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.

In the UK stamps are legal tendar so I take it they have to give refunds.

Having watching "The Office" on BBC America, I can confirm this. See below:

David: “In fact, a postage stamp is legal tender. A bus driver would have to accept that as currency.”
Tim: “Yeah, that’d happen.”
David: “Well, if he doesn’t, report him.”
Tim: “Yeah, I’ll report him while I’m walking home.”
Gareth: “Get a taxi, if you’ve got enough stamps.”
Dawn: “or cash ‘em in at the Post Office.”
David: “Shouldn’t have to. Shouldn’t have to.”

David, Tim, & Gareth (Series 1 Episode 4)

However, being legal tender, wouldn't purchasing them be a cash advance charge since they are, in fact, cash instruments?

peace,
~Ben~

Our local drugstore sells stamps at face value as a courtesy to its customers. So, if you own a business, you could sell stamps to your customers as a courtesy at face value.

Buy the stamps at the post office with a credit card, collect the miles, and sell them to your customers for cash.

But it would still be treated as a cash advance and therefore a losing proposition.

peace,
~Ben~

No. I buy stamps at the post office using a credit card (Citibank AAdvantage) all the time, for years. Always a normal credit charge, not debit nor cash advance purchase. No doubt about it. I guess, technically you are purchase a "service".

D'oh - yeah sorry. I was all mixed up there. My bad. :rolleyes:

peace,
~Ben~

True, though they're having second thoughts about that as well, apparently, and are trying to persuade heavier mailers (e.g. Internet postage users, like eBay sellers) to switch to account debits. Seems like everyone's trying to do an end run around credit card companies that way.

eBay's annual report can make for interesting reading. It says that PayPal would be hurt badly if it couldn't do credit card transactions, but they try hard once you're signed up to get you not to use credit cards.

You would hvae to buy an insane amount of stamps to make this worthwhile. Way too much hassle. Just keep buying charterone giftcards, friends. :)

I just checked my USAir account statement and I received miles for a MO purchased at the USPS last month using a BofA USAir DM debit card. Only 1 mile/$2 spent and a 90cent fee for 82 miles. I didn't buy anything but the MO and it was a PIN transaction. I'll do it again this month.

BofA closed this debit card mileage earning opportunity in January 2004 and Chase just put the brakes on it this month.

Stamps are technically a tax, not a product or service. The postal service is "free" so long as the user pays the tax to mail the letter. Ahh, semantics and the government!