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This week’s Staples deals, how to cancel a Citi card, and a great deal for members of the military

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THIS WEEK’S STAPLES DEALS: The back-to-school onslaught continues! Courtesy of Slickdeals.

  • 12-pack Staples #2 Pencils $0.25
  • 4oz Staples School Glue $0.25
  • 5-pack Paper Mate Sharpwriter 0.7mm Mechanical Pencils $0.25
  • 12-pack Staples Pink Cap Erasers $0.25
  • 100-pack Staples Paper Clips $0.25
  • Slider Pencil Case $0.25
  • 4-pack 0.26oz Staples Glue Sticks $1
  • 8.5″x11″ Writing Pad (Assorted Designs and Rulings) $1
  • Scotch 3/4″x300″ Magic Tape with Dispenser $1
  • 200-sheets Staples 5.5″x4.25″ Fat Book $1

HOW TO CANCEL A CITIBANK CARD: For those of you who enjoyed his article on cancelling Amex cards, Matt from Saverocity is back with advice on cancelling Citi cards. If you have any Citi annual fees coming up in the next year, it’s worth a look. My American Airlines card annual fee is due this month, so we’ll see what they offer. Last year they reimbursed the annual fee, plus they offered double miles for the first $750 in purchases every month.

AN AMAZING DEAL FOR ACTIVE MILITARY MEMBERS: Military Money Manual points out a great deal for members of the military:

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act has a long history dating back to the Civil War and it protects servicemembers’ from many legal and financial troubles that they could encounter while serving their nation both at home and overseas.

The SCRA has several sections covering taxes, lawsuits, and outstanding debt. Credit card companies are only legally required to keep your interest rate below 6% on any outstanding debt you have with them BEFORE you enter military service.

I had never heard of a credit card company waiving fees because of the SCRA so I had to investigate further. Plus I had recently become a cardholder (again) at AMEX and I would definitely remain a cardholder for much longer if I knew I wouldn’t have to pay annual fees.

What I found was that yes, indeed, American Express waives annual membership fees for active duty military service personnel.

AMEX decided that they are going to be a true class act and go beyond their legal requirements. For the duration of your active duty military service, they will waive the following fees:

  • Annual membership fees ($200 savings for my two cards)
  • Overlimit fees
  • Late Payment fees
  • Returned Payment fees
  • Statement Copy Request fees

Frequent Miler’s not in the military, but he came up with a few thousand dollars worth of fees servicemembers could have waived if they were so inclined.

Incidentally, Military Money Manual is a pretty good blog and seems like the kind of thing I’d be reading if I were in the military–if you or anybody you know is, you might want to pass it along.

FRUGAL SAN FRAN HIPSTERS LIVING IN RVs: Recreational Vehicles aren’t just for retirees driving around the country anymore:

“We’re one step ahead of the Brooklyn hipsters!”

Tynan Smith, a 32-year-old tech entrepreneur, lives in what he considers his dream Castro district apartment. He’s got marble counters, hardwood floors, a cedar closet and gold leaf ceiling. He doesn’t have a roommate. And at $500 a month, you can’t beat the rent.

The hitch is something he thinks is hardly a hitch: His apartment is a 1996 Winnebago. The rent is for a parking spot and a bit of electricity.

His Winnebago Rialto, which he bought for $17,000, is 20.8 feet long, about a foot longer than a regulation parking spot. The vehicle gets 17 miles per gallon – and has been meticulously rebuilt.

The obvious way to one-up these guys is to live in an electric vehicle. (Though biofueled cars may be acceptable as well.) I’m looking forward to a profile of some dude living in a Leaf or a Volt or a Tesla.

Staples is feeling generous this week! Also: how to make a living in an arcade

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FREE STUFF FROM STAPLES: This ad is mostly self-explanatory…

I say “mostly” because the cards you get aren’t real Staples gift cards, they’re “ePromo cards” which are only good until September 22. Here’s the link to the Slickdeals thread if you want to dig a little deeper. The recommended approach there is to buy four $50 gift cards in one transaction to get the maximum of four ePromo cards.

(EDIT: Thanks to Frequent Miler for pointing out the software deal you can do for some free points and a few extra dollars. You can combine that deal with the deal above.)

Also from Slickdeals, here are this week’s Staples deals:

  • 12-pack BIC Ultra Round Stic Grip Medium Ballpoint Pens (Black) Free after $2.79 Easy Rebate
  • 100-pack Staples 3″x5″ Ruled Index Cards $0.01 w/ $5 Purchase
  • 2-Pocket Paper Folder (Assorted Colors) $0.01 w/ $5 Purchase
  • 8-pack Staples #2 Pencils $0.01 w/ $5 Purchase
  • 12-pack Staples Cap Erasers $0.01 w/ $5 Purchase
  • 5-Tab Avery Insertable Dividers $0.25
  • Staples 8.5″x11.75″ Wide Ruled Perforated Writing Pad $0.50
  • Westcott 12″ Finger-Grip Ruler $0.50
  • 5-pack BIC 0.7mm Mechanical Pencils $0.50
  • 125-count Staples Stickies 1/2″ Tape Flags $0.50
  • 10-pack Crayola Classic Markers $0.75
  • 7-pack Zebra Z-Grip Retractable Medium Ballpoint Pens $1
  • Staples Steel 1-Hole Punch $1
  • 5-pack Sharpie Fine Tip Permanent Markers $1
  • 5-pack Sharpie Accent Tank Highlighters $1

If you really want to get hard core, somebody figured out how to turn this week’s Staples deals into a $60 money maker.

