maksimfa

Oh my, the asian with child in tow... exactly what I just saw a few days ago ruining it at wally. =P

trippinbilly

I remember a few months ago at CVS, a lady was bringing up VRs to the cash. I got in line behind her and figured she was playing the game. She loaded them with less than $500 and pulled out cash to pay.

frequentflyingpenguin

Wow, bring on the feels. Have to say, I'm grateful for what I have. I'm pretty lucky.

xp0

I'd maybe get a new opinion

ceverett

For most people, it's in your 40's and 50's that you get to where you see how much every dollar counts. 50% or so discounts on travel through straight up gift card MS makes a huge difference: this year about $1,200 to me in hotel and airfare that I can use for other stuff. It's up to you whether you use more time or capital intensive techniques to lower your spend per mile.

steppie

Even a 70 year old woman had an easy time! Just started in March and the CVSs that I bought maxium VRs from all held more of them for the next day pick-up.

hamokmonky

The only time Ive ever run into a potential MSer was at OM during a GC deal, and Im not sure he was actually an MSer. He looked pretty mad I had all the $200 gcs in front of me with the cashier..... Seems there are several people that do the GC deals but not very many at all that truely MS, as Ive never seen any kind of depletion of gift cards at any of my spots, except by me of course.

I was pretty sure there were no MSers in my immediate area until CVS started to close their doors. When I went to load my serve card the cashier commented how it was weird but I was the fourth person to come in that day and they rare get that many people over the span of a couple of months. I asked if they proceeded to buy any gift cards when the serve load failed (the system was down, it was not a cash only problem) and she said no, they just left. Thats when I knew they were not true MSers...

Also, I agree it seems easier for a female to pick up gift cards, I have an easier time than my husband. I've picked up 5K+ at the same time at OM before without filling out any forms (all transactions were sub-2K). I think that might stem from the fact that females tend to be a lot friendlier and chatty with the cashiers and the cashiers dont find that weird. When a male is chatty its suspicious Started MSing in my late 20s, wish I had known about it before....

nrdk

Definitely MSer in my area, although never met him. Smaller town in Midwest (200k), however my Staples and OM run out of VGC too often for there not to be another :lol: And had a bit of a chat with a manager I like at Staples about it as well, mentioned there's another guy "doing the same thing I'm doing" in the area.

Also noticed a run on VR at my local CVS last week so definitely someone lurking around.

cdancer20

I stand by my opinion lol. While yes there are always exceptions to the rule, I still think that most are older and I am sure that there are a lot of 20-something year olds around here. I know that when I was 25, I was JUST getting on my feet and not getting credit card approvals half as fast as I am now. And I have college friends that could never afford to play these games. But to each his own

Omnipotent

Flying around the world for free. Ahh the dream!

the_jaguar

I have encountered a few MS'ers in the bay area and many of them seem to be in the 20's or 30's. While, I understand the general logic behind the assumption of MS'ers being in the mid 40's/50's in most of the country, I think both coasts (east and west) tend to have younger folks in the game, primarily due to the increased compensation levels (Tech in the bay area, Finance in NYC)...

goober153

Out in the IE the CVS's were pretty stocked but I would always notice "bread crumbs" ie VR's behind other gift cards, or all the $200 GC gone at OD/OM during promo's. I have never seen anyone though, who's out here with me?!

hitman1420

I always think it's awesome seeing the diversity of people who MS. I hope I'm able to keep up with $$ saving techniques if I get to be as experienced as you.

jiffyjiff

This morning I had a reliable CSR at one of my 4 WM's tell me "you must work for the same company that those other guys do, buying these money orders for $999.30"



Last night at the same WM, the kiosk (which IS working) had the security prompt because it had exceeded the limit of $500 loads to BB's

trippinbilly

At 25 (almost 25 years ago), I was running a restaurant, working about 70 hours per week and had my first child on the way. No way I would've had the time or energy to do any of this, regardless of income/credit score. I work a lot less now and the kids are grown, so this has been a nice way to do some traveling. Off to San Francisco for 10 days on Friday.