Ok let me tell you how I do it, I just buy 5K one day the next day buy 5K more then the following day 5K more, you get the hint... This is much faster then wasting time doing the other way. But other people have their way of doing it

Isn't that basically what I said? What about it doesn't make sense?

I didn't find his comments rude, just honest... Even though this game is YMMV, many of use having been doing this for a while and have tried so many angles that truly the best way if to buy as much as you can at once... So what is you get a fraud alert on her account, it takes 45 seconds to fix it and you can continue with the purchase...

One fraud alert is not needless, and it take 45 seconds to get it straighten out..

Bob the longest fraud alert took me 45 seconds.. Once the CC companies get to see your habit on spend, the alerts go away...

The paranoia on display by some is astounding. All that time/stress spent to try and hide what is so obvious - I just don't get it.

Exactly.....

I wonder if these people identify with the political party who is on the conversative side..

Heh, I've come to the belief that more extreme political beliefs correlates to higher levels of paranoia in those that hold them.

I myself also find the behavior to be abhorrent. In the case of CVS, they are a private company and they have every right to ask information of you. They have a duty establish reasonable policies that help prevent theft, money laundering, chargebacks, etc. Capitalism works because of the fostering of relationships of trust. Those that skirt CVS's rules are bad customers, and are the types that create ripples in the system that punish those who play the game fairly.

Besides the whole philosophical bs, there's also the idea that they're wasting other peoples' time. There's the additional time the cashier must spend processing separate transactions; there's the time other customers spend needlessly waiting due to another's irrational feelings; there's the wasted productivity for CVS because others must be called to the front as back-up cashiers. I don't expect them to care though. They hardly care about their own time, so I shouldn't expect them to be concerned about the time and money of others.

Citi 5% at drug stores. I need to spend 6k to maximize the benefit. If I bought 12 VRs at 503.95 that equals $6047.40, yet I only get 5% up to $6,000.

Last time I went over the cashier had to hand type in my DL #, which is long in my state. She was trying to figure out how to enter, advance screen, etc. A line started lengthening and she seemed annoyed. Thus, I try to stay under $1k, because I won't get 5% for going over 1k and it saves the cashier a hassle and I want to be on good terms with her.

The managers at the CVS, grocery and gas stations I go to all know me. They dont even ask for my ID anymore. Neither do their staff.

They know that when I stop by it's always $1000 in MPs or GCs. I suppose I can push it by doing $5000 per visit. But I want to be doing this for many more years without having to get my accounts cancelled and recur the hassle of creating new accounts.

I tell them I buy a lot of these cards and give to my clients. Of course they ask for my business cards. :)

At the end of the day I build a trusting relationship with the stores I shop at. Most importantly all the stores have become part of my daily activities so no need to buy $5000 a time.

Many of these gas stations for example do about $20,000 in sales a day. Those people spending $5000 a day will definately get noticed because $5000 is 25% of the day's total sales.

Other people may do more than 5k/day, 35k/wk and it can't be done just the 5k way.

I don't know where you're at or if this would work for you, but in my state (CA) the cashier can either swipe the card or scan a barcode beneath the mag strip. My card is so worn out that it never swipes, but most cashiers do not know it is possible to scan the ID. Usually what happens is they try to swipe it, and it doesn't work. Then I try to explain they can scan it, and they look at me like I am crazy. Then they realize that the alternative is typing in all of my driver's license info, and they try scanning it. They're usually shocked that it works, and happy I showed them a "trick."

FWIW, my local store won't allow you to split purchases in order to prevent people skirting the DL scan (according to the store mgr).

Uhh...so you're trying to build a 'trusting relationship' based on deceit?

No offense, but that's not a very good strategy. You're not doing anything wrong, so why are you pretending to do something else? All of my best store relationships have been built by letting the right people know at the right time exactly what I'm doing, not making up some bogus reason that won't hold water the second someone starts asking questions or doing some basic arithmetic.