TravelBloggerBuzz

An eclectic journey through the Travel Miles/Points blogosphere

TBB Meetup in Brooklyn NYC, MS Manifesto & enough blog posts with the Amex Offers for You already!

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A quick post todayletting you know of a small meetup in Brooklyn NYC, a must read MS manifesto and a short rant about them Amex Offers for Us! I feel like I am mailing it in and, by golly, yes I am 🙂

 

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I am visiting Mrs. TBB’s side of the family in Brooklyn and New Jersey this weekend. Thanks to British Airways Avios points flying American Airlines Detroit to La Guardia for just 9,000 Avios points round trip #winning. I will have time to meet some friends/readers on Sunday August 10 in the evening, say around 6pm (flexible). Starbucks, Panera or dinner or bar somewhere. Like I said, I am a very flexible guy! Staying in Brooklyn near 4th Avenue and 89th street (zip is 11209). If you are around please contact me. If not, I will likely be working on Monday’s TBB Buzz post! I know it is very late notice so if nothing works out it is perfectly fine.

 

Marathon Man published at Mileage Update: “Marathon Man the MS game“, a thesis on this fragile Manufactured Spending thingie. I think it’s required reading. I am sure not everyone will agree of course, especially legions of readers at Million Mile Secrets and The Points Guy. That is their right of course. With so many blogs out there these days looking for clicks it is probably best for passionate hobbyists to preserve this craft. Bloggers selling credit cards are not your friends you passionate hobbyist by nature! TBB stands with the hobbyists! And ones who shop passionately with the handsome TBB Amazon link LOL.

 

Is it just me or is it that way too many bloggers are posting the same Amex Offers for You “deals” lately?  And most go something like this: “Buy $200 in some retailer you never heard of and you get $10 off”. These are not meant to be blog posts by themselves. We don’t care! Maybe add a line to your present blog post if you wanted to be so helpful you blogger and at least try to bug your readers with some real deal! I can understand if these are pushed by the few bloggers who still sell Amex credit cards but the rest?  Give me some real deal and don’t entice me to just keep spending on stuff I would never do in the first place! This was a direct order by my therapist to “let it all out”. She is right, it made me feel so much better!

pool happy swimming jump yes
TBB when I check the Amazon account to see a day bringing over $2 #BIGDEAL. Found here

 

TBB always says to be passionate in what you do at all times but this guy took it one tiny step over the line…

experiment science teacher professor bang
BANG! Found here

 

Hey, wait a minute. I may have a chance to finally take my first Uber ride at last! You know what’s coming right? Yep…here comes the TBB Uber affiliate link! If you are one of the few who do not have an Uber account you can take $30 off your first Uber ride! Thank you. Of course I appreciate it, how not to? I deserve to be called a pimp. Taking the Uber pimp template off now until further notice!

 

 

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Comments

  4. William Charles says

    AmEx offers aren’t interesting because of the discount they provide, but the profit they provide. E.g you buy giftcards then resell. Latest courtyard marriott deal was a $11 money maker per amex card.

    Between Serve, my regular amex cards and authorized user cards I’ll easily clear $100 for a few minutes of work. IMO, that is a “real deal”.

    • Grant says

      It’s seems like the difference between a deal and a good deal is the scalability. I also agree with George. Not everything posted under AMEX Offers for You is a “deal”. There is a reason why XYZ retailer is offering $25 to $50 statement credit. If it were a place you shopped at frequently, they would not be offering a deal to AMEX cardholders. Every so often there really is a deal like the AMEX or Home Depot offer from weeks ago.

      • William Charles says

        My general rule of thumb is that it needs to be a profit of $5/card to be worth posting about. Sometimes that is lower when there are also a significant amount of CC spend on offer as well.

        I’ll probably clear a few thousand from amex offers this year between me and my gf. I totally disagree that they aren’t worth posting about. The majority of them can be done from home/the office as well which is why I often prefer these types of deals to straight MS.

