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How simple is simple for Manufactured Spending?

August 17, 2014 By Trevor 12 Comments





Einstein's guide to Manufactured Spending

Albert Einstein is known to say: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” This quote came up at a PMI lunch ‘n’ learn I attended this week. It was related to project management, but really, I couldn’t help but think of the entire presentation as a metaphor for Manufactured Spending (MS). Without going into too much detail on the presentation, I will say that there were no meaningful circles or arrows.

As simple as possible

Manufacturing spending, at the “simple” level, is spending for the sheer purpose of generating miles, points, or cash back. The most logical approaches are those which are simple: A-B-A. We’ve seen those deals, but they don’t scale well. Then we have A-B-C-A, which we’ve found scale better, but are often at the mercy of the fickleness of point of sale (POS) machines, cashiers and customer service representatives. I’m being particularly non-specific with respect to MS techniques, not because I’m trying to be obtuse, but rather because I think its important to look at the basic things that work. See if this logic works with some of the techniques you use. How many letters do you go through before you get back to A? In theory, you could use much more complex methods, that use A-B-C-D-A, or even more. However each letter introduces complexity and risk.

Juxtaposition with Reselling 

If you apply the same logic to reselling, you can do a simple A-B-C-A, where B is product (for simplicity, we’ll consider purchased/put on sale as the same, and C is product sold). You can get more complicated with buying merchant gift cards as FrequentMiler, Chasing the Points, BigHabitat and others (disclosure: I got tired of googling for examples), have written about, but again, that added complexity introduces risk.

But not simpler

I think this is the difficult point. Just as it is possible to over simplify in words, I think graphics occasionally push it even further. What I mean here, is that some folks, right or wrong, introduce arrows, circles, and other things, that may be considered “simpler.”

Now, I am no scientist, nor am I a physicist. I happen to know one pretty well though (my wife), so I don’t think I’m too far off the mark, in saying that there Einstein probably believed that people should experiment for themselves. Of course, in trying to verify this, the best I could find was that fish shouldn’t climb trees, yet nothing about teaching a man to fish.

But I digress. Manufactured Spending should be made simple, but not simpler. To make MS simpler puts techniques at risk. Arrows and circles, I would argue, fall into the “Simpler” category.

How this approach can work for you

Much like I referred to in how much detail of a deal to share, the the scientific method is certainly a viable option.

Scientific Method

 

Really, the key is to find the most efficient, scalable solution. I believe it is an A-B-C-A approach. I won’t give you the answers to the quiz, so to speak, but I will offer that, you should be able to scale a 2 part MS solution. I certainly do, but I’m small time, I don’t break six figures a month. I know others that do. I just don’t have the time. I suppose I’d consider myself a “weekend warrior” in that regard, because nine times out of ten, when I MS, its Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Conclusion

Even as a Weekend Warrior, I still do pretty well, and you can too. But be smart. Consider the opportunities, consider the risks, and consider what works for you. Don’t ask the Walmart Cashiers if you can use a gift card. Do your research before you walk in. When you’re in the store (Walmart or otherwise), exude confidence. Its contagious. Finally, keep trying new things, create your hypothesis, test it, repeat it, and share it with those you trust, but leave the circles and arrows out of it. I dare say that would fall into the simpler category.

Filed Under: Editorial, Manufactured Spending, Reselling Tagged With: Manufactured Spending, Scientific Method, stewardship

Big time bloggers and Transparent Airfare Act

August 3, 2014 By Trevor 4 Comments

For those of you who follow the larger points blogging world, and travel arena’s, its been an interesting week. As a result, I spent the last few days in retrospect. Big time bloggers and MS tactics I’m torn as I write this. Those that read TaggingMiles regularly know that I try to highlight stewardship, research, and caution with MS (here and here), and have made it a point not to be too detailed on techniques or particular “gigs.” Some have reached out to me privately, and I welcome that, it allows greater opportunity for a conversation, and to ensure that folks understand the risks. On Tuesday, Brian posted something that was viewed by many as over the line. I attempted to weigh in with my thoughts as well. Here was the last exchange:

@tmount @miffSC @konorth @PatMikeL @FlyerTalkerinA2 this is just funny. AP is NOT a secret and none of you own the right to public info. — The Points Guy (@thepointsguy) July 29, 2014

and

@thepointsguy @miffSC @konorth @PatMikeL @FlyerTalkerinA2 More like sad. You’ve missed the point. Try reading this: http://t.co/YCNk8qZl04 — Trevor (@tmount) July 29, 2014

His argument, was that he was only sharing public information to save many people money, and make many points. I don’t disagree with those points. The problem that I saw, was that he didn’t really highlight the risks (account shutdown for example). My point was not necessarily that he was killing a deal, but rather putting out a carrot without highlighting that it might in fact have a string attached. I get it. His job is to provide content that will generate revenue through clicks and credit card sign-ups. As I commented on Matt’s post, I think of this as slaying bison from the train car. As the story of the bison hunting went, eventually, changes happened. Marathon Man may be our “Buffalo Bill.” I think Matt made an even better point than I could make on the risks, just don’t get distracted by the title.

All of those new MSers' with AP accounts shut down.

All of those new MSers’ with AP accounts shut down.

