Originally Posted by
Happy
Isn't that is exactly what he needed, right now? Get that done quickly and he would have the 60 or 70K in hand, then do the remaining yearly earning whatever way he prefers to do. There are other ways than BB/Serve to liquidate your cards and $200 a piece is a PITA no matter whichever way you choose.
This is definitely a learning process for me. I wanted to try out $200 VGC's, at least initially, to see how comfortable I was at doing it, and figure out what the atmosphere was like for me locally. I could've driven around 15 miles each way to a Simon Outlet Mall to buy $9.5k in Simon VGC's, but wasn't even close to ready for that risk yet.
In any case, I'm done w/ my first non-online Serve load "experiment" as of tonight. My first Staples didn't even have $200 VGC's...not a big deal, as it was next to a Lowe's I was doing shopping at. Second Staples had tons of $200 VGC's, and there was a WM literally right next door. Didn't go crazy...just bought 4 VGC's and a pack of gum. Manager override indeed was needed, but no questions were asked at all. Went to my car, ripped open all 4, walked into WM, and that's when things got a big interesting. This WM is less than 2 yrs old, yet didn't have a Kate. A much older WM in my area does (no OSS close-by). But there were no lines at the cash registers, so I went to the first one and the lady was pretty clueless. Since I had never done it, I was a bit clueless, too, but it's not rocket science, and we got 2 $200 loads done w/o much issue. Instead of pushing my luck and trying to do the other 2 with her (my read on her may have just been my imagination), I walked to the other side of the store and went to another cashier w/ much more confidence.
This is the weird part...this lady said that she was no longer allowed to do loads to a Serve card with a debit gift card as of a couple of wks ago. I have yet to read this anywhere. I said ok, no problem, went to customer service, and that rep loaded the last 2 for me no problem. I was done in 15 minutes.
Is this something I'll do regularly after this experience? Doubtful. I'm hoping Citi AA MC's stay eligible for online loads so I get that $3k over with during Nov/Dec/Jan (don't have ISIS available to me). There's a WM right next to my gym that has a Kate, and if it's a functional one, I'll stick with more $200 loads on my own in the short-term. If not, I'll switch over to Simons, but not go crazy (in the multiple thousands)...although floating wouldn't be a big deal. Maybe I'll change my mind about that. Basically, I still have to feel out the WM situation more re: the liquidation.
Thanks for the candid feedback.