Free Money (in a way)

Free Money (in a way) was Originally Posted on July 13, 2013 by lavarock

There are times that you find a neat trick that gives you something almost for nothing. Most of these deals are no longer available.

I told you that I bought a fax machine on Ebay that turned out to be recalled due to problems. HP offered me $100 compensation for a fax machine I bought used for lots less.

Another example is the “pudding guy”. David Phillips, a civil engineer, found a coupon offer that exceeded the cost of the product. Before it was shut down, he accumulated 1,253,000 frequent flyer miles and an $815 tax deduction. Those frequent flier miles are like gold and because he is now in a top tier of fliers, he accumulates miles faster than the rest of us. Read the short version here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pudding_Guy

If you wonder what happened to all that pudding? He asked the Salvation Armuy if they could use “some free pudding”. When they said “yes”, he said he would literally give them all they wanted, if they would help him fill out some coupon paperwork

This is not too far from the Seinfeld episode where Kramer and Newman take recyclable soda bottles across the state line to a state that pays more for the cans than they paid in fees in their own state. Yes, they would have to load up a truck and use gas to do that, but they “borrow” a Postal Service truck, so it is no money out of their pocket. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1blsZxXDCU

A couple of us were at a casino in the Bahamas (Cable Beach) when they were, as best as we can tell, fine tuning a slot machine promotion “Hurricane Zone”. We realized the casino was wheeling money to continuously fill the slot machines, rather than take money out. I won lots that day!

On the frequent flier site I participate on, there is a forum where they discuss ways to work the system, get deals and so on. There is a running discussion on almost or free magazine subscriptions. Often you can sign up for well-know magazines for free. Sometimes the magazines are great, sometimes they are like “Yarn Monthly” which may not be interesting to the majority of readers. This is the same forum I read about a “test drive a car. get $50″ promotion.

Another deal that was popular a few years ago was buying money at a profit. HUH? Yes, the US Mint had a program whereby you could buy commemorative coins and have them shipped to you for free. OK, so you are thinking, could you not just go to the bank and get a roll of dollar coins at face value? Yes, but you would use gas to get there. The gas cost is not the real savings here, it is, at the time, the US Mint accepted credit cards for buying money. I see the wheels staring to turn in your head now. Many of you have credit cards that pay you money back on your purchases. Your card may offer frequent flier miles for purchases….

So you buy $1,000 worth of coins on a credit card, the coins are shipped to you (sometimes within 2 days) with free shipping, you take the coins and circulate them (without just dumping them at the bank) and you buy $1,000 worth of products you would have normally. If you really wanted to dump them quickly, you would have taken them to one of those coin machines or just take them into a casino, exchange them for chips, and cash the chips in for money at the next window.

Credit card companies soon realized that you were buying cash and stopped giving miles or money back for cash purchases and the US Mint also got wind when they realized what was going on. Still for about 2 years, this was a great way to get something for nothing.

There used to be a problem with Sam’s Club as I remember. Sam’s Club did not accept American Express and people wanted to use Amex to get extra miles or miney or whatever. Usually near a Sam’s Club was a WalMart (both part of the same company). People would go into Walmart, buy a gift card that was usable at Sam’s and head across the street to shop. They got the miles for buying the gift card.

You begin to see why these companies now treat cash advances and cash equivalents differently from products. Too many people are working the system.

I used to tell people, “Want to double your money”? Buy “double your money back guaranteed” products and take them back.

If you think this is no longer available, go to Google and enter “double your money back guarantee” as your search.