Three hits and a miss

Alas, the first hit got pulled back today, as the Audience Rewards show that I bought (Brass something-or-other) got cancelled.  Of course, no one bothered to tell me, so I didn't find out until I called.  Good thing that I did.  For now, I'm going to see what happens with the trivia points, but I have a feeling I'll be buying another ticket.

The plus side is that I got two cheapos and a potential cheapo.  I bought my wife a teddy bear on FTD (With the romantic message, ""Happy birthday! You're worth every one of the 650 miles (and 93 Starwood points) I earned from ordering this!") and some flowers on Teleflora.  Total cost?  -$15.16.  Negative?  How did I pull that off?  Well, it turns out that what I bought her this year is a grand total of $15.16 less than the cost of the flowers I would have bought her locally.  Hey, those costs work both ways.

Vinesse could be an issue.  FTer dsquared37 turned me on to a wine chiller, which cost me $10.70, after $.75 shipping (versus the free shipping that others seem to have gotten).  There is still some controversy over whether a non-subscription is good for miles and, therefore, a hit.  The T&C on Vinesse's website may or may not indicate that a wine purchase is required.  Of course, those T&C are also from 2009, so take it for what it's worth.  If it does come through, it's a cheap hit for a wine chiller that I will never use for the wine that I don't drink.

Office Max is working! Hit #20

Thanks to the folks who kept on the companies to get the Office Max link working.  I've needed a new calculator, so the cost of the calculator didn't count against my total, although the shipping did.  Total cost for the hit was $7.98.

Since this was hit #20, I hit another step and reduced my cost per mile to $.008.  Not near my target of $.005, but still not terrible.

Hit #19 and some mild disappointment

Hit #19 goes to DM shopping, which is one of the ultra-cheap hits.  I bought a couple of songs through the itunes link which I was planning to buy anyway, so that's a freebie hit for me.  The problem is that I often have trouble getting credited for itunes downloads through affiliate sites, so I'll have to keep an eye on this one.

We've now reached that stage in the promo where I get disappointed if my balance doesn't change overnight.  Not a big deal, but I've done enough hits that I expect to see more miles each day when I wake up.  Still, I'm doing my hits earlier this year than I did previously, so it'll give me more time to watch and wait.

An oldie but goodie: Track it Back makes hit #18

Lucky #18 and the half-way point belongs to Track it Back, a company that produces little stickers that you can put on the back of electronic goods so that people can return them if you lose them.  TiB is best known in FF circles, however, as  the guys who were offering 40 miles per dollar while US was doing a 250% partner bonus promo, allowing scores of frequent flyers to earn 140 miles per dollar spent.  Ah, the good ol' days.  $24.57 for a sticker gives them a great profit margin and me another hit.  That includes the world's most expensive shipping envelope at $4.99.

SkyMall and my Wyndham points conversion were kind enough to post last night, giving me nine veritable hits.

Five more hits, but don't forget that "apply" button

Took a big hit today for $70, with a Wyndham transfer.  I have a feeling that I'm going to discover that this one is not worth the money in the end, but if I'm stuck at 36 hits, I'll be okay with it.  I traded Marriott points with another FTer for it.


Spent 500 US miles for Fast Company magazine.  I could have done Sunset for 400 miles, but there's a chance I'll actually read FM.

Other hits: Thanksagain got me a restaurant.com cert.  Use promo code Savor for 80% off.  FTer Heffa was kind enough to offer to check a bunch of us in at Super Shuttle, so that was another hit. Finally, some $.99 batteries at SkyMall got me a hit.  I hope they give credit for hits under $1, but at three miles per hit, they'll owe me at least two miles. 

The "Apply" button came into effect twice today.  For Restaurant.com, when you enter the promo code, you have to hit "Apply" to get it to take.  For SkyMall, you have to hit the button after you enter your US number.  Don't leave it out.

I'm now at 13 hits and running at $.008-.009 per hit.  Good, but not great.  That Wyndham hit is going to end up costing me, although I may be valuing Marriott points that aren't going to get used effectively.  I keep finding cheap hits that I had missed previously, so all is good for now.  Hopefully, as the number of miles goes up, I'll be able to keep the costs down.

Seven hits today...

The good news is, I did seven hits today.  If all eight credit (and they should, since none of them is a "controversial" hit), that's 10,000 miles at just under 0.6 per mile.

Biscoff: Anna's sampler for $8.47, plus $5.00 in shipping (subtracting out $.40 for the value of the SPG points I earned on my credit card).  See Beltway's thread (the link is in a previous post) for the cheapest hit.

1-800-FLOWERS was also kind enough to sell me a set of Pierced Ribbon Votives.  I have no idea what they are, but they could be elephant dung (I'm pretty sure they're not.) and I would have taken the hit for $13.99.  Beltway's thread.  Edited to Add: There is at least one post in the FT thread where 1800F posted the hit for a date before the promo began, even though it was ordered after the promo.  I'd wait a week on this one.

I have my Visa Debit card from last year and that got me a free hit today.  It counts as free if I am purchasing something that I would have purchased otherwise, since there is no additional outlay.

I gave in and did my first hotel transfer, as well.  850 SPG points became 850 miles, which is a net loss based on 3c per mile.  A $25.50 hit this early in the game hurts, but I'm pretty sure that I would have needed this one to push me over the top, anyway.

Freebies:

Here's where it gets good: I got three free hits (well, virtually free, anyway).

1) I downloaded the US Airways Toolbar and did three searches to earn a mile.  Possibly the easiest hit in the history of this promotion.

2) I used Points.com to transfer four AA miles into a US mile.  I value AA miles at two cents each, so that was an $.08 hit.

3) I transferred my e-Rewards into US Airways miles.  No cost there.  The thread I linked to describes both the e-Rewards and e-Miles programs.

Tomorrow gets more difficult.  I got through the easy stuff and will have to start making decisions about which hits to take chances on (Will DFW SuperShuttle give points for a no-show again?) and which ones are worth the cash.

Cheapest hits in the "other" category...

Flyertalk member Beltway has taken on the thankless task of keeping track of the cheapest hits in the "other" category, which is essentially anything not related to hotels, cars transfers of miles.  This list can literally change minute by minute, so please check often for the best deals.  This list is essential in keeping down your cents per hit.