Let’s say hypothetically there was a way for you to get virtually unlimited AMEX offers… how many would you take? You can’t get 1,000 since you don’t want to potentially get caught and banned from AMEX. I’d argue 500 would be too much too. But how about 100? Does that sound reasonable? Too low? Too high? Just the right amount? 100 AMEX offers * $75 Smart & Final = $7,500 in profit. To put this in perspective, with a 5% card and a 1% GC fee, BB/Serve/Redbird is only netting you ~$200 profit a month or $2400 a year. AMEX launched Bluebird in October 2012. If you had done $5,000 monthly loads since the inception of Bluebird, for the past 30 months, that’s only a profit of ~$6,000. Imagine you could have saved yourself 2.5 years of trips to the armpit of America just by doing ONE Smart & Final run. Would you do it? Doesn’t that sound tempting? When I put it that way, 100 AMEX offers doesn’t sound so bad right? It might actually sound low right? How’s 250 sound? That sounds like a sweet spot, eh? 250 * $75 = $18,750! That’s more than what some teachers make post-tax! How nuts is this hobby?!?
So where am I going with this? I do know of someone who actually has over 100 “real” American Express cards (AU’s mostly) and he hits those AMEX offers HARD! Imagine if he knew of a way to get 100 or even 1,000 more…gulp! You know that saying…”pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered?” Well, I think that’s changed over the past year. Now the phrase should be: “pigs get fat and they get slaughtered with the hogs too.” That’s why when Gary posted about that little poor CU, you can just set a countdown on when that thing’s going to end. And think of all those little pigs who were innocently feeding away thinking this is the best thing ever…all of a sudden the hogs come and now there’s a pork luau on the beach.
So with all that in mind, how many would you get? Would you be a conservative little piggy and get 10, or would you leave a little for others and get 50? Or would you assume the hogs are coming, so you may as well eat as much as you can and get 250? I know how many I would get. I won’t judge you on the number you choose.
I have 6 (one of which is Bluebird and one which is an AU on another card) and I thought I had a lot…haha. Or let me rephrase; my FRIENDS think I’m crazy for having so many. No regrets. 😉 I have to admit I’ve started having some issues keeping track of the offers on each one and when I’ve used them, since sometimes I don’t use them all at once (like the Chevron one, for example)…I keep a table in Microsoft OneNote, but I would kind of dread if I had 25+ in my table. 😛
I already feel like I HAVE to maximize each card on Small Business Saturday, Smart & Final, etc, so I can only imagine how much more stressed I’d be to maximize even more cards. Probably totally worth it for the profit though!
You should consider moving to Excel or a Google spreadsheet. More scalable than One Note
Approaching 1/4 of that number and I already feel stressed about the number of cards I have. What would I say if Amex asks me why I have all these?
Eh, it depends on which type of cards you have, but…. beg for forgiveness?
nice looking pigs
fat huh?
Agreed, hit it hard, hope for the best and move on to the next thing when it dies. *Looking back longingly at US Mint + Chase AARP 5% CB on everything*
I know some people will be angry and say, “See, this is why we can’t have nice things” to Bou, but the problem is that he’s not the only one who thinks that way these days. Whereas in the old days, the majority of people may think to not hit things that hard [that will kill it], these days, the number of people who think that way have increased and the number of people playing have also increased.
Unfortunately, we can’t go back in time and all be nice little pigs anymore. The hive mindset is now to be a hog or else you’ll get slaughtered with the hogs anyway.
I do 0 amex offers. I prefer methods that have high per-transaction value due to my time constraints. Amex-Offers score low on this test. More transactions = more time spent, more tracking, etc.
But, I like how you extract the maximum return out of it – one way or the other 🙂
High per transaction value? Like an MS $ per hour? Isn’t saving 30 months of driving to Walmart more time consuming than 1-2 days driving around LAX? Well unless you are also banging MO’s at Walmart at the same time. I find that doing $4K at WMT in one run is a HUGE WIN. I’m happy with $2K now.
Yes, I was referring MS $ per hour.. Lets just say I have a 3 digit number in mind and try to stick to it..
Regarding WMT, I try to max out $2.5k on each BB per visit – and some 2k MO transactions if possible. As you know, WMT opportunities are very local.
On a side note, do you have a post talking about the risk of returns in the reselling game? How do you plan for it, factor it in your $$ calculation.. Case in point, In the 20k platinum challenge, don’t you have to wait for the return window to close before “counting your chicken”?
That makes sense PRUS.
For returns, yes, I probably won’t get “final” numbers for a month or so after 90 days (not sure what the Amazon return period is).
30 days for most items.
Good lord, if I was in on that deal that View From the Wing wrote about I might want to have words with Mr. Leff. Spreading the word to a group of people not known for restraint….
Anyway, this reminded me of a conversation I was having during a meet up a few months ago. Redbird had just come out, we’re in California and I was having a friend send me one from out of state. I was sitting next to a guy who was getting 5 sent to him. I’m thinking “Five?! WTF you really need five? Go easy, it’s stuff like this that ruins this for everyone.” Anyway, now 7 months later and Redbird is Deadbird and I really wish I had MS with five of the damn things. The deal was always going to go away and those who hit it the hardest in the least amount of time probably did the best.
Yup Justin, I think the pigs have come to realize they are getting slaughtered along with the hogs, so they may as well be a hog too next time.