US PostOffice and buying miles cheaply
 

I just thought of something...If you were to purchase a money order from the US Post Office for say $3,000. Are you allowed to put this on a credit card? If you could this would be a real cheap way to accumulate miles fast for a few dollars, not to mention free money earning interest.

The thought of buying $3,000 worth of Money Orders from the Post office with an Amex card that gets 2 miles per $,Then moving the 6,000 MR Points into Continental, which gets me 12,000 Hilton Honors Points is a wonderful thought. Anyone know if this works?

Might be charged as a cash advance, therefore not earn MRP and begin charging you intrest from the time of purchase. I would e-mail/call AE to check though.

Sorry chap, I can tell you with 100% confidence that this does not work, the USPS will not allow you to pay by credit card. I have tried many times. Cash or debit only.

I wonder, if we looked around, if one of the more sketchy money order services would do it.

clarify - they will not let you pay for a MONEY ORDER with a credit card. for any other purchases they of course accept credit cards.

I understood that the BofA USAir DM check cards had been generating miles for USPS MO purchases. I'm waiting to see if it still works or whether they plugged that one too. Still, the best deal out there is still Charter One, as they are showing up as a purchase.

As far as I know, the Bank of America hole was plugged for USPS Money Order purchases as well.

Mike

USPS made a mistake once last week
 

I was able to purchase a money order using my credit card last week. I always used my Delta skymiles card at USPS as I get double miles and I didnt know it was not allowed for money orders.

Anyway, transaction made and I leave without thinking twice.

I had to purchase another money order a few days after that and this time, the alert person behind the counter told me that someone has made a mistake the previous time.

I believe there have been several threads on this in MilesBuzz over the years.

Concensus seems to be that while it occasionally happens; it is not supposed to. And it is normally considered a cash advance.

Search in MilesBuzz.... which is where this thread probably should have been posted.

William

As this thread is not about a mileage run, but rather other creative ways to potentially earn miles and/or points, I'm going to move it to MilesBuzz. Please continue to follow it there.

Thanks!

Dave, a.k.a. dmfriedman
Moderator, Mileage Run

Not to be mean-spirited, but in theory you could 700 miles for the mo fee (I think lees than a buck. You could then cash the mo back to your account and so on and so on. That's why only cash for cash instruments.

So I wonder if I could use my Citi/AA debit card?

Does anyone know if this loophole has been plugged in the UK?

OK, so if we can buy US stamps with a credit card with no surcharge fee how do we convert stamps back into cash?

Does the USPS give refunds? Can I walk into a post office with a roll of stamps and say "I want my money back"? You shouldn't have to show a receipt since they are the only ones who sells them and the price is fixed nationwide. Hmmmm?

If ever I could think of a good justification for a USPS worker to "go postal", it would be them dealing with having to count out $1000 worth of stamps that someone wants a refund for. :eek: Sounds risky to me... :p

peace,
~Ben~

The USPS does not give refunds on stamps.