Tag Archives: Amazon

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Attention Coinstar Users: Not All Kiosks Offer Amazon eGift Cards

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

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)

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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Got Too Many Cardboard Boxes? Get ZipSnip Handheld Cordless Electric Cardboard Box Cutter / Electric Scissors

Good afternoon everyone.  Between my wife and I, we do a lot of online shopping and end up with a lot of cardboard boxes.  We have a small recycle trash can at home, so it was pretty easy to fill up the recycle trash can with cardboard boxes and other recyclable items.  I started using a sharp box cutter knife to break down the cardboard boxes into smaller pieces, so I could fit more cardboard in our recycle trash can. Bending over to cut the cardboard into small pieces would start to hurt my back after several minutes and I had to be careful with the sharp box cutter not to cut myself.

A few weeks ago, Laura saw an ad online for this ZipSnip cardboard box cutter and bought it on Amazon (affiliate link).  I was skeptical and reluctant to use it at first since I thought my old method was superior (minus the back pain and fear of cutting myself), but after using it for a few minutes, I could tell that this was a huge improvement.  The blade is sharp and cuts through cardboard very easily and I don’t need to bend down to cut the cardboard into small pieces.  Here are some photos of the ZipSnip and the smaller cardboard box pieces.

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How to Use Amazon Shop with Points Redemption for Orphaned US Bank Rewards (Get 1 CPP Value)

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  A few weeks ago, I was approved for the US Bank Business Altitude Connect Credit Card that offered 60,000 points (worth $600 cash back) after spending $6,000 in 6 months.  I completed the minimum spending requirement and received the sign up bonus this morning.  After redeeming the majority of the sign up bonus as a statement credit, I had 1,772 orphaned (aka leftover) points.  In this post, I will show you how to use the Amazon Shop with Points feature to use up any orphaned US Bank Rewards (either points or cash back).

To get started, sign into your US Bank account, go to your credit card account, click the Rewards and Benefits tab, and then click the Redeem or View My Rewards button.  As you can see, I have 1,772 points left in my account.  To see the redemption options, click the 3 lines in the upper left corner.

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