GAMING THE GAMING SYSTEM: This article is several years old, but a fun read. Apparently somebody figured out one of those ticket-paying games they have at places like Dave and Buster’s and actually made a living from it:

He decided to do the only thing at which he was exceptional: Drill-o-Matic. He’d seen it in arcades elsewhere as a ticket-awarding machine. Those arcades had prize huts with extremely valuable merchandise offered for exorbitant, almost unreachable ticket values. Robert knew how to get them. He knew how to line up the drill to get the 100 ticket payout every single time, as the top prize target was always located in the same space. Doing research that wasn’t fully explained to me, he determined every location that had this machine and, investing in a plane ticket, set out there to empty it of its tickets for as long as they would let him play. He’d redeem the tickets for the most valuable items and sell them on eBay.

In other news, you know that game where you drop the claw down into a pit filled with toys? It’s rigged.

BIG LAW IN BIG TROUBLE: Here’s a slightly less old article from The New Republic reporting on the current law school mess:

In the past decade, twelve major firms with more than 1,000 partners between them have collapsed entirely… And then there are the indignities inflicted on new lawyers, known as associates. The odds are increasingly long that a recent law-school grad will find a job. Five years ago, during a recession, American law schools produced 43,600 graduates and 75 percent had positions as lawyers within nine months. Last year, the numbers were 46,500 and 64 percent. In addition to the emotional toll unemployment exacts, it is often financially ruinous. The average law student graduates $100,000 in debt.

It’s not just the law schools and their grads that are getting squeezed. Harvard et al. may be more popular than ever, but other schools are hurting:

As Loyola University New Orleans gears up for fall classes next month, the 101-year-old Jesuit University faces a crisis: There will be 25% fewer freshmen than the school had banked on.

…School officials were stunned this year by the low fall turnout, and the vice president for enrollment management resigned abruptly in June. Moody’s Investors Service said this month a downgrade is likely in the school’s credit if “the university is unable to improve operations in a relatively short time frame.”

Loyola officials believe a catalyst for the decline was a reduction in financial aid it offered to the incoming class off its $35,504 tuition, from an average discount of 58% last year to about 55% this fall.

AS LONG AS I’M CLEANING OUT OLD ARTICLES: This post from 2007 is the most popular post of all time at The Simple Dollar: Homemade Bread: Cheap, Delicious, Healthy, and Easier Than You Think. The title’s self-explanatory, and I’ll second the sentiment: homemade bread truly is easy, cheap, and delicious. I have my doubts about the healthy part, so I like to use einkorn flour as that seems to have a less detrimental effect on one’s blood sugar. Of course, just about any homemade bread will still probably be healthier than store-bought. If you’ve never baked bread before, I highly recommend giving it a try after you get home from Staples.

$5 Amazon coupon, daycare loans, and Trader Joe’s arbitrage

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$5 OFF $25 AT AMAZON: Amazon has a $5/$25 Facebook promotion for anybody who’s interested.

A COUPLE OF SLICKDEALS: One GB of extra Dropbox storage for free, plus Staples has some more good deals this week. One poster has figured out how to make a $25 profit from the current sales.

UNNECESSARY FINANCIAL PRODUCT WATCH: Remember IPad loans? New York City has an equally bad idea: daycare loans.

City Council Speaker Quinn unveiled a pilot program Monday to provide subsidized child care loans to families that she described as “middle class.” Her office describes the plan as the first of its kind in the U.S.

Parents with children aged two to four will be able to receive loans of $11,000, at a 6% interest rate. Applicants must have an annual income of between $80,000 to $200,000, and a credit score of at least 620, according to Quinn’s office.

You’re making six figures… but you take out $11,000 in loans for day care expenses? This reminds me of a certain SNL skit from a while back.

ARRRRRRRRRR: Remember the gasoline arbitrage from a few months ago where folks would buy cheap gasoline in Venezuela and sell it in Colombia? Here’s something along the same lines, except it involves Trader Joe’s and Canada:

Michael Hallatt has spent more than $350,000 at Trader Joe’s in less than two years. But the popular grocery chain doesn’t ever want to see him again.

“I’m their best customer,” he said with a mix of pride and indignation.

Every week, the former Bay Area resident drives his panel van across the border to buy a few thousand dollars worth of merchandise at Trader Joe’s stores in the States. He then turns around and resells the goods at his own shop in Canada for a profit.

Simple, bold, audacious–I love it!

Now, despite the obvious affection Hallatt and his customers have for the eclectic grocer, he finds himself the subject of a lawsuit filed in May by the California company, which has no presence in Canada. The suit seeks to shut down the store he owns in Vancouver that is entirely devoted to reselling Trader Joe’s products.

