Manufactured Spending has been on life support for the last few years. Gone are the days of double/triple stacking and converting visa gift cards into money orders. For many in the Miles and Points game, manufactured spending has mostly dried up. For me personally, I’ve shifted away from M.S. and focused on creating consistent spending strategies through various channels. I think M.S. used to be a goldmine, but like all great things the end is inevitable. Here’s what works/doesn’t work. Your Miles Might Vary YMMV!
Visa/Mastercard Gift Cards to Money Orders
I’ve never had any luck with converting such gift cards to money orders. While this method still works in a handful of areas, this method is going to be a non-starter. In most urban areas, it is all but impossible to buy money orders with gift cards. I don’t even know if there’s a single Walmart where you can get away with this method.
This was once a gold mine for easy points, but as the saying goes, all good things must end.
Gift Card Reselling
Still a plausible method but teetering on life support. Gift Card reselling carries a good amount of risk and some notable sites have shut down in recent years. Gift cards can still be had at discounted rates from various apps such as Raise, Pepper, and more. If you can find an avenue for swapping discounted gift cards for cash, this could be a plausible option. I would tread lightly and only keep the amounts something minimal.
Overpaying Taxes
If you got a lot of capital, you can overpay your taxes via credit card and get the rest refunded. I’m not a huge fan of this method, but if you’re trying to hit the signup bonus of a card during tax season, this could be worth it. Making tax payments via a credit card incurs a 1.87% fee which is not bad especially on a card that earns 1x or 1.5x.
Pay Bills with Credit Card using Plastiq or Similar Service
If you’re in a pinch, there are several platforms that allow you to pay bills using your credit card. Fees are generally decently high and I’m not a huge fan of paying giant fees. I believe this method is only great if you’re in a tight pinch.
Final Thoughts
Manufacturing spend is all but dead! There’s lots of older reddit post and threads, but lately I think times have simply change? What do you think?
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