dingo

Tim and I will pick up a 500lb bag of Alpo at Walmart.

And we'll add Who Let the Dogs Out to the playlist.

PenneyPincher

^^^^^

TahoeGiant

Hello!
So I've gotten into the MS'ing game about 7 months ago. I primarily do the GC --> BlueBird deposit. However, I've been having a REALLY hard time locating a BlueBird Kiosk in the Bay Area. So, I usually have to go to someone and depending on their mood/training, will accept or decline loading a GC. I know So-cal is abundant with Kiosks and I wanted to see if there are any in the Bay Area people have found that work. Any help is appreciated . Thank you!

Here is a list of what I have found:
Fremont WM: Decline loading and say "against store policy and they can get fired"
Milpitas WM: Decline loading and say "against store policy and they can get fired"
San Ramon WM: Kiosk doesn't work and have to load with attendant
Pleasanton WM: Kiosk doesn't work and have to load with attendant
Martinez WM: Had a functioning Kiosk for 2-3 months and now "does not work" and have to load with attendant
Vallejo WM: No Kiosk and have to load with attendant
Fairfield WM: Kiosk doesn't work and have to load with attendant
Davis WM: Decline loading and say "against store policy and they can get fired"

heidelj

I had never really looked at the list before, so I checked it out. The funny thing was, there were 2 on the list that I swore were not there, but guess what, when I got there, there they sat! One was needing a manager login/reset or something, but the other was just waiting to be used.

I'm not going to say that the list is accurate all the time, but for the 5 locations I am occasionally at, it was accurate this week. Maybe they do update it or maybe they were out for repairs when I was there previously. I'll have to keep looking at the list and see if it ever changes.

jmw

Just quit. This isn't ever going to work out with all of the time and gas you are wasting away... with one exception.

The only way around it is to do your loads during your business trips. You can carry $5k of GC x number of BB and then do all your loads during the business trip. I'm assuming your employer does pay for your business trips so you are not out-of-pocket. That is what I do. This is flyertalk after all. I'm not kidding. Otherwise, this hobby is a huge gas, money and time waster if you live in the SF Bay Area. Milpitas to Davis is a ton of gas.

iflyjetz

Hey! This is a reality-free zone. No mention of ancillary costs of MSing are permitted, dammit! Nor do we talk about the 'hourly wages' of MSing.

Totally agree with you about the hidden costs of MSing. I drove 20 mi each way today to buy GCs + load $2500 on a BB at a Kate. Hitting both of those locations added a couple of miles to my trip to pick up my suitcase (handle was being repaired), otherwise I would have waited to buy the GCs and done the loads closer to home.

gpen1827

That is the most Flyertalker paragraph I've ever seen. (Although there were no mentions of airports, airlines, lounges, airline miles, or upgrades.)

I do wonder what the best someone can do in a single sentence would be.

ElPresidente

I think you meant "Dixon", there is no Walmart in Davis. Have a Target though, used to be really great to load at.....

Anyhow, y'all are wasting your time. NorCal Kates are few and far between these days. I travel around the Sacramento area, and once or twice a year I make a sweep of the map, stopping at WM I pass and noting the current Kate status at listed stores. Stores that have them, odds are >66% they have either unplugged them or a dusty OUT OF ORDER sign has taken up residence.

I had a discussion with a CSM once, and she HATED the Kate and wanted it out of the store. Thing was constantly crashing and needing attention. Rebooting multiple times a day indicates to them an item that is defective and needs to be removed, or replace with a standard ATM. For it's intended purposes it's actually slower than a cashier. The machines themselves are pretty old, and even when not mistreated are cantankerous. I saw a CSM reboot one and it takes at least a half-hour for it to do all it's self-tests and be ready again.

Best bet is WM NM locations, get friendly with cashiers and keep it cool. Or give up and find another avenue.

iflyjetz

^ Thanks? (Not sure how to take your comment). I'll work on a single sentence full of FTspeak.

dehjli

Try www.bluebirdstatus.com. I hacked this site together for people to not only find kiosks, but also for people to report on whether the work or not... Kind of a social experiment.

littleconsumer

Nice!

livestrongforever

dont waste your time with bay area walmarts. Ive been doing this a long time so I knew when redbird went down that there was no way I was going to go to bay area walmarts. Only way is when I fly down south.

Phantom707

Nice site. May I make one minor suggestion? I would suggest making a separate entry for stores that have non-working kiosks versus stores that have no kiosks. I understand that for most people, there is no difference. However, there's a chance that a store could actually fix their machine. Again, nice site, though.

indelible

red X = not working and ? = unconfirmed?

iflyjetz

^ It would be better to simply limit the data to whether or not the store has a kiosk that can load BBs. The new kiosks permanently kill loading BBs at that location.