Author Archives: Gomanson

Semi-Monthly Update (December 23, 2016)

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In recognition of the art of last minute shopping, this update features some miscellaneous value tactics you can take advantage of around town.  When you read the following tactics, keep in mind one of the principles from the strategy page:  If you have to make a purchase to get something for free, it’s only really free if you were going to make the purchase anyway.


Everyone loves free chicken!

If you’re near a Raising Cane’s restaurant you can get a free meal by signing up for their Caniac Club.  You need to register the card and verify your e-mail address.  The free box combo meal will be loaded onto your account within 48 hours.  (For detail weirdos like me, here’s the official rules).  To get the free meal you have to opt in to receive e-mail promotions.  Like all of these deals, it’s easy to remove yourself from the e-mail list once you have received your free stuff.

Caniac Club cards

Each family member with a unique e-mail address can get their own free chicken meal. Thanks to ValueTactics reader Alex for the tactical reconnaissance!

Everyone loves free pop!

Mt Dew

Expires 12/24 – At Holiday gas stations you can get a free 12-pack of pop when you buy $50 worth of gift cards.  You can choose any Coke or Pepsi product.  As some of you know, I am usually loyal to Super America stations because of their rewards points program.  With free gas tactics I have saved over $1000 in the past 3 years at Super America.  But with the loss of double coupon Tuesdays my loyalty is waning.  I’m going to spend $50 on gas anyway.  And 12-packs are $3.50-5.00 nowadays, so this is a good deal to me.

Everyone loves free gift cards!

Many restaurants run free gift card promotions during the holiday season.  The deal is usually something like this: “Get a free $5 gift card with the purchase of a $20 gift card!”  The dollar amounts and the terms vary from restaurant to restaurant and year to year.  I have seen these at Taco Bell, Leeann Chin, and Raising Cane’s.  There are a lot more of these deals out there, and I’m sure a quick google search will bring up dozens of super spammy, pop-up riddled “deals” blogs that have complete listings.  A fairly up-to-date one I just discovered is here.

Some restaurants will let you use the free bonus gift card right away.  Others, like Leeann Chin last year, wouldn’t let you use the bonus card on the same visit.  Does it count if you walk out the door and go back in?  Someone didn’t think out these rules very well.

The nice thing about these deals is they are an automatic double dip.  With a $5 bonus GC when you buy a $25 GC, you’re basically building in a 20% discount to anything you eventually buy with the card.  Since the bonus card is just another payment method, you still get whatever deals or coupons you would regularly use when you’re using these to pay.


New ValueTactics Blog Posts

– Online Shopping: How to Avoid My Biggest Mistake this Holiday Season explains how you should be getting bonus points or miles on nearly all your online shopping purchases.  It’s easy, it’s quick, and I still forget to do it sometimes.  Don’t be like me; read the article and get the free points!

Travel Update

msp-lir
Nicoleen and I leave in 50 days for our Costa Rica trip!  I mentioned this trip in the last semi-monthly update.  It will be almost fully paid for with points and miles.  It was the quickest and easiest free trip we’ve planned.  We are excited!

Now you’re updated. Go employ some Value Tactics!

Map generated by ValueTactics using the Great Circle Mapper – copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

Online Shopping: How to Avoid My Biggest Mistake this Holiday Season

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burning-money
I leave a lot of points and miles sitting on the table.  It can happen at any time but it’s more noticeable this time of year with Christmas shopping.  I’m not talking tens of thousands of points, like you would be wasting if you screwed up a credit card bonus offer.  It’s not that huge of a mistake.  I call it my “biggest mistake” because it’s easy to avoid, yet I still manage to screw it up regularly.  I’m talking about online shopping portals.

Virtually Free Points and Miles with Online Shopping Portals

With online shopping portals you can earn potentially thousands of bonus points for about 20 seconds of work and a few keystrokes.  Many credit card points and frequent flier miles programs offer these online shopping portals, where you can earn bonus points for clicking through their link before shopping online.  You make the purchase on the retailer’s website just like normal, but you get bonus points for whichever program you used to click through to the retailer’s site.  Here’s an example:

You are about to make an electronics purchase at my favorite online computer store, newegg.com.  You remember you can earn bonus Ultimate Rewards if you shop through the portal at Chase’s website.  You log on to your Ultimate Rewards account and click “Shop through Chase:”
Online Shopping Portal

Search for newegg.com in the “earn more” area:
portals2

You’re in luck!  Newegg.com is one of the retailers in the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal program.  In this case, you earn 2 additional points for every dollar you spend on newegg.com

Click through the link to newegg.com and shop like usual.  (If I go afk and I get signed out of either the shopping portal or the retailer’s site, I usually start over again.  This probably doesn’t matter but I wouldn’t want to lose out on points because something weird happened.)  I normally get my purchase researched and ready to buy, close the browser tab, and then start over with the shopping portal to actually make the purchase.

