Free 'points' or miles

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

For those of you that like to churn their credit cards that earn points or miles, go here and you can buy cash delivered to your door with your credit cards, limit 2 orders of 250 per presidential coin issue. No surcharges, free delivery.

For circulating $1 coins you want to spend or use in your business operations, we offer the circulating $1 coin rolls through the Circulating $1 Coin Direct Ship Program where you can buy up to 500 $1 coins at face value and receive free standard shipping and handling.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

You mean...I can buy coins at face value with my credit card, have the coins delivered to my door for free? For $250 I get 250 $1 coins? Real coins? What are presidential $1 coins? Are they a new thing? Are they real?

My world is trembling. These also look perfect for hiding under the floorboards in my living ro--wait! Not my living room! No! Not in my house at ALL! Forget I said that!

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Ok what am I missing? They are trying to charge me for shipping.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

Ok what am I missing? They are trying to charge me for shipping.

click onward and your total will show no shipping charge.

You mean...I can buy coins at face value with my credit card, have the coins delivered to my door for free? For $250 I get 250 $1 coins? Real coins? What are presidential $1 coins? Are they a new thing? Are they real?

Yes.

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

Cool idea and I guess a nice way to get a few free miles if you don't mind toting those around. But I already hate when there are too many quarters in my wallet....

[allenh91801 Member Find all posts View Profile Close allenh91801]

Just take it to the bank and exchange or deposit it.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

Just take it to the back and exchange or deposit it.

You could do that, but it's not in the 'spirit' of this offer from the Mint. They're doing this to try to push the circulation.

[allenh91801 Member Find all posts View Profile Close allenh91801]

It's just a little difficult to carry $100 in coin to pay for things.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

It's just a little difficult to carry $100 in coin to pay for things.

Not really a problem for me. I don't usually carry $100 in bills...I usually have $10 in running-around money. I think this offer is intended for businesses, so they can use the coins in change.

Remember the bit in Take the Money and Run where Woody Allen has broken into a bubble-gum machine to get money to pay for his date? And he takes the girl to a fancy restaurant, and it's time to tip the maitre d', and Woody Allen kind of turns like he's going to inobtrusively press a bill into the guy's hand, and instead he drops all these pennies?

[allenh91801 Member Find all posts View Profile Close allenh91801]

Remember the bit in Take the Money and Run where Woody Allen has broken into a bubble-gum machine to get money to pay for his date? And he takes the girl to a fancy restaurant, and it's time to tip the maitre d', and Woody Allen kind of turns like he's going to inobtrusively press a bill into the guy's hand, and instead he drops all these pennies?

Yeah. That's what I' talking about!

[eagle7304 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close eagle7304]

Am I doing something wrong. When I go to check out it charges $4.95 for shipping.

[eagle7304 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close eagle7304]

Wow. It really works. Now I'll have to convince the wife to go to Vegas

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Thanks. Yes it works. No shipping charge.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

It only took the government less than a year and a half to figure this out

U.S. Mint blocks frequent fliers' scheme to collect easy miles - latimes.com

latimes.com
TRAVEL BRIEFCASE
U.S. Mint blocks frequent fliers' scheme to collect easy miles
Some credit card holders bought coins to earn rewards, then used the coins to pay their credit card bills. Net cost: $0.
By Hugo Martín

9:04 PM PST, December 11, 2009

The idea behind credit cards that offer airline rewards is simple enough: The more you spend on the card, the more free airline miles you get.

But the U.S. Mint recently broke up a scheme by cardholders who figured out a way to get money for nothing and rewards for free.

Under the scheme, people used their credit cards to purchase dollar coins from the U.S. Mint. They then deposited the coins in the bank to pay off the credit card balance. In the end, the cardholders were out no money but their credit cards registered thousands of dollars' worth of spending, and thus they earned thousands of rewards points or miles from the airlines.

"It's not the right thing to do," said Tom Jurkowsky, a spokesman for the U.S. Mint. "It's not what the program was meant to do."

Since November, the U.S. Mint has written letters to about 75 cardholders who may have tried the scheme to collect airline rewards points.

The trouble began in June 2008 when the U.S. Mint launched a "direct ship" program to sell dollar coins directly to the general public in hopes of increasing the use of the coins, which last longer than paper currency. Under the program, individuals could buy a maximum of 500 of each of five presidential dollar coins issued by the mint (Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Jackson). But the mint set no limit on purchases of a sixth coin, which bears an image of Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who guided the Lewis and Clark expedition. The mint allowed people to buy the coins with credit cards and offered free shipping in the continental U.S.

Several savvy frequent fliers got the idea to buy the coins with credit cards to accumulate reward points and then pay off the credit card balance after depositing the coins at a bank. (Some banks charge to count coins; others offer the service free.)

Word spread about the scheme on Internet blogs, such as Flyertalk.com. The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story last week, quoted a frequent flier who identified himself as Mr. Pickles and claimed he bought $800,000 in coins with his credit cards to jack up his rewards point total. He told the Journal that he pulled off the scheme by using several banks and numerous credit cards.

Other frequent fliers picked up the idea online and immediately ordered the coins in bulk.

"I just placed my order," said a Flyertalk member dubbed "matagal." "A painless way to get miles. Thanks."

A member with the moniker "chasethemiles" called the coin-for-miles deal "one of those fantastic deals that only come once in a great while."

Although no laws were broken, officials at the U.S. Mint said the deal conflicted with the intent of the program, which was to circulate the coins throughout the economy. Under the scheme, the coins were deposited directly into banks. Jurkowsky said the mint already has a program to distribute the dollar coins in bulk to banks.

Since the program began, the mint recorded about 40,000 "direct ship" coin orders. Jurkowsky said the mint believes fewer than 1% of those orders may have been made to generate airline miles.

In the letter sent to the biggest coin buyers, the mint asked the cardholders to explain their unusually large purchases.

Jurkowsky said some of the people who responded to the letters had legitimate explanations, such as owners of coin-operated laundromats who need the coins to operate the washers and dryers.

But so far about 20 people who couldn't explain the need for so many coins have been barred from ordering more coins, he said.

The mint is now making a permanent fix to the problem, Jurkowsky said. In the future, credit card purchases will be recorded as cash advances rather than credit card purchases. Credit cards typically do not give reward points for cash advances.

Industry insiders say the real losers in such schemes are not the airlines but the banks that buy the rewards points from the airlines and offer the rewards to cardholders to encourage them to spend on their cards.

A spokeswoman for Bank of America said the bank was aware of the matter and was looking into it. Representatives for Chase and Citibank declined to comment.

Rick Seaney, founder of Farecompare.com, a website that monitors airline fares and fees, said frequent fliers are always trying to find shortcuts to boost their airline reward points to win free flights and get seating upgrades or other perks, such as access to VIP lounges.

"This is not the first one I've seen," he said of the coin-for-rewards deal. "It's sort of a hobby for many people.".....

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Classic!