        • TravelBloggerBuzz says

          What gets me is a bad deal or two AND bloggers making a separate blog post about it. It clogs up my Feedly quite a bit and getting tired of it! And it also leads to an unrelenting marketing barrage to get people to spend more (normal people, not us)…like we needed more of such message!

          • TWA44 says

            I agree. When bloggers post about offers/big discounts with offhand comments like “everyone can find something to buy at XXX – it’s the holidays!!!!” or “follow my link and get $25 off your first purchase which is more than the usual $10!!!” my immediate reaction is a sarcastic: Why are they always sending me shopping!

            Sure, I take advantage of some of these so-called deals, but the idea that I simply mustn’t miss spending 50 or 100 bucks to save 10 – and often have to pay shipping – simply doesn’t fit how I go about making purchases.

            Amex offers work great for folks who use them to buy and resell GCs, but I expect that those folks really don’t need the points bloggers to tell them about the newest offer. I see the offers as they pop up with the latest hashtag on twitter and that’s more than enough of a head’s up for me.

            • TravelBloggerBuzz says

              I agree that you agree with me 🙂

              Same thing used to happen with mileage runs years ago. There was a lot more peer pressure to mileage run because of the mile hauls. Thank God not so much right now!

              • Elenor says

                I dunno, I mostly don’t do the AMEX Synchs — but since I DO shop at Whole Foods once a month or so, spending $75 for three gift cards and getting money (I don’t remember? $10? $25) back was worth doing. The current Bed Bath and Beyond? Probably not worth the drive — unless I WERE planning on buying curtains or something…. But, without someone mentioning it here? I’d never know it went by…

              • Kumar says

                Words of wisdom there. George, you rock my friend. Proud to read posts from such an experienced, selfless, intelligent and witty person all in one.

              • TravelBloggerBuzz says

                @ TWA44: But, by repeatedly seeing those messages, the brain cells get affected..slowly…and then you give in when it just comes to you “Oohh…it is time to replace those towels…so I will go Beth Bad and Beyond and blow $150 so I can take advantage of the $10 Amex Offer…look at me…I am so smart! If that was not happening…Amex would not do them 🙂 I am interested on Buy $X Get $x back,YEAH! And maybe a retailer I was planning to go AND spend that much. I stopped going to Whole Foods for the most part, just way too expensive….back to Trader Joes, a little further but worth it.

                @Kumar: If was just one of these things…my mother would be so proud 🙂 Thanks.

  5. Oliver2002 says

    Wandr.me has a tool that signs you up for all Amex offers via twitter automatically. Its fun! No need to read any blog 🙂

  6. Charlie says

    As one who does post some of the Amex deals, I still agree with you – to a point. 🙂 There are some deals that I will post because I feel they have the most relevance for my readers (such as eBags with $20 back on $100 matched with 15X UR points or Sports Authority). I believe that some of these offer some genuine value and you might be surprised at how many people did not know about them before they read it on the blog. Should people interested in them read the Amex offers page every day or so? Maybe, but if I do that and find something of interest, I can save others time to post about it.
    But, there are many which I think don’t merit any mention at all – like 7forallmankind, what in the world?! 🙂

  7. bk3day says

    Everyone know’s you love your Panera but this time how ’bout branching out???

    After all you’re coming to Brooklyn, hipsterville central of coffee and other foodstuff!. Albeit, Bay Ridge falls a bit below hipsterish than say..Williamsburg or Park Slope but still ya got some options.

    There’s the Little Cupcake Bakeshop, that describes itself as “the eco-conscious bakery cafe”. Going by name alone it’s hard to get more hipsterish!

    Alternatively, for old school Brooklyn, there’s always Leske’s and their black & white cookies.

    Finally, my quick Google search pulled up an outpost of the Greek cafe, Omonia. I’ve been to the one in Astoria and never knew there were others.

    fwiw, aside from the other Omonia’s, I’ve not actually visited to any of these places. After all, being a lazy Manhattan dweller, venturing across the East River is akin to going abroad. 😉 Hell, I’ve been to Greece, Italy and even Detroit more often.

