@mrsguin Hard to believe its only been a month. Seems like a distant memory in part because of the folks here keeping the community alive. Thanks Russ and all the mods!

@fivetalents said in Should be easy math question but I don't know how to do it.:

@meed18 said in Should be easy math question but I don't know how to do it.:

If you have a 5% card for use at office supply stores, why don’t you have a 2% card for non-category spend?

Also, are you 100% sure you can use a Best Buy gift card to buy a different gift card. Nearly every time I’ve tried something like that with a store gift card, they tell me I can’t buy another gift card.

I think Best Buy is one of the few remaining exceptions: I recently used a $50 Best Buy GC to purchase a $50 Whole Foods GC in store.

Sears/Kmart is another one. I’ve purchased Staples, Amazon, Panera, Shell, etc at KM using Sears gift cards.

@meed18 Unless things have changed recently you can buy 3rd party gc at BB using BB gc and nobody blinks an eye.

I get 2% on gas on Amex but not sure going that route saves me more than its worth to have to go to WM to cash out the prepaids.

Other times I’ve paid for the BB gc at Rite Aid using 1% cc then gone to BB and bought gas gc.
In the past when I bought them the discount/PP offer at RA was 20%. Now its only 16%.

I don’t pay attention to the cc% for gas because usually I’m paying with a gc that I got at more than 10% discount vs. only 2% on cc.

@george2001 Most stores have a plastic “tower” into which folks dump batteries to be recycled. The first year I looked in the tower and found an old iPod. Pulled it out of the recycling tower and took it to the register.

This isn’t for the faint of heart
The tower is about 4" high so I ended up lying it on the ground and shaking it to get the iPod.
Last night I checked to see what they had. Only thing that wasn’t a battery looked like a sound card. I could have used it but decided to hunt for an old usb first.

@bigbadandmean Thanks for confirming my math.
Next question… alternative is to buy money orders with the prepaid cards and deposit them in my checking account. Then buy Best Buy gc using my usual credit card.

In comparison, I’d pay 0.035% (70¢) to convert each prepaid to money order.
I’d be charging the BB gc on a cc that only gives me 1% back.
Not to mention time to go to Walmart where I only go to buy m.o.
Thinking I should stick to using the prepaids at RA instead of my cc.

@bigbadandmean Its $16 per $100 and $5 per $100. So why not 21%?

I should know how to do this but I don’t.

I purchased $400 in prepaid visa gift cards at Staples. Rebate covers the activation fee. Earning 5% back on my Chase Ink credit card, $20.

I’m going to use the $400 visa to buy $400 in Best Buy gift cards at Rite Aid this week. Earn 1600 PP ($16) for $100 in BB gc. So 16% bonus.

I’m going to buy $400 in Mobil gas gc at Best Buy.
What is my discount on gas? Is it 21%?
Am I getting a $100 gas gc for $79?

Then if gas is $2.50/gallon, how much am I effectively paying per gallon? $1.975?

I earn 1% back in Plenti points or other bonuses when I buy gas which is trivial but it works out to a few cents less per tank.

thanks.