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Effective Immediately: Amazon Key Charging $1.99 for In-Garage Delivery or Free with Amazon Day Delivery

Good afternoon everyone.  Earlier today, I received an email from Amazon with the subject line Important: Changes to Amazon Key In-Garage Delivery.  If you are not familiar with Amazon Key, it is a feature that some garage door openers can be connected to your Amazon account and you can have Amazon packages delivered inside your garage.  I’ve used this feature for the last year and a half and it works very well.  I appreciate the peace of mind know that I don’t have to worry about porch pirates taking packages from my front door.

Unfortunately, that peace of mind will cost a little more, starting today.  The email said:

As of October 4th, In-Garage Delivery costs $1.99 per order. However, that fee will be waived whenever you use Amazon Day with Key Delivery.  With free Amazon Day with Key Delivery, your in-garage deliveries are combined and delivered inside your garage on the same day every week, on the day of your choice. We call it “your Amazon Day.

This email comes 1 week before Amazon’s upcoming Amazon Prime Big Deal Days on October 10-11.  If you read between the lies lines of the email, this change will give you “more convenience, flexibility, and control over your Amazon packages.”  Rubbish!  This seems like a cost saving measure for Amazon with no added benefit to members.

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Ability to Buy / Top Up American Express Membership Rewards Points Ending December 30, 2023

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I was reviewing my recent American Express statements and spotted this small change: “Effective December 30, 2023, we are eliminating the option for Card Members to buy Membership Rewards points. The Membership Rewards Program Terms and Conditions will be updated to reflect this change.”  Did you even know you could buy AMEX MR Points??  I didn’t know either.  Here are some more details I learned about the change.

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American Express Business Gold Card Changes: New 4X Categories, $240 Flexible Business Credit & Walmart+ Subscription

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I just noticed that the American Express Business Gold Card made some changes to their 4x AMEX Membership Rewards Points earning categories, added a $240 Flexible Business Credit ($20 / month at either FedEx, Grubhub, or at office supply stores), and is offering a $12.95 / month credit to offset the $12.95 / month Walmart+ Subscription.  Let’s go through these changes so you can see if these new benefits are useful.  You can see these benefits on the Benefits tab in your AMEX online account.  Let’s look at the 4x categories first.

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3 Buy Miles / Points Promos Ending Soon: Air Canada (80%), Air France / KLM (80%) & Virgin Atlantic (70%)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found 3 offers that end in the next week.  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are 3 offers that end soon.

Up first, Air Canada is offering up to an 80% bonus, depending on the number of Air Canada Aeroplan Miles you purchase. This offer expires on October 2.

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Targeted Offer: Upgrade to AMEX Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business Credit Card, Get 50,000 Miles with $5,000 Spend

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I was looking at my AMEX Offers this morning and saw an upgrade offer on my American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card to the American Express Delta Reserve Business Credit Card.  There might be a similar upgrade offer on the American Express Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card or on the personal AMEX Delta credit cards, but I don’t have any of those cards at the moment.  I do not have Delta elite status, so the upcoming changes to the Delta elite program do not bother me.  The only reason I have this card it for the Delta TakeOff 15 Benefit (15% Award Travel Discount). Here are more details of the upgrade offer.

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