Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[Donald - my hero]

Our grocery budget is going to be so tight this next year that I am really considering using the gift card budgeting method next year...

and I will HAPPILY take the advice from AM family

Ok, I'll step into this discussion with what might be a contentious answer: if you don't have the money currently to tie up in gift cards OR if buying the gift cards will make things tight then don't do it. If you are needing to charge these gift cards to a credit card that you can't immediately pay as soon as the bill arrives, don't do it because the interest charges aren't worth the "safety net" gift cards might provide for your grocery bills in the future.

NOW if you're talking about buying gift cards as a way to guarantee that you spend a set amount, and nothing more on your groceries then this is a great idea! But loop back to my above answer, only if buying the gift card doesn't put you in debt.

We're not gamblers and don't buy gift cards very often for anticipated expenses because any number of things could happen - company could go out of business and those pieces of plastic are now worthless (it can happen to ANY company!) We might have an unexpected expense pop up and then not have easy access to money because, well, i don't think a plumber wants my grocery cards I DO buy gift cards when i know I'll be using them and i can get extra benefits for them - example being the Indigo cards last week, i KNEW i was going to be placing an order so i bought EXACTLY that amount and doubled my miles. Another, we needed a new toaster oven, it was on sale thru Amazon, Shell had a special on gift cards, I bought enough to pay for the toaster and again, doubled my miles.

Eekk long answer, sorry!

 

[ottawamom]

Totally agree with @Donald - my hero . If it's a budget adherence thing there other methods you can use to keep yourselves on track. Grocery money in an envelope each pay period. The infamous jar method or you could pick up GC, Downside to GC, you are restricted to shopping at the GC family of stores so you could end up with GC from multiple grocery families of stores.

GC for airmiles can be an easy way to get airmiles fast but only if you have the cash on hand that you can afford to tie up for a month or two until you use the GC. This can also be a great way to make sure you have money for groceries if you happen to be employed in a boom/bust industry. Purchase those cards when there is lots of work and you'll still be eating when the work is tight.

There's lots to consider.

 

[mort1331]

I agree with the above experts. I am lucky to buy the cards since i know that i will be using them right away. I buy lotto tickets for my company group so thats 150 every coupke of weeks. So no money outlay for me. If i had to sit on them for some time not sure if i could justify it.

 

[stovjeni]

this is a question that can have several answers and I need to ask you some questions to help!!

1. Is this your StB coupon? If so I would wait because it will only get credited as "missing miles" and it won't FIX the issue and you'll need to do another chat
2. How many miles are you missing? This is always a big decision maker for me, small amount I'll wait, larger I'll do it immediately
3. Are you saving for a time-sensitive item (need tickets before FP+ day or car rental etc)? If yes, chase them down

If you do decide to chase them down now & get an agent who throws the company line of "wait 60 days & 75 days then file an online claim" disconnect and try again! The missing miles will not magically appear on their own at this point -- they have posted and consider that transaction is completed so there is really no need to wait to do a chat, those are your miles!

Also when you do chase those miles down don't forget you will also be missing the multiplier miles from that transaction of 5X from Amazon and 20X from the sitewide promo.

This was my shop the block coupon, but I ended up doing 7 offers already so I it really doesn't have to count as shop the block. When I did the purchase it had a subtotal of around $102, but one of the items had a coupon that was deducted after the subtotal making the purchase only 99.XX, I wonder if that screwed things up. I ended up only getting 3 base miles, so missing 2 (or 1) base miles, plus the multipliers. I am not saving for anything thing urgent right now, as I just purchased my last Disney ticket last week.

 

[Donald - my hero]

This was my shop the block coupon, but I ended up doing 7 offers already so I it really doesn't have to count as shop the block. When I did the purchase it had a subtotal of around $102, but one of the items had a coupon that was deducted after the subtotal making the purchase only 99.XX, I wonder if that screwed things up. I ended up only getting 3 base miles, so missing 2 (or 1) base miles, plus the multipliers. I am not saving for anything thing urgent right now, as I just purchased my last Disney ticket last week.

I personally wouldn't be able to challenge the subtotal with a clear conscience because, well, the subtotal of the order was in fact under $100. I looked thru my Amazon orders to find one that had a discount applied and this is what the invoice on their website looks like


This is what my emailed confirmation looked like - slightly more confusing because they combined the free shipping & coupon into one discount.

While this doesn't clearly show the pre-tax total in the same way the Amazon invoice does, I'd not feel comfortable fighting for the miles. When I'm placing one of the orders during a promo I pay close attention to what retailer shows as the bottom line pre-tax amount because i have a very annoying justice based streak to my personality. If i had to produce a copy of the Amazon invoice there's no way i can fudge what it says.

 

[Days In the Sun]

Shell go day reminder tomorrow, if you opted in by Dec 8. Honestly I never remember for sure if I did but I do need gas.

