Big Lessons from Small Business Saturday (and the Strange Stuff I Bought)

Depending on when you read this post, I am either doing some Sunday evening or Monday morning quarterbacking and sharing my thoughts from the epic Saturday shopping spree that was Small Business Saturday.  Before I share the strange stuff I bought, I wanted to get a few lessons off my chest.  Here are some tips to increase your success next Small Business Saturday:

• Not every small business is listed on AMEX’s website, if it is not listed, you will probably not receive the statement credit.
• Inversely, some small businesses listed on AMEX’s website are out of business or have changed ownership and no longer accept AMEX (happened to me and several other readers).
• Not every cashier knows how to split payment to use multiple AMEX cards per transaction (sometimes it is easier to just ring things up separately).
• If you really want to increase your success next year, I would do some homework a few days in advance:
  • Make sure that the businesses you plan on visiting are on AMEX’s website and that they do accept AMEX.
  • Ask them if they know how to split payment.
  • Look around the store and scope out the items you want to buy, so you don’t spend more time than you want/need figuring out what to buy.
  • Be willing to roll with the punches, not every business or cashier know what is going on, so be honest with them and tell them what you are doing.  They may be more willing to help you if they understand what you are trying to do.

With all that said, here are some pics from my shopping spree.  Here is my master spreadsheet with AMEX cards on the left side and purchases on the right side.  I listed the cards from top to bottom in the order I wanted to use them, in case I didn’t max them out.  Save your Bluebird and Serve Cards for the end since you don’t earn any miles/points/cash back on those transactions.

Continue reading →