Originally Posted by
dethkultur
+1
Just chill. There are all sorts of legit reasons to get an MO. I once bought a car for $9000 and the seller wanted MO. I went to USPS to get them. If someone asks (which happens 1/100 times) I tell them we use them for budgeting in our family, or I tell them it is for a kid's camp in the summer or piano lessons or something. 1/500 times, an uptight employee at a certain grocery asks if I am using a gift card and says they don't accept, I say thanks and go down the street to the next store, or go to that same one 8 hours later.
Your biggest challenge is to get over your own feelings. You know you are taking advantage of cracks in the system to make some $ and feel like you shouldn't be able to. In reality, the steps you are doing are completely legitimate and done by other people every day for all kinds of reasons. You just need to step up with that mindset, and save your guilt for when you are looking at your bank account statement or point balances, it's a lot easier that way.
I guess I'm a bit more worried about "blending into the data" rather then personal guilt. I don't want the card shut down, I don't wanna be banned from the post office, and I don't wanna be stuck with a bunch of money in gift cards. That's why I'm hoping this plan will look and seem far more legit (and reduce my risk by limiting the amount on a gift card at any one time) since it's actually being used for legit reasons and the only odd kink is the gift card step.
I just could see it being extremely sketchy looking to a post office employee if I had money orders made out to myself so I could later cash them out. Even if technically legal, I know they can refuse the service or ask me not to return if they don't feel right about it.... so trying to setup a plan that gets me where I want without becoming too "greedy" and burning my luck :P
I've also never done it before and find it all still extremely confusing and a constantly evolving system even after reading a lot here, so I'm trying to make the most clear (to myself) path to get them funded an purchased, setup with a PIN online, and then cashed out with a valid money order.