With Chase Ultimate Rewards portal (and I believe all other programs’ shopping portals) you can use whatever payment method you want.  In other words, you don’t have to use the card tied to that points program to make the purchase from the online retailer.  This comes in handy when you want spending on a particular card but would like bonus points for another program.

Do as I say, not as I do

The key to getting these bonus points is simply remembering to get them!  As this article title suggests, I am horrible at this.  Many times I don’t realize I lost out on points until weeks or months later.  It’s one of those things where you just have to get into the routine and it will become second nature.

Don’t throw away free points and miles!  Check if your credit card or frequent flyer miles program has an online shopping portal BEFORE you make those last minute Christmas shopping purchases.

Semi-Monthly Update (December 08, 2016)

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Hello there, VT readers!  I skipped the last update and I have some semi-decent excuses: deer hunting, Thanksgiving, and home remodeling.  But enough excuses; there are some exciting things to report!

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How I spent the 3rd weekend in November.  Welcome to Minnesota.

Credit Card News

General News
ink smallThere is still time to get the Chase Ink Plus business card with a 60,000 Ultimate Reward point bonus ($5k in 3 mo. spend).  This card will be replaced soon with a new Ultimate Rewards earning business card from Chase.  The new card is rumored to come with an 80,000 bonus.  You can get the bonus on both cards, but not if you wait too long!  Apparently sometime before the end of the month, you will no longer be able to get a new Ink Plus account.

Personal News
Nicoleen recently cancelled her Citi Hilton Reserve card.  This was the card that got us 2 free nights at the Grand Wailea in Hawaii this last fall.  The card’s $95 annual fee was due and the benefits we would get from the card for the next year wouldn’t be worth $95, so she called to cancel.  According to reports on Flyertalk, there is rarely a worthwhile retention offer for this card.

Household October Points and Miles Activity

We had a decent month for earning points and miles.  Here’s the breakdown:

  • earned 522 airline miles
  • earned 4,112 Chase Ultimate Rewards
  • earned 4,082 hotel points
  • earned 114 “other” points
  • transferred 5,000 Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt Gold Passport points
  • redeemed 15,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for a one-night stay at Andaz Papagayo (valued at $546.92)
  • redeemed 114 “other” points (Capital One cash back) for $1.14 cash
  • redeemed 40,728 Citi Thank-You points for airfare worth $509.10
  • redeemed 35,000 United Airlines miles for airfare worth $901.40

As you may have guessed from this activity, we have some travel news!  Keep reading for the details. . .

Travel News

Big news in the travel department!  Those of you who follow me on Facebook have already heard the announcement.  After paying the $75 annual fee on our Chase Hyatt cards, Nicoleen and I each had a free night at any category 1-4 Hyatt in the world.  However, we really had nothing in mind for these free nights.  As inconvenient as it was, we decided we would have to cram in another free vacation before the next summer.  This would definitely qualify as a zeroth world problem.

After only an hour of looking up flight and hotel availability, we settled on the fantastic Andaz Papagayo in Costa Rica!  Besides our two free nights, we booked an additional night with points to make it a 4 day weekend.  Here’s a sample of what our Valentine’s Day will look like!

andaz papagayo

A refreshing beverage at one of the Andaz Papagayo’s infinity pools. Photo courtesy of VT reader Derek, a return (free) visitor.

New ValueTactics Blog Posts

– Zeroth World Problems is a look at the kinds of “problems” using value tactics can bring you.  Examples are deciding where to take your free vacation, or not having your favorite beer available in the free selection during your free airport lounge visit.

Now you’re updated. Go employ some Value Tactics!

