I was thinking about it. Since most of my stays are reimbursed I generally end up with a decent amount of points. I was looking at the MR Reward Mall and thinking about using my points for one of the new iPad's. It's a horrible waste of points compared to what I could get with the hotel's, but I am not sure when I will be able to use all of my points.

Got the Southwest card for 50K, then we decided to have a baby, and that slowed our travel/budget down. Cashed out 50K for $500 Best Buy towards an iPad. So the Southwest card only netted around $400 value, but without it, we wouldn't have an iPad. I'd still do it again.

Several years ago I redeemed some HHonors points for a pair of Bose QC3 Headphones. I knew it was not the best value for the points. But those headphones were pretty pricy at the time and I had/have more points with them then I could burn for leisure travel anytime soon.

I know someone who cashed out their MR points for 4 iPads for the family. I chringed a little bit thinking of the wasted value...

Wall Street Journal subscriptions are almost ALWAYS cheaper with miles than by paying cash for them. Alas, they don't seem to include digital subscriptions, which is how many of us (including me) increasingly prefer to read the paper.

It is a shame that there are no merchandise deals with miles/points. You might think this would be a way for a manufacturer to get rid of excess inventory without having to lower the retail price. It would also generate interest in the credit card program, too. Alas, it doesn't seem to happen.

It also seems to always be a better idea to buy gift cards than merchandise with cc points. Like if you're accumulating Thank You points from Citi, your best redemption is airfare because your points are worth 33% more. But if you don't need more air travel, getting gift cards to buy your own merchandise always seems to result in a better deal.

only during mistake prices - in november there was a samsung tablet for 16,000 instead of 76,000 points.

Right after my kids were born my travel came to a screeching halt and my wife was all over me to fund their college savings accounts before making any "fun" purchases. I used a bunch of UA points to buy a Harman Kardon surround sound system. I'm guessing it was around 50k miles... I actually don't regret doing it as I have gotten hours of use and happiness from the system that I probably wouldn't otherwise have.

I wouldn't make that choice today now that my kids are older and we are traveling again. But I also have no regret for the choice I made 6 years ago.

Back in 2008 after the market collapse, I was really tight for money and my TV went out. It was late November, and Marriott Rewards had a black Friday sale going on. My company was laying off almost half the workforce, and I needed to keep the cash in savings. If I felt comfortable spending the money, I would have just bought the TV. But that wasn't really an option at that point. I ended up spending around 200k MR points.

The good news is that the HDTV is still working and mounted over my fireplace! In hindsight, I was not laid off and if I could change my decision I would. But at the time I made the best decision I could with the information I had available.

I'm not one to hoard points, but I do have one regret. About six years ago, before I'd even heard of FlyerTalk, I blew a bunch of Membership Rewards on a Tumi messenger bag. Really sturdy bag, but still.

In 2011 I used about 14,000 SkyMiles to get a Bodum coffee grinder, and put about 70,000 more toward gift cards, before the redemption price of those skyrocketed. A friend used his SkyMiles on a vacuum cleaner and a mixer.

I've used miles for Economist subscriptions before.

At one point I think I also used something like 400 Midwest Miles for a year's worth of Wired.

My biggest problem isn't so much the stated value the airlines/hotels put to their miles in the catalog. I know it's not going to be high...the target audience is clearly someone with millions of points/miles who doesn't have any use for another night in a hotel or on a plane. For them, it's a nice addition to the program. My biggest problem is that by the time the catalog arrives at my door, it's all old merchandise. That "new" set of Callaway golf clubs that the airline/hotel claims retails for $899 is now available everywhere for $500. The $1999 plasma TV is now sitting at Costco for $1200. Etc...

If there was a way to redeem miles for even the 1 cent range, with the prices for the merch actually plugged in to what's currently taking place on Amazon, at Costco, or at other online retailers, then I'd think it's more of a fair game.

No, Flyertalkers don't like getting 1cpm, but if I had millions of miles I might consider it every now and then.

I got into the miles/points game in the past 2-3 years and only seriously in the last 12 months as work travel increased. I jumped on the Amex Biz Gold for 75K points a month or two back but am having trouble figuring out how best to use the MR points. Not easy as AS and UA are my primary airlines AND vacation travel will decrease with another kid on the way. We were just at Home Depot this weekend looking at a refrigerator for the garage. If I was going to spend $500-$750 in cash on a frigde, why not use the MR points that I got for free? While not a business class ticket to another continent, it is still a free $750.

They are your points. $750 is a good haul for one hard pull and a little bit of spend, assuming your annual fee was waived for the first year. If it wasn't, then your real haul is closer to $600. If there were an efficient marketplace for points and it were within the terms, you'd do better because many of us feel we can get better than 1 cent per point and thus would pay that, at least, for Amex points. But, in the absence of such, you really have to do what's right for you.

It also depends on whether you plant to keep accumulating points and miles. The bottom line is that 75,000 Amex isn't, standing alone, worth all that much. You need more, or to combine them with other points, to start getting higher values. If you had another 25,000, then you start to be in the neighborhood of premium class international round trip travel or coach travel for two.

Just don't get caught in the switches. If $750 is what you want to use a sign up bonus for, that's great. But the math gets way different if you're using points you accumulated on credit card spending that way. Unless you're getting bonus categories, it might be better just to get a good cash back card.

You're absolutely right. I'll end up with close to 100K MR points (forgot about spend and bonus cats), fee waived, for spending $10K. With my programs (AS, UA, HH), MR doesn't seem to convert at a great ratio.

And as you said, ~100K is necessary for ONE(1) premium class int'l ticket but vacation travel will decrease for us in the near term. With life as hectic as it is, I'm on the fence about how much time and work to put into finding the reward flights and transferring points between several programs for that aspirational award (my miles/point bank has grown but is not overflowing). It is far easier to redeem within programs (HH points for hotel stay) or in this case, for a gift card.

While a better value can be had than a 1 point / 1 cent and I still have a quite a bit to learn, it is still free $$$. Additionally, with the overall devaluation of loyalty programs, both air and hotel, I'm leaning toward 'take the money and run,' i.e. burn miles and points for travel now and those I can't, merchandise. Thank you for your insight!

This should go here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...oining-ft.html

Ouch!