silver4300

I've been in the MS game for several years, yet am fairly new to FT. I started slow, learned along the way, and gradually built relations with cashiers, managers, bank clerks etc. Yet, being a fairly new to FT, I don't know what it was like "back in the day".

I really like MMs posts advocating for being good stewards of the craft and it's got me thinking of how I can be a better steward. One thing I try to do is to leave a small footprint behind me.

I've noticed many novices on the board seem driven by immediate gratification and don't have the patience to research, develop skills and build a base of knowledge and support. And, are often not open to suggestions. There are many examples, but here are a few I have noticed.

1. A novice MSer attempts a phone billpay with VGCs. It was clearly stated over and over in the thread and wiki that VGCs are not accepted. The phone csrs are very polite and accommodating and will try alternate debit cards if one fails. The novice MSer takes advantage of this by having the csr attempt several different VGCs, which of course all fail. It was indicated in the thread and to the MSer not to do this because 1. it doesn't work and 2. it clogs up phone lines and frustrates CSRs which harms this avenue of MS. Yet, being over his/her head, the MSers *needed* that bp now, thought maybe it was just the CSR and called in to try again.

2. A novice MSer had received many hundreds of dollars in cashback in his/her recent statement. Yet, noticed that a regular grocery store purchase was miscoded and did not receive the bonus. S/he was missing a few dollars in cb and was quite upset. Others posted that technically, all the GC purchases are excluded from cb, so it is not a good idea to call in and draw attention to the MS. Considering many hundreds in cb where earned, missing a few dollars is trivial. The novice MSer calls anyway, puts up a big stink and ends up speaking with a supervisor.

3. A novice MSer liquidates 25 $200 VGCs at a wm register. After being told that this is inappropriate, the novice MSer says the cashier was friendly and did MS as well - yet saw nothing wrong with tying up a cashier/register for an extended period of time.

4. A novice MSer opens a new pp account. He loads $500 then transfers the $500 to his bank within an hour. Then, wonders why his pp account was shutdown.