Zeroth World Problems

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First World Problems vs. Zeroth World Problems

You’ve probably heard the comment, “wow, that’s really a first world problem.”  Maybe it’s when you curse after getting some dirty slush from a puddle on your brand new Uggs, and then notice the homeless guy across the street with holes in his shoes.  Or maybe it’s when you’re feeling very put out by the fact that your remote is missing and you had to get up from the couch to turn on your 65″ TV.  These are problems that billions of people in the world wish they had.  First world problems.

"Hey! This Gulasch mit Spätzle had TWO sprigs of parsley garnish in the menu picture. Take it back."

“Hey! This Gulasch mit Spätzle had TWO sprigs of parsley garnish in the menu picture. Take it back.”

Lately I’ve started using the term “zeroth world problems” to describe ‘problems’ related to the free travel game.  These are problems that most of the first world wished they had.  Hang around blogs like this one and similar forums and you’ll know what I mean.

“Poor me!  I just found a free flight to Europe with a lie-flat seat, in business class like I wanted, to the destination I wanted, on the date I wanted.  BUT it has a long layover at an airport where I don’t have free lounge access.” (This was actually a thought I had a few days ago.)

“I have 4 free nights expiring soon so I had to plan a free trip with my wife to Aruba.  What an inconvenience!!“  (I’ve actually heard this one too.)

“There are just too many good credit card offers out there right now.  It’s going to be so much work to figure out which ones to get for the most free money and travel.”

“What a rip-off!  I’m using OVER HALF the points from ONE CREDIT CARD BONUS and all I’m getting for them is 2 free international flights.”  (I’ll claim this one too, just yesterday.)

You get the idea.  These are zeroth* world problems.  Actually complaining about this stuff and calling them problems is pathetic.  If you’re fortunate enough to have the credit score and the information resources (valuetactics.com) to maximize this game, you shouldn’t be complaining about anything.
* I like the alternate spelling “zeroeth” but google likes it the other way.

wine selection - a zeroth world problem

On our free first class flight last summer I could have had any of these wines for no charge. But I was utterly disgusted that they weren’t offering any California Champagnes by Paul Masson.

Travel snobbery is nothing new, but it’s usually reserved for those who are paying an arm and a leg for first class seats and luxury hotels.  This is somewhat understandable.  I could also understand complaining about major issues with free flights or hotels.  But traveling for free and complaining about tiny inconveniences or flaws?  Please. . .

You can’t be a travel snob if you’re getting it all for free!

Zeroth world problems

Sure we are staying at this $500/night hotel for free . . . but one-legged birds? Seriously? I’m calling the BBB.

We ValueTactical warriors might try and complain about such ‘problems’ on blogs and forums, but they aren’t really problems.  They are just challenges to overcome when trying to maximize value with these programs.  So take on the challenge with the help of websites like this and others!

Much to be Thankful For

Those of us in living in developed countries shouldn’t complain about first world problems like the exact temperature of our Starbucks coffee.  Likewise, those of us in the zeroth world of maximizing value, free money, and free travel shouldn’t complain about zeroth world problems.  We should be thankful that there is a ‘zeroth world!’

I said earlier that complaining about zeroth world problems is pathetic.  Fortunately when I make comments like those above, it is almost always tongue-in-cheek.  I do realize how fortunate I am.  Learning the value tactics I present on this site has allowed me to do some amazing things.

Enjoying a dinner in Frankfurt with the German exchange family I've known for 18 years.

Enjoying a dinner in Frankfurt with the German exchange family I’ve known for 18 years.

I’ve been able to visit friends on the other side of the world, reduce my commuting costs by 20%, get lots of free stuff, and extract thousands of dollars from points programs.  Nicoleen and I have been able to escape the craziness of daily life, take the family on vacations, and celebrate our anniversaries in style!

Nicoleen and I in Jamaica, 2015

10th anniversary vacation 1 of 2. Couples resort in Negril.

Sure, some of the details don’t always work out perfectly, but that’s nothing to complain about.  I am very thankful I have had the opportunities to do these things at all!

Do you want your own zeroth world problems to worry about?  E-mail me or message me on Facebook for free advice on which credit cards to get and which frequent flyer programs to join.  I’ll have you complaining about the free champagne selection on your free flight in no time!

Semi-Monthly Update (November 7th, 2016)

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In this update: a 60,000 point card bonus is expiring soon, Nicoleen’s failed retention effort for a usually generous credit card, a trip report preview, and our monthly points and miles activity for October.