His response: removing the “P” from his front window, turning Pirate Joe’s into Irate Joe’s. And his cross-border shopping trips continue, even though more and more Trader Joe’s markets are posting his picture.

“Almost all the stores in the Pacific Northwest have asked me to leave,” said Hallatt, 53, a British Columbia native who lived in the Bay Area from 1996 to 2004, lured by the dot-com boom. “This is a little bit David versus Goliath and a little bit Occupy Grocery.”

So the guy is giving Trader Joe’s lots of business, building loyalty for its products, and not hurting their business in any way–and they want to sue him? Go figure.

THE PART-TIME ECONOMY: A pretty ugly graph showing full-time vs part-time job growth:

This is from GaveKal via John Mauldin via Barry Ritholtz.

Sweet hotel deals, gaming the MBA system, and a do-it-yourself credit card

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MORE FREE OR CHEAP OFFICE SUPPLIES: The Staples deals continue! Courtesy of Slickdeals, here are the latest offerings:

  • Home Select Pocket Tissues $0.01 w/ $5 Purchase
  • 70-sheets Staples 1-Subject Notebook $0.01 w/ $5 Purchase
  • 5-pack Pilot B2P Retractable Ballpoint Pens Free after $5.49 Easy Rebate
  • 2-pack Sharpie Fine Permanent Markers (Black) $0.50
  • 3-pack Pentel Hi-Polymer Erasers $0.50
  • Staples Translucent Pencil Box $0.50
  • 4-pack Staples Glue Sticks $1
  • 5-pack BIC Brite Liner Grip Highlighters $1
  • 200-sheets Staples 5.5″x4.25″ Fat Book $1
  • Staples 5.5″x9″ Clipboard $1
  • Staples 8.5″x11″ Pastels
  • 60-pack Staples Photo Plus 4″x6″ Gloss Paper
  • 500-Sheet HammerMill Copy Plus 8.5″x11″ Copy Paper

Note that Staples has sent out some coupons recently as well–I got $5 off $50–so there are some money-making opportunities this week. If you’re interested, you’re welcome to wade through the 50 pages of comments in the relevant Slickdeals thread for ideas about how to work this.

A NICE AMEX PLATINUM PERK: For those of you with an Amex Platinum card, The Points Guy pointed out some sweet deals with the Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts program. Here’s one example:

…At The Arizona Biltmore, located in Phoenix, Arizona, summer rates start at $99 per night ($142 with taxes), and the current FHR package includes the following:

  • Room upgrade when available
  • Noon check-in when available
  • Daily continental breakfast for two
  • Guaranteed 4pm late check-out
  • $100 food and beverage credit to be used during your stay

So for $99, you get a $100 food and beverage credit right off the bat which more than covers the cost of the room (excluding taxes).

More examples here. Meanwhile, Frequent Miler is reporting that some CVS stores are now allowing the purchase of $5,000 of Vanilla Reloads at a time, up from the previous limit of $1,000. They will ask to scan your ID, though, which is understandable given the amount of fraud they’re probably dealing with.

HOW TO GAME THE MBA ADMISSIONS SYSTEM: According to recently published research, easy classes will take you places:

Business-school applicants with a high undergraduate grade-point average—even those who attended schools identified as practicing grade inflation—are more likely to be admitted than those who performed slightly less well amid tougher grading standards.

…In other words, an applicant with a 3.6 GPA might wow the admissions office, even if the average student in that person’s graduating class finished with a 3.7. The applicant who managed a 3.4 in a class whose average hovered closer to 3.2, however, might not make the cut.

Although dispiriting, these conclusions are not surprising. MBA admissions officers don’t make a ton of money and have a lot of work to do in a short time. Given the choice between (a) really getting to know candidates and (b) making a quick, formulaic decision, which option do you think they’d be likely to choose?

A DIY CREDIT CARD: Some of you may have already heard about the man who wrote his own terms and conditions, but for those who haven’t:

When Dmitry Argarkov was sent a letter offering him a credit card, he found the rates not to his liking.

But he didn’t throw the contract away or shred it. Instead, the 42-year-old from Voronezh, Russia, scanned it into his computer, altered the terms and sent it back to Tinkoff Credit Systems.

Mr Argarkov’s version of the contract contained a 0pc interest rate, no fees and no credit limit. Every time the bank failed to comply with the rules, he would fine them 3m rubles (£58,716). If Tinkoff tried to cancel the contract, it would have to pay him 6m rubles.

Tinkoff apparently failed to read the amendments, signed the contract and sent Mr Argakov a credit card.

…However, Tinkoff attempted to close the account due to overdue payments. It sued Mr Argakov for 45,000 rubles for fees and charges that were not in his altered version of the contract.

Earlier this week a Russian judge ruled in Mr Argakov’s favour. Tinkoff had signed the contract and was legally bound to it. Mr Argakov was only ordered to pay an outstanding balance of 19,000 rubles (£371).

This being Russia, I’m not optimistic about Mr. Argakov’s future. But still: cool story!

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