Yeah he’s essentially a thief, stealing $5 from the register every time he buys a $100 gift card. And it’s not like he was desperate for the money.
Why is it equivalent to stealing $5 from the register? Doesn’t American Express pay the rewards? The store gets the money from selling the gift card, and then has to pay for the american express transaction. I don’t know what that is, but it isn’t actually 5% is it?
I guess you could argue that the AMEX rewards are actually taken from the merchant through network fees and that the elimination of credit card rewards would result in lower network fees for merchants, hypothetically putting more money into their register, but I think that’s a stretch.
Based on my understanding of capitalism, I wouldn’t expect AMEX to lower their fees because they eliminated credit card rewards.
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AMEX moon confirmed
I had heard about their merchant fees being high and I thought they were something like 5%, but I appear to be mistaken. I didn’t realize they would be willing to give more cash back than they make from a cardholder’s transactions. Are they relying on you not spending enough to compensate for the annual fee? Or to pay interest rather than paying the full bill each cycle?
So maybe the grocers were making a profit on his purchases, idk. If so, then the physicist guy was only stealing from Amex.
Yeah, I don’t have any feel bad for people taking advantage of credit card company rewards. I’m sure they make plenty with their almost 25% interest rates and late charges.
I have tons of miles on cards from using them for introductory rates and rewards and then cancelling the card before the renewal fee hits.
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https://ns.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/lxvjxv/banneddiscontinued_book_investing/
Discontinued Dr Seuss books are selling for hundreds of dollars.
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riverman curse always good
It’s mainly this. Also, some cards will pay say 1% cash back on most transactions and then give additional cash back on certain purchases (travel, groceries, gas, etc.). In that case, I think they’re hoping that the “bonus” categories will be the thing that encourages a customer to pick their card (vs. a card from a different bank), put all of their spending on that card, and the overall mix of spending can produce a profitable result for the bank. There are people who have multiple cards so that they can always use the most profitable card for every purchase, but not every customer is willing or able to do that…
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I’ve taken to just using one card pretty much all the time, unless I"m trying to fulfill a reward qualification on a new card.
we’ve settled on just using the costco credit card for everything. We got $1200 back from our spend last year, plus the 7 or 800 we got back direct from costco.
Wouldn’t this argument also suggest that getting x% cash back from your credit card issuer on purchases would also be taxable income?
I think this is probably the best strategy for most people (especially families where one person might be tempted to oversee the others’ card choices in order to get max value). The mental bandwidth required just to eke out an extra 1 or 2 percent probably isn’t worth it unless you are spending a ton of money or you just really enjoy studying the stuff.
so DFV’s double down on shares at $40 has now 5xed
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Yeah, I don’t have the bandwidth to try to keep track of which card has which category on special that month. I also don’t like to carry a bunch of cards. I only carry two.
Gift cards in general are a scam imo. So even if the merchant is losing some, I wouldn’t feel too bad about it.
Also, if you spend any money on Amazon, the Amazon visa is a no brainier for 5% back.
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No, the difference is that you never resell most things you buy with a credit card. But if you buy a commemorative gold coin for $100 invoice price with 5% cash back, then you sell it for $105, you pay tax on $10 of gain, and no one would dispute that. But if you sell it for $95, or you just need it forever, then no tax. And if you buy a new couch, it really doesn’t matter whether you paid $100 or $95, because you’re never going to care what your investment in the couch is for tax purposes.
Are we gonna see another GME rocket today? Up near 215 in pre-market. I feel like the only options are 300+ or like 150.
Edit: probably both in one day imo
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It’s higher than when I sold to cut my losses like the paper handed bitch I am
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I admit, I never thought we’d see a second surge. I thought for sure the squeeze had been squoze. I’ve got a buddy who put tens of thousands into it, rode it all the way up and all the way back down, and ended up selling for a small loss around $90 I think. He’s kicking himself now but I’m trying to tell him that there’s a 0% chance he would have held all the way down to $40 and that selling was the right decision at the time.