CARD NEWS ALERT :

Chase Ink Business ReserveThe Chase Ink Plus business credit card will be discontinued by the end of 2016.  Your last chance to get the card and it’s 60,000 Ultimate Reward bonus will end shortly.  A new card called the Chase Ink Business Reserve will be taking its place but since they are different products, you can get the bonus on both!  (The purported bonus on the new card is 80,000 UR points).  If you have been on the fence about this card, don’t delay any longer!
(News source and more details about the new card offer at Milevalue)

Click here to read my review of the Ink Plus, and to see how a year with the card could easily earn you over 75,000 UR points.  Or, if you’re ready to apply now, please click through my referral bonus link to help support the site.

Household October Points and Miles Activity

In addition to saving $5.27 in gas between two fill-ups, here’s Nicoleen’s and my activity for October:

  • earned 217 airline miles
  • earned 13,330 Chase Ultimate Rewards
  • earned 2,261 hotel points

Travel News

The new Park Hyatt on Mallorca, two nights free for our Derek and Danie.

The new Park Hyatt on Mallorca, two nights free for our Derek and Danie.

VT readers Derek and Danie have returned from their value-packed trip to Mallorca, Spain.  Their round trip flights and 6 nights of hotel stays were paid for with points and miles, making the airfare and lodging virtually free!  Stay tuned for a trip overview, along with details on how they got these luxury accommodations with a few credit card bonuses.

Personal Credit Card News

When U.S. Airways merged with American Airlines in 2014, the U.S. Airways credit card from Barclay was transmuted into the American Airlines Aviator card. Until now, this card had always been a pushover when it came to retention offers. When calling to cancel the card because of the annual fee, Nicoleen and I were routinely greeted by a cheerful rep who was willing to waive the $89 annual fee and usually throw in some additional points. Not so this time around. Nicoleen called three times to try for an annual fee waiver, but was thrice shot down. In the end she decided to cancel the card and have the AF refunded. To see a history of Barclay’s generous track record with retention offers for this card, and the recent drop-off of those offers, see the Flyertalk wiki here.

New ValueTactics Blog Posts

– Small Business Saturday 2016 . . . Another Year, Another Disappointment is my report on the second year in a row without a good deal for Amex’s Small Business Saturday. There is some strategy in this post about how to capture value before it’s gone!
– ValueTactics 100th Blog Post was our milestone hundredth post! It’s a big THANK YOU to my readers, and links to some highlights from the last two years.
– Geographically Specific Deals and Offers talks about what you can do if certain value tactics are not available in your country, region or state.

Now you’re updated. Go employ some Value Tactics!

Geographically Specific Deals and Offers

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I sometimes get comments related to the fact that some of the deals and tactics I outline on this site are not available in certain geographic areas.  While I can’t promise to cover all deals/promotions available everywhere in the world, I can tell you I feel your pain.

The Problem

No awesome in-branch-only credit card offers for me! (I live in Minnesota)

No awesome in-branch-only credit card offers for me! (I live in Minnesota)

On more than one occasion I have seen credit card offers only available at Chase branches, but I live in a state (Minnesota) where there are no Chase branch locations.  I once tried to execute a currency trading tip I was given and I ran into roadblock after roadblock.  It turns out the type of trade I wanted to do is not allowed using U.S. brokerages.  These and other are other examples of tactics I am unable to employ due to where I live, and it’s frustrating every time.

I’m sure many of you feel the same frustration.  Two of the free money tactics I promote on this site involve retailers only present in the Midwest (Super America and Menards).  And if you live outside the U.S you’re out of luck on most of the credit card advice on this site.  The credit card deals I post about are generally limited to U.S. customers.

Menards store locations are concentrated in the Great Lakes region.

Menards store locations are concentrated in the Great Lakes region.

Good deals are everywhere – The strategy

The geography of available coupon deals, credit card promotions, and other savings tactics is much like the timing of credit card sign-ups: you’ll win some and you’ll lose some.  The good thing is that the overall strategy can easily be exported to other regions with different tactical opportunities.  Once you start learning how to evaluate deals and sort through the spam, you’ll find it’s easy to spot what might be worth doing and what isn’t.




I don’t claim to be a clearinghouse of information on the best deals and offer around the country, but I welcome tips my readers have about similar tactics available where they live.  E-mail me or comment on the relevant posts when you know of non-Midwest, regionally specific tactics.  Let’s band together to capture and create value across the nation globe!

