Question about Frugality and Reward Programs

[FrugalTexan75]

Steve,

Have you thought about Ebaying your Amazon gift cards, or perhaps seeing if you can do some kind of exchange on Craigslist?

Another question -- do you know if your Coke rewards points expire? I got an email recently telling me I needed to use my points by Dec 15 or else I would lose them! I'm trying to save enough points for 3 movie tickets, and have almost enough entered for the first one, but have a lot I still need to enter. I would hate to lose those points I've already managed to enter, and it makes me leary of entering any more in case I don't have enough to get the ticket yet.

I use mypoints, and have no trouble spending my points. I generally save them until October, when I get my brother's birthday gift card, then in November I "purchase" whatever gift cards I want for Christmas gifts. Once in a while I might get another gift card during the year, but not often. -- I do spend a lot of time with a calculator deciding which cards to purchase.

[disneysteve]

FrugalTexan - Actually, the Amazon credit isn't so hard to use. I can actually buy other gift cards on Amazon. I did that once. I got a $200 Target gift card because we shop there constantly. So anytime I really want to burn through Amazon credit, I just need to order another Target card. It costs a couple of dollars for postage but is well worth it.

As for Coke rewards, I believe the points don't expire as long as your account remains active. If there is no activity in 90 days, points can be forfeited. So be sure and enter at least one code every 90 days.

[CindyLu322]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I had a bunch of Hilton points that I got from business travel (paid for by the company, so cost nothing to me). I knew I was probably never getting any more points, so it would make sense to use them...

I had enough to get a free night at a hotel in an undesirable area (really random locations) or I could get some item. I ended up deciding to get a rice maker (value of about $30) because our old one was getting worn out. It killed me that the free hotel night would have been worth much more (in dollars), but I thought to myself... I could actually use a new rice maker and I really didn't need a free hotel night in the middle of nowhere.

Anyway, I like my new rice maker.

[FrugalTexan75]

FrugalTexan - Actually, the Amazon credit isn't so hard to use. I can actually buy other gift cards on Amazon. I did that once. I got a $200 Target gift card because we shop there constantly. So anytime I really want to burn through Amazon credit, I just need to order another Target card. It costs a couple of dollars for postage but is well worth it.

As for Coke rewards, I believe the points don't expire as long as your account remains active. If there is no activity in 90 days, points can be forfeited. So be sure and enter at least one code every 90 days.

Steve,

Thanks for the info about Coke Rewards. I'll have to be get some codes entered then.

That's good that you're able to use your amazon credit for other gift cards, makes it more useful.

[SnoopyCool]

This year though, I'm thinking of just ordering all the gift cards and giving those as holiday presents.

Be careful that those retailers you choose will still be around for those "giftees" to use later.

[PrincessPerky]

I think the way out is to remember why the company created the tiered system.... to keep you from using those points!

Remember it is very cheap to store points on a server, but to redeem them the company has to shell out real money.

So the next time you consider passing up an item to go spend cash, think of it as getting the company to buy it rather than you.

If you really don't need/want anything try buying to donate, could prolly get decent nonperishables at amazon in there 50% off section (or more)

[Bimmer]

I use Coke points to get stuff that I know I can turn around and sell on ebay or craigslist for decent money. That way I'm bringing in cash for the time I spend punching in those codes.

Occasionally an item comes up that I want/need and will save for that. I do not see the point of saving the points up unless there is big item you are trying to get to. Why spend the money at Wal-mart or wheverever when you have the points?

Also, I manage a plastic bottle recycling program at work and get most of the coke points that way. So I guess I see them more as freebies instead of actually buying a lot of Coke.

[disneysteve]

I use Coke points to get stuff that I know I can turn around and sell on ebay or craigslist for decent money. That way I'm bringing in cash for the time I spend punching in those codes.

Why not just save yourself the trouble and ebay the Coke rewards numbers? They bring good money. Do a search and you'll see. I may actually start doing that myself.

[FrugalTexan75]

Ugh.

I entered my limit of Coke points tonight. Then I decided to double check how much the movie tickets were.

Last time I looked, they were 330 points. Now they are 480 points!!! I'm trying to earn 3 of them, but at this rate, I don't know if that'll happen.

I personally hardly ever do Coke, but my mom does. So I get all the codes from her 12 and 24 packs, plus she looks for any 20oz coke bottle caps where she works. I've got a lot of them backlogged at this point that I need to enter - but I doubt that I have anywhere near the 1440 I'll need for 3 tickets. (Have 266 entered so far.)

If I hadn't procrastinated in entering them, I *might* have had enough for the first ticket when it was still 330 (although it would depend on when they changed the value.)

[pearlieq]

I don't bother with Coke Rewards anymore.I found it so tedious to keep track of caps, labels, etc. and even more mind-numbing to enter them.

And then, after entering all of them, they weren't worth anything decent. A few bucks at Subway just isn't worth entering the stupid codes off of 80 2-liters. Ugh! A movie ticket would have taken over 40 10-packs.

The older I get the choosier I am about which reward programs I'll use. If I had the opportunities that you had as a physican, disneysteve, I would be all over the surveys too. But as it is, I'm no longer willing to fill out 35 Zoomerang surveys for a cheap toaster. The idea of dealing with the kooks on eBay makes me want to curl up in the fetal position.

I'm willing to do reward credit cards, travel loyalty problems, and limited CVS-ing. But my patience is thin--I need a pretty good return for my efforts to motivate me.