 

[Days In the Sun]

Rexall, no idea if this is the weekend promo or too limited to be worthwhile, in the emailed December newsletter this afternoon:



Edit: STB coupon is good until the 15th.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Good news on the travel booking front! We can now book cruises on the redtag.ca website with air miles!

https://vacations.airmiles.ca/cruises.php
Edit to add: I just priced out the cruise I have been watching and it's $1000 cheaper through redtag versus RCCL's website in CDN dollars. Does that seem right? I've asked on the Air Miles FB page to confirm if they use US or CDN pricing.

Edit again: CDN dollars. Buddy said they just get good pricing.

 

[Disney Addicted]

Rexall, no idea if this is the weekend promo or too limited to be worthwhile, in the emailed December newsletter this afternoon:

View attachment 457933

Edit: STB coupon is good until the 15th.

Shoot. I think I deleted the e-mail without looking at it. Any chance you would be able to forward the newsletter if I give you my e-mail address?

 

[tinkerone]

Good news on the travel booking front! We can now book cruises on the redtag.ca website with air miles!

https://vacations.airmiles.ca/cruises.php
Edit to add: I just priced out the cruise I have been watching and it's $1000 cheaper through redtag versus RCCL's website in CDN dollars. Does that seem right? I've asked on the Air Miles FB page to confirm if they use US or CDN pricing.

Edit again: CDN dollars. Buddy said they just get good pricing.

Interesting. I just looked as well, RCCL has become our favorite line. I'm confused as to why we needed to put in closest airport and what the codes are for in the cabin catagories. Dollars off NRD, 30% savings NRD, Dollars off and 30% savings. How does one know what to choose?

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I know NRD means non refundable deposit, and the 30% off is there current sale, when I finished the mock booking the dollars off was -$25 off guests 1 and 2.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Good news on the travel booking front! We can now book cruises on the redtag.ca website with air miles!

https://vacations.airmiles.ca/cruises.php
Edit to add: I just priced out the cruise I have been watching and it's $1000 cheaper through redtag versus RCCL's website in CDN dollars. Does that seem right? I've asked on the Air Miles FB page to confirm if they use US or CDN pricing.

Edit again: CDN dollars. Buddy said they just get good pricing.

Interesting. I just looked as well, RCCL has become our favorite line. I'm confused as to why we needed to put in closest airport and what the codes are for in the cabin catagories. Dollars off NRD, 30% savings NRD, Dollars off and 30% savings. How does one know what to choose?

they certainly cut that right down to the wire didn't they? There's only 3 weeks left of 2019 (and as my kid pointed out, of the DECADE! where did the time go???)!!
I glanced at the site a few times over the last few months and decided that while it's nice to be able to book packages with miles I didn't like the fact that there seems to be no choice in the type of airfare you're booking. Based on our recent frustrations with our package i don't think I'll ever book one again.

Do you need to book a flight with the cruises? If not, why are they asking for an airport??

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Not why about the airport code. I will ask on the fb page. But no, you don’t book flights with the cruise. You could use your miles for that too!

The cruise I was looking at was $4300 on RCCL’s website, but only $3200 on redtag’s site. Same cabin etc

Honestly, I like booking direct with the cruise line.

 

[bababear_50]

Sobeys Ont
https://www.reebee.com/flyers/10012/1341544
Metro Ont
https://www.reebee.com/flyers/10017/1341734
Foodland Ont
https://www.reebee.com/flyers/10016/1341553
Sobeys Urban fresh
https://www.reebee.com/flyers/10092/1341557
Hugs
Mel

 

[Donald - my hero]

Bought $750 worth of giftcards at Sobeys and promptly bought $750 worth of Disney giftcards with them for our March trip

this went smoothly for you? I'm pondering doing this today at urban Fresh but nervous to even attempt it ...

 

[mort1331]

this went smoothly for you? I'm pondering doing this today at urban Fresh but nervous to even attempt it ...

Ive been able to do it for shell GC and others

 

[Days In the Sun]

Shoot. I think I deleted the e-mail without looking at it. Any chance you would be able to forward the newsletter if I give you my e-mail address?

Certainly, however it's not very exciting. Might want to check your deleted messages first and if not there I'll send it to you.

 

[stovjeni]

I personally wouldn't be able to challenge the subtotal with a clear conscience because, well, the subtotal of the order was in fact under $100. I looked thru my Amazon orders to find one that had a discount applied and this is what the invoice on their website looks like
View attachment 457887

This is what my emailed confirmation looked like - slightly more confusing because they combined the free shipping & coupon into one discount.
View attachment 457888
While this doesn't clearly show the pre-tax total in the same way the Amazon invoice does, I'd not feel comfortable fighting for the miles. When I'm placing one of the orders during a promo I pay close attention to what retailer shows as the bottom line pre-tax amount because i have a very annoying justice based streak to my personality. If i had to produce a copy of the Amazon invoice there's no way i can fudge what it says.

Thanks so much for the info!

 

[Donald - my hero]

Ive been able to do it for shell GC and others

success! Thanks for the encouragement, just picked up another $375 towards our trip that starts exactly one month from tomorrow !

​

 

[cari12]

Safeway west has spend $100 get 150 AM this weekend only.