Pending legislation may impact how airline fares are displayed/advertised Joe wrote Thursday about how the Transparent Airlines Act was approved by the US House of Representatives on Monday, 28 July 2014. The industry lobbying group Airlines for America (A4A) has a graphic I actually like that shows how much the industry is taxed. trasparent airfares act pic So, while Joe played the even, unbiased writer, I’m not. I don’t believe the fact that air transportation is taxed at 21% makes the Transparent Airlines Act right. I think Seth at Wandering Aramean has it best summarized. In a nut shell, Seth highlights that airlines can show what the government taxes and fees are presently:

there is absolutely nothing preventing the airlines from identifying that split at any point in the fare advertising process, so long as they also show the full fare. Many airlines already do show the split on their websites as part of the process. These four all show the numbers before a customer clicks off the search results page:

imageimageimage

Joe and I have made a point to highlight regulatory / tax related topics occasionally, such as the transparency act, TSA’s new overseas electronic device restrictions and increased September 11 fees, because we feel that it is important to be aware of them. I just wanted to put a finer point on this one, because the traveling public has become acclimated to seeing prices a certain way, and this will upset the proverbial apple cart. Conclusion As I said before, its been an interesting week. As I think more about my interaction with Brian, the thing that frustrates me the most is not that he “outed a deal” – he didn’t, I think we can all agree, its been out there. I don’t know how many followers or subscribers Brian has, but I would guess its more than 40,000. I think there’s a subset of them that may be harmed by this, and not because Brian is getting credit card sign-ups. I’ve made it a point to focus on research and the scientific method. I further proposed a nearly academic analogy of Manufactured Spend to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The point is, for folks to be successful at MS, you need to be at that point where you can take a few breadcrumbs and figure out how to recreate–or better–bake the loaf. Perhaps the most important “trait” of MSers is creativity. That said, I’m still trying to figure out what the real answer is on the MSing posts, and I’ll be following the Airline Transparency Act in the hopes that the Senate knows the definition of “transparency.”

Ed. Note: The Tagging Miles Sunday Editorial is a weekly reflection of the authors opinions. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of Saverocity.com, or any blogger in the Saverocity family of blogs. No compensation nor incentive was given to mention or link to any product or service in this article.

Filed Under: Editorial, Manufactured Spending, Travel Tagged With: Manufactured Spending, stewardship, transparent airfare act

How much detail of a manufactured spend deal should we offer?

June 22, 2014 By Trevor 18 Comments

SAMSUNG CSC

Value: noun \ˈval-(ˌ)yü\

  1. : the amount of money that something is worth : the price or cost of something
  2. : something that can be bought for a low or fair price
  3. : usefulness or importance

—The Merriam Webster Dictionary

I offer this question; with the “we” as loosely defined as possible. In this case, I really mean, “we” as – the most public part of the community – also known as bloggers. Primarily because, as MileNerd states, there was A Big Death this week.

Many people complain about the “circles and arrows” bloggers, because they “kill deals.” But to that same point, if we are to spur innovation to find “the next big thing,” then the information needs to be shared. This discussion reminds me of Marathon Man’s discussion at the CharlotteDO back in May. He has a great post on this as well.

Research!

Sitting in the audience when I heard this woman ask a question as Marathon Man notes – asking a Walmart employee if she could use a gift card. How would she have known that this was a huge mistake? My first thought was: Research! You need to research before you dive into potentially significant financial transactions. Countless folks have pointed out that Manufactured Spenders buy $500 gift cards as if they are $0.25 packs of Doublemint Gum – double the fun (or if you have a 5x – quintuple the fun!). For many, a $500 transaction is a huge deal. It should be – it is a lot of money!  If you are new to Manufactured Spend (MS), you should research. Heck, you should research your research. Your credit score is the biggest asset you have in this economy. Would you put that at risk just for a hundred thousand miles? I hope not.

Stewardship:

Marathon Man, and others (a few others), make the great point that this hobby requires stewardship. I like to think of if this way: I’m a mariner, and I love spending time on the water. So when I go out, I don’t throw trash in the water. In fact, if I see trash, I try to pick it up! It’s just a small piece of doing our part. With manufactured spending, it’s not a question of keeping your trash to yourself (but you should anyway – it’s the polite thing to do after all). Rather, you need to be careful with this great hobby. Sharing “secrets” in confidence, perhaps even explaining them in greater detail, is encouraged – but in a face to face experience, with individuals that you know. Putting such things on the “internet” makes them public, for stores to find and ultimately shut down.

TaggingMiles is a new blog. Joe and I have been around for a while though. We’re not going to share deals for clicks. It’s not our style. We would rather help you — the reader — to figure out what the next deal is. If we’ve done it right, hopefully you’ll share it with us.

What’s next?

I’ll be candid. I don’t have the answer. If anything, the answer I have, is to learn, and use the scientific method in everything you do. For your reference, I’ve adapted the Scientific Method for you in this easy to follow process diagram:

scienceprocess

In closing: I’ll offer that we all have a lot to learn. We, that play the MS game, have an amazing talent — to see not just the big picture, but to also see the intricacies of the deal. So I would encourage you to test new things, especially in light of the death of Vanilla Reloads, and the most recent death of the Vanilla Network at Walmart.

I don’t know what the next big deal is. Even if I did, I can say for sure, that I wouldn’t share it on TaggingMiles, however, if you reach out to me so that we can develop a rapport, via twitter, e-mail, or the Saverocity Forums, I’d be happy to share it with you, when I do find it.

Filed Under: Editorial, Manufactured Spending Tagged With: Manufactured Spend, one vanilla, stewardship, vanilla reload

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