CWAL
Level 2 Member
Hope the title got everyone's attention.
It was suggested to me that this post may be of some benefit to the members here, and I've never really seen something like it before, so here goes nothing!
When I first started churning card and getting points, I kept track of way more than I needed to. Lots of silly stuff like the last 4 digits of each GC I bought, which MO they went to, and so on. When I began purchasing more at a faster pace, it became clear that electronic record-keeping just wasn't going to cut it. At one point, I thought I lost a MO (I didn't actually, I just forgot to write down what I did to it. After a few iterations, I came up with the method I'll be showing today.
Different people are going to have different things that work for them, but the big takeaway is to be very consistent with yourself on a day to day basis. It will save you many a headache.
Each step has a corresponding picture here:
0) So you bought a bunch of gift cards and see this lying in front of you. Well, now you've got some work to do...
1) I like to write down on the top of my receipt the day I made the purchase, as well as which cards I used, and how much I put on each. This is on the bottom of most receipts anyways, but I end up with my receipts folded up, and this makes it easier to enter into the computer later.
2,3) Start cracking cards. I love these flower ones. Just snap them in half like this and rip the card out. Very satisfying. Don't forget to take off the sticky gunk!
4,5) Uh oh, looks like you got one of those pesky preset PINS. Stupid Mastercards... Just crack it open like this and you can read it. Grab the card, yank it out, and write the PIN on it with a thin sharpie. Other kinds of pens are horrible to try to write with...
6) The real meat of the operation. I found these photo pages at one of my favorite liquidation spots. (Hey, I'm allowed to actually purchase things other than MO there!) I always put the receipt in the top slot until all its associated GC are liquidated. Things that need to be dealt with go in the bottom right pocket. Finished stuff goes in the bottom left. I like to do my best to keep my receipt stacks self consistent - ie, I try to liquidate each purchase at one time if possible.
7,8,9,10) Take your lovely stack of GC to your favorite liquidation location. Before I go into the store, I grab the GC I want to liquidate, and put them in one pocket. When making the purchase, I'll take out a few at a time white side up, and flip them over in my other hand as they're used. Once the receipt prints, I'll put the flipped ones in a different pocket. If a card has a remaining small balance, it goes in yet another different pocket. In this case, for illustrative purposes, I've pretended that the CSR refused to sell me another MO to liquidate the last two cards. As a side note, I like to fill out the MOs ASAP, usually while the next batch is printing.
11) Once back in the car, I take the fully spent cards and put them at the front of my notebook. These eventually get emptied into a box at home.
12) Receipt for liquidation goes in the left side, MO goes in the "needs attention" slot. Notice there are still two GC with the MO. Dang pesky CSR trying to make their own rules!
13) Time to deposit! I endorse, and write on the original purchase receipt the date and an abbreviation for the bank I deposited to.
14) If it's mobile deposit, I dump them back here. These eventually get "DEPOSITED" stamps and emptied into a box when they clear.
15) Well, looks like I had time to finish liquidating! GC went to the front of the book since they're empty, and all the receipts go into the bottom. Only thing left to do is...
16) Endorse, deposit, and record on the original receipt.
17) Since all that's left on the page at that point would be the lower right hand pocket filled with receipts, everything should be good to go. If the numbers on the right side of the receipt roughly match the numbers on the left, I fold them all up and put them into trading card pages at the front of the book. Eventually these pages start filling up in roughly chronological order, and they too get taken out and stacked in a box.
To anyone who made it this far, hope this was helpful. May the CSRs be ever in your favor!
It was suggested to me that this post may be of some benefit to the members here, and I've never really seen something like it before, so here goes nothing!
When I first started churning card and getting points, I kept track of way more than I needed to. Lots of silly stuff like the last 4 digits of each GC I bought, which MO they went to, and so on. When I began purchasing more at a faster pace, it became clear that electronic record-keeping just wasn't going to cut it. At one point, I thought I lost a MO (I didn't actually, I just forgot to write down what I did to it. After a few iterations, I came up with the method I'll be showing today.
Different people are going to have different things that work for them, but the big takeaway is to be very consistent with yourself on a day to day basis. It will save you many a headache.
Each step has a corresponding picture here:
0) So you bought a bunch of gift cards and see this lying in front of you. Well, now you've got some work to do...
1) I like to write down on the top of my receipt the day I made the purchase, as well as which cards I used, and how much I put on each. This is on the bottom of most receipts anyways, but I end up with my receipts folded up, and this makes it easier to enter into the computer later.
2,3) Start cracking cards. I love these flower ones. Just snap them in half like this and rip the card out. Very satisfying. Don't forget to take off the sticky gunk!
4,5) Uh oh, looks like you got one of those pesky preset PINS. Stupid Mastercards... Just crack it open like this and you can read it. Grab the card, yank it out, and write the PIN on it with a thin sharpie. Other kinds of pens are horrible to try to write with...
6) The real meat of the operation. I found these photo pages at one of my favorite liquidation spots. (Hey, I'm allowed to actually purchase things other than MO there!) I always put the receipt in the top slot until all its associated GC are liquidated. Things that need to be dealt with go in the bottom right pocket. Finished stuff goes in the bottom left. I like to do my best to keep my receipt stacks self consistent - ie, I try to liquidate each purchase at one time if possible.
7,8,9,10) Take your lovely stack of GC to your favorite liquidation location. Before I go into the store, I grab the GC I want to liquidate, and put them in one pocket. When making the purchase, I'll take out a few at a time white side up, and flip them over in my other hand as they're used. Once the receipt prints, I'll put the flipped ones in a different pocket. If a card has a remaining small balance, it goes in yet another different pocket. In this case, for illustrative purposes, I've pretended that the CSR refused to sell me another MO to liquidate the last two cards. As a side note, I like to fill out the MOs ASAP, usually while the next batch is printing.
11) Once back in the car, I take the fully spent cards and put them at the front of my notebook. These eventually get emptied into a box at home.
12) Receipt for liquidation goes in the left side, MO goes in the "needs attention" slot. Notice there are still two GC with the MO. Dang pesky CSR trying to make their own rules!
13) Time to deposit! I endorse, and write on the original purchase receipt the date and an abbreviation for the bank I deposited to.
14) If it's mobile deposit, I dump them back here. These eventually get "DEPOSITED" stamps and emptied into a box when they clear.
15) Well, looks like I had time to finish liquidating! GC went to the front of the book since they're empty, and all the receipts go into the bottom. Only thing left to do is...
16) Endorse, deposit, and record on the original receipt.
17) Since all that's left on the page at that point would be the lower right hand pocket filled with receipts, everything should be good to go. If the numbers on the right side of the receipt roughly match the numbers on the left, I fold them all up and put them into trading card pages at the front of the book. Eventually these pages start filling up in roughly chronological order, and they too get taken out and stacked in a box.
To anyone who made it this far, hope this was helpful. May the CSRs be ever in your favor!
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