Snail Mail Offers
I receive a ton of junk offers from various loyalty programs and banks. While once in awhile an offer is a gem, more often than not these turn out to be duds. Still, occasionally I find something great and more often something good. I thought it might be interesting to share some of the offers that have hit my mailbox over the past week.
0% Offers on Chase Freedom & ThankYou Preferred
I am used to getting cash advance checks from both Barclaycard and U.S. Bank on a regular basis, however this is the first time in awhile Citi and Chase have offered them. Interestingly both offers have 0% APR through June, 2017. I wonder if one bank is copying the other. Of course I don’t carry any debt and HIGHLY suggest that no one does. The catch with these offers is the 3% balance transfer fee.
Verdict: PASS
Magazines for La Quinta Points
A couple of years ago now La Quinta had a fun promotion where my family and I won thousands of points. Last year I was able to get La Quinta to extend the expiration on those points, but I still haven’t used them. Apparently they must want to get me off of their books, because MagsforPoints sent me a generous offer to cash in my points for magazines!
I generally don’t read magazines so this offer doesn’t have much value, but it is a good reminder that I need to figure out something to do with those points. Thankfully I still have until next April to do something. Maybe I can get La Quinta to extend them again?
Verdict: PASS
Banana Republic 3X Everywhere
I have covered the Banana Republic Visa card quite a few times on Miles to Memories. This card is well known for generous offers, however this isn’t one of them. I have received 5X offers before, but this one at 3X just isn’t good enough. Since purchases earn Banana Republic and since Banana Republic gift cards can almost always be bought at 20-25% off face value, this doesn’t amount to 3% cash back. I would rather earn with a cashback card.
With that said, the card may not be shelved completely. I am trying to decide a strategy of how much to use it to ensure I get better offers. Is it better not to use it at all, or does it payoff to use it quite a lot? The jury is still out on that one, but I hope to get 5X everywhere soon!
Verdict: Close but no cigar!
Amazon & Jet.com Discount Offers
Ah shopping. To be honest I don’t love to do it all that often unless of course I plan to sell the item to someone else. This week I have received two discount offers via physical mail.
- Jet.com: 15% off my next 3 orders up to a $25 discount per order.
- Amazon.com: 20% off an order of $100+ of shoes, clothing, watches, and luggage.
As you probably can tell, the Jet.com is the winner of this entire group. A $25 discount can make or break an opportunity. It can be the difference between a good deal and a great one. I do think that I’ll be keeping a close eye on Jet.com. As for Amazon, I’m simply not interested in those categories.
Verdict: Jet = yes Amazon= no
Conclusion
While I try to share the very best of the offers I receive, I do also spend time looking and analyzing some of the marginal deals too. The truth is if you want to get the great offers you have to opt-in for the bad ones. Thankfully this week’s mail brought a nice Jet.com offer which should put $75 in my pocket. That makes it all worth it.
Have you received any really good or really bad offers via mail lately? Share the details in the comments!
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That amazon offer is horrible. They limit which brands of clothes, shoes, etc. that you’re better off buying the ones that don’t qualify for the 20%
I used to exchange La Quinta points on Points.com. They still can be exchanged for VX Elevate or AC Aeroplan miles.
Yes I think I looked into this before. Definitely worth getting a few points instead of letting them expire.
I read where you said you have no use of the categories on Amazon. Would you be okay with sharing the code with me and I can use it? Thank you.
Oh man, I get so many bad offers all the time. Some of them are ridic! But like you said, you have to take the bad to get to the good.
I’m actually kind of fascinated by terrible deals – who falls for them?!
I was an early Jet customer and quite happy until the service went public. Now I can’t reorder various items and those available have gone up in price. I do have a $20 credit, which came about due to Jet sending me an extra bag of wild rice. The company took at least a $50 lost on that screw-up.
I have two Jet.com accounts. One I use and one I opened to get the new member bonus and have not used since. The one I use all the time never gets these offers but the one I don’t use has gotten the 15% off your next 3 orders twice. Interestingly, in the past I have been able to use the code given to my secondary account on my primary account.