Tag Archives: Amazon

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

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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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TWG 10 Year Anniversary Amazon Gift Card Winners + 2 Bonus Winners

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday, and happy Cinco De Mayo!  I am very touched by all the compliments and nice words that you all shared in my 10 year anniversary post (Travel with Grant Turns 10 Years Old + 10 x $10 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway). I had such a hard time selecting just 10 winners, so I decided to add 2 bonus winners to the list.  Here are the 12 winners sorted by posting time.  By the time you read this post, you should have received your $10 Amazon Gift Card via email.

Thanks again to everyone who left a comment and for all the love and support over the last 10 years.  Here’s to many more years to come!

Name Time Comment
Rick 2023/05/02 at 3:47 pm Your posts on Carlson/Radison were extremely useful. I’m spending the last of these points now for a free week in London!
Adam H. 2023/05/02 at 3:52 pm I started reading your stuff about 9 years ago and got into the CC points game pretty hard then. You helped me and my wife make many trips thanks to the old gift card to bluebird checking account routine. In the course of time as things changed, all those CC’s helped me have really good credit! So a big thank you for all the content over the years.
Danny 2023/05/02 at 3:58 pm Congratulations Grant on 10 years. That’s a great accomplishment. I really appreciated your blog post about the Citi Access More card and the info about doing a Product Change for it since it wasn’t publicly available any more. I’ve had that card for many years and I’m grateful for you passing that knowledge on.
Kalboz 2023/05/02 at 4:06 pm Congratulations and wishing many more productive years in the blogosphere helping the traveling community. As of late, your buy points/miles articles are informative and great reminder of ongoing good offers. Thank you!
Meg 2023/05/02 at 4:56 pm Congrats! I have been reading for a while and look forward to your credit card app-o-rama. It inspires me! I also learn quickly which credit cards to apply to, and most importantly WHY. I also like reading about your weekends away – nothing too glamorous or aspirational but doable.
ipod 2023/05/02 at 5:16 pm Really appreciate your yearly annual fee articles. I like that you thoroughly explain your rationales for which cards you think are worth keeping and which you downgrade or cancel.
Mike L. 2023/05/02 at 5:23 pm Your best post is your last post, because, like all your posts, it consistently demonstrates that you just want to spread your experiences and thoughts, rather than being a salesman for Chase.
Bill 2023/05/02 at 5:29 pm Thanks Grant & congrats!!! Ive been following you for a long while & have really appreciated the articles on using various point sources for using fewer points for flying. You’ve really helped make our points go farther! Looking forward to more of the same
Brian 2023/05/02 at 8:34 pm Congratulations! Thank you for so many useful and detailed articles you’ve written over the past decade. I’ve particularly enjoyed the coverage of using miles and points for stays in places with more space – Vacasa via Wyndham and HICV properties with IHG, for example.
Todd S. 2023/05/03 at 8:54 am You turned me on to the InKind App deal. Much appreciated!!
Mike S. 2023/05/03 at 11:23 am I really enjoyed your blog on the Vacasa and Wyndham bookings. I haven’t yet done it but I always like when bloggers go out of the ordinary topics. I have been following your blog for many years and it was great meeting you in person at the Seattle FTU seminar many years ago.
Gregory A J. 2023/05/03 at 12:54 pm I really enjoyed your article on reallocating credit limits with Bank Of America after your recent app-o-rama. Good advice to readers to reallocate credit limits. I have done this with Chase Business Unlimited card recently to meet a 6000.00 spend requirement! Worked like a charm!! Happy 10th anniversary!