    That said, I’d love to make the trek if around and now I’m even tempted to make a pit stop at David’s Brisket. 🙂

    Wherever you end up, ENJOY!

  8. Chris says

    Haha, after you read about all the great Amex sync offers on George’s favorite blogs, you can read Dariaus’s post this morning using the circles and arrows to show you how to sign up for them. What great timing!

  10. Kathy K (will run for miles) says

    I’m always late to the party. So where is the shindig going to be? I need to see my parents one day this weekend – not sure if it will be saturday or sunday but you know – if I can – I’d love to get together and see one of my favorite malakas.

  11. hdawg says

    I am down to make the small trek from NJ, let me know what works best for all. Also what time is best for everyone, I am free Sunday afternoon/evening.

  13. TWA44 says

    Bk3day said: “….there’s always Leske’s and their black & white cookies.”

    This ex-Queens girl sure wishes she could come! I still miss the black and whites from Richer’s Bakery, a little neighborhood place where my mother would send me to buy “half a seeded rye sliced thin.” I went to school with one of their kids. I expect I wasn’t the only one who liked their baked goods: the family eventually bought a place in the Hamptons!

    • TravelBloggerBuzz says

      It will be VERY hard for me to keep me away from trying out one tiny piece of baklava at that place I am thinking about going on Sunday night…but determined to do it!

  14. TWA44 says

    “According to Delta officials, every issue of Flown will include a postage-paid mail-in form that alumni can use to make a tax-deductible donation to the airline.”

    Not all that funny, but the closing line quoted above did make me laugh:
    http://www.theonion.com/articles/delta-launches-alumni-magazine-for-people-who-flew,36639/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=Pic:1:Default

    And there was this:
    “This is a great way for our alums to find out what their fellow passengers have been up to since disembarking from their flight with Delta,” editor-in-chief Sean Ericson said while showing off the inaugural issue, which he confirmed will be mailed this week to every person who has flown with the airline since its founding in 1928. “You can also keep up with our Delta family by checking out the passenger obituaries and birth announcements in our ‘Departures And Arrivals’ section.”

  15. dhammer53 says

    TBB,

    I’d meet you on Sunday, but I’m attending a memorial for the late Mike ‘cordelli’ from Flyertalk. We were good friends. He passed away last August. Let me know if you’ll be around Monday mid afternoon.

    I’d take you up on the Uber offer, but I have to get their app first.

    • TravelBloggerBuzz says

      Please say hello to his wife for me and I have had nothing but good interactions with Mike online for years. Hope she is doing better. Takes time to heal.

      We shall see what we do Monday and what time I get up and in what condition (if this meetup happens Sunday night)

  16. RAMSEY's WTF thought of the day says

    I would like to apologize for my remarks concerning Delta Points BA lithograph making him look fat. http://boardingarea.com/our-bloggers/ That is out of line and I know he is a VERY classy guy. Besides my wife says I’m a doughnut away from a cardiac myself. I would also like to thank my fellow comment poster and classy guy SteveSucks for ragging on me and Kumar. Thanks to him I have started writing the screenplay for a movie called “Ramsey and Kumar Go To White Castle” Should be in a theater near you by Christmas. Thanks SteveSucks stay classy not krassy and assy ……………..DOES Brian Cohen look like Matt Damon?……………..This gift card gig might be nearing it’s end. I just checked out of my Kroger store where I purchase 2 Visa GC with my Amex GC, the clerk who I have never seen before said, “Enjoy your miles” instead of thank you.WTF ……………..How long before RamseySucks starts posting?

    • TravelBloggerBuzz says

      That White Castle movie was great! I also liked the sequel where they go to Guantanamo…so hilarious! I think they made another one after they grew up and one of them got married and had a baby…it was a major downer comparatively speaking!

      I will finance your movies with my Amazon revenue….we’ll be RICH lol.

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