ValueTactics 100th Blog Post

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celebration_title

This special edition marks the 100th blog post at ValueTactics.com!

Two years ago this site was just an idea.  Since then it has grown into what I hope is a valuable resource for those wanting to get free travel, free money, free stuff, and generally maximize value!  Living in a household with 5 kids and 2 full time jobs, I cannot always stay on top of breaking credit card and travel news like other bloggers.  But I have always tried to add some insights or opinions that might be absent on similar websites.

Hawaii 2016

ValueTactics has also been about chronicling my wife’s and my progress in accumulating points and miles, redeeming those points and miles for free vacations, and capturing value with miscellaneous tactics.  In the last 100 blog posts, especially my semi-monthly update posts, I have tried to give readers a realistic expectation of how this stuff all works.  Many times, websites that showcase luxury travel on points and miles are accused of selling a dream.  My goal is to make myself a case study and show you exactly how much and how often you can realistically expect to earn free trips by using the tactics I present here.

You, my loyal readers. . .

ValueTactics doesn’t have a huge readership.  A little under half of my hits come from google searches and other traffic sources.  More than half of my page views are referred from facebook.  That shows me I have a small but dedicated core of readers.  I know who some of you are but many I don’t . . . I would love to hear from you!  Feel free to comment on posts and communicate with me on facebook or e-mail.  I love helping others tap into the joy of learning value tactics!

Site support

Take a quick trip around my corner of the blogosphere.  You will quickly find that most sites similar to ValueTactics are overtly commercial enterprises.  This doesn’t invalidate their content, but it may turn some readers off.  I have tried to keep ValueTactics ad free and self-funded.  The site hosting costs are cheap but not free.  If you wish to support the site, all I would as is that you do three things:

  1. Keep reading!  Knowing I have an audience is what keeps me motivated.
  2. Interact!  Spread the word about the site.  Share posts you find interesting.  Comment on posts and interact on the facebook page.
  3. When it’s time to pull the trigger and get yourself some points-earning credit cards, please check my card offers page and use my links if I list the card you’re looking for.  I am not part of an affiliate program but I get referral points just like any cardholder can.

THANK YOU FOR READING VALUETACTICS.COM!

Some highlights in the last 100 posts:

Small Business Saturday 2016 . . . Another Year, Another Disappointment

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This year American Express has expanded Small Business Saturday to the entire holiday shopping season.  But, for the second year in a row, they are not offering any statement credits for AMEX purchases at small businesses.  In previous years, American Express enticed shoppers to patronize small businesses by offering $10-30 in statement credits after paying with your AMEX card.  Last year was the first since 2012 that no statement credit was offered.

Scraps from the table

In an effort to salvage what was undoubtedly a less successful effort last year, American Express is offering a consolation prize.  A few days ago I received an e-mail offer for double points when using an AMEX card at small businesses through December 31st, 2016:

Small Business Saturday 2016

My Hilton HHonors card from American Express

My Hilton HHonors card from American Express

Most American Express cards are included in this offer, but you have to register each card to activate the deal.  Cards that already earn more than 1 pt per dollar on regular purchases will also double their points.  For example, my AMEX Hilton Reserve normally earns 3 points per dollar.  During the promotion it would earn 6 points per dollar at small busineses.  However, the same is not true with category bonuses (such as dining or travel) that some cards earn.  Check out the full official FAQ here.

Not a remarkable deal

For some people this promotion will be worth something.  If you already frequent retailers on the small business list, it might be worth it for you to get the double points with your AMEX card.  On the other hand, you may still get better value using another card at the same store.  This is especially true at the many restaurants that are part of the promotion, since some credit cards already earn extra points for dining establishments.  This is not even to mention other bonus offers that might be running on one of your cards, like the frequent promotions the Barclay Aviator runs.

Do the math before automatically assuming your AMEX card is the best one to use at one of these small businesses during the promotion.

The moral of the story

As I wrote about in my post about last year’s American Express Small Business Saturday, there is a lesson here.  And it’s an important one at that.  For several years people came to expect the statement credit.  Now it appears to be permanently gone.  If you count on deals, offers, bonuses, etc. to be there for you in the future, you’re misplacing your confidence!  All value tactics change and some disappear.

I liked what I wrote last year so here it is again: The key to capturing and creating value is to recognize and take advantage of good deals when they exist, and to move on and adapt when the current opportunities change or disappear.