Tag Archives: Amazon

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Around the World in 24 Days: Preparing for Takeoff

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Buenos dias everyone, I’m getting ready to take off on my 24 day round-the-world trip for the SAS EuroBonus Millionaire promotion so I thought I’d share a few updates on the final planning stages.

Hotels

At this point, I have all of my hotels booked except for the very end of my trip (Taipei, Denver, and Boston). Since many of the destinations I’m traveling to are fairly inexpensive, I ended up doing a lot of cash bookings, but I do have points redemptions with three different hotel programs scattered throughout.

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500 Email Newsletter Subscribers Celebration! 5 x $10 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway [Winners Selected]

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Updated at 7:45am PT on 8/19/24: Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway.  Here are the 5 winners who will each receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card sent to them via email:

  • Rob Tomanek: Enjoy reading the “too good” helpful hints to maximize travel. Thanks. (blog post)
  • t: My Underwhelming Experience with MaxMyPoint, Awayz & StayWithPoints Hotel Award Alerts (blog post)
  • Bill G.: Not really sure I would remember all the posts to pick a favorite. But I do enjoy the no-hype factual stuff, be they reviews or news about a promo. I do scan most of the posts but I read a lot of different blogs and definitely appreciate the factual style (your friendly conversation style is good too.) (blog post)
  • Heath: I enjoyed your trip summary about your trip to Europe with Laura. (blog post)
  • Andrew SHANSBY: I like to read about maxmy point and retention bonuses, keep up great work! (blog post)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  2 months ago, I wrote Calling All Readers, Help Me Reach 500 Email Newsletter Subscribers!  At the time of that post, I had 476 subscribers and I was slowly inching my way toward the 500 subscriber mark.  I just checked my stats and I am at 504 total subscribers – thank you to all my subscribers!

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Attention Coinstar Users: Not All Kiosks Offer Amazon eGift Cards

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Good evening everyone, happy Friday!  Last weekend, I visited my grandfather down in Southern California and he gave me a bag of change.  He likes to keep his change and give it to me whenever I visit him.  This is how I got into coin collecting (numismatics) when I was younger, but that’s a story for another day.  Anyway, whenever I have a bag of change, I take it to my local grocery store and put it in the Coinstar kiosk and select an egift card (there are no fee for egift cards).  During my recent Coinstar visit, I was surprised to see that Amazon was not listed as an egift card option.  After doing some digging, I learned that not all Coinstar kiosks offer Amazon egift cards and some stores offer very few egift card options.  Here is what I learned…

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

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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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Original Peloton Bike Monitor Screen Attachment Allows Adjustment / Rotation of 360 Degrees (No Bike+ Needed)

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Good afternoon everyone.  Last December, Laura and I got a Peloton Bike.  I know, we are late to the Peloton Party, but I really enjoy the energetic and enthusiastic classes and have been using it a few times per week since then.  As a refresher, Peloton sells the Bike for $1,445 or the Bike+ for $2,495.  You also need to pay $44 / month for the All-Access Membership.  The main difference between the Bike and Bike+ (in my opinion) is the ability to rotate the screen 360 degrees so you can easily see the screen when you are doing other workouts (cardio, strength, yoga, stretching, etc).  The monitor is a little bigger and a little nicer, the audio quality is a little better, and there is an auto-resistance option too.  The differences do not seem worth the $1,000+ price difference, but there is an easy way to turn your Bike into a Bike+ with a simple monitor screen attachment.

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