Through 31 March 2012 ("or while promotional funds last"), Discover Card is offering free 1-day shipping on "select items" purchased at Amazon.com. Details are currently available online at http://amazon.com/discfreeship and that page lists the details and provides access to some of the items eligible for this promotion. The Promo Code to use is DSCVRSHP. The instructions to follow for taking advantage of this offer are all listed at the top of the page at http://amazon.com/discfreeship.
Showing posts with label Deals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deals. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Saturday, November 5, 2011
The Growing Virtues of Amazon Prime
Amazon's recent unveiling of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library adds greater value to Amazon Prime. Although there are limitations such as the six biggest publishers not being involved and only Kindle devices supporting it, this is a nice benefit to add to Amazon Prime membership beyond previously available benefits such as free two-day shipping, discounted one-day shipping, and free streaming of select movies and television shows.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Discover Cash Over
One of the great (and I think often unappreciated or misunderstood or even feared) benefits of the Discover Card is the Discover Cash Over benefit (not to be confused with Discover Card's much better known Cashback Bonus benefit). As the web page focused on this benefit currently states, a card holder can "get cash over your purchases and save time and money." The page adds, "Take care of two errands at once. And pay no fee."
I find this benefit better than using an ATM. There are no fees and it can be used while shopping at one of numerous participating stores. The page advertises these benefits: "Avoid fees - No transaction fee. No ATM fee. No bank fee." The page also points out that the "cash over" counts as a normal purchase. Thus, if you request $20 cash over (amounts available are typically in $20 increments), it is as if you purchased an additional item at that store for $20.
Not every merchant that accepts Discover Card as payment participates in the Cash Over benefit. The list of participating merchants is available on the benefit's page. At the time of this writing, these participating merchants include Kroger (King Soopers and City Market in Colorado) and Wal-Mart.
There are no fees associated with this benefit, but it is important to keep in mind that carrying a balance (not paying it off each month) means paying interest on the cash over just as interest is paid on the purchase price of goods and services. If you do pay off your Discover Card balance each month, this service is totally free!
This is a very convenient benefit of the Discover Card. It is handy to be able to make purchases and access cash in a single stop without paying any banking fees. It is actually easier than using an ATM machine if you're going to purchase items at one of the participating merchants anyway. With some big banks starting to increase fees for debit card use, this benefit might look even more attractive.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Why I Like NetFlix
I have used NetFlix since 2004 and have been very happy with the service. In this blog post, I briefly look at some things NetFlix has done to keep my business.
The Model
One of the things that I have been happy about with NetFlix is its model. This was what attracted me to sign up for the service in the first place and it continues to meet my needs well. Being able to create a queue of movies to see and have them mailed directly to my home is convenient. It was so nice to be freed from the burden of standing in line at Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, or other video store outlet. It was also a welcome relief to have such easy access to such a wide variety of movie titles without the limitation of the physical size of a store. There is no question that the NetFlix model, combined with the Redbox concept and the relatively cheap availability of DVDs and Blu-ray discