit to $3K

Hat Tip to Travelomania on FlyerTalk. This may be exciting news to those who have a debit card that earns rewards.  A friend reminded me that Venmo does not like people to swap payment sources too often so this is not a good option for draining gift cards.  I don’t use Venmo, nor do I have a rewards debit card (details coming in a future post) so I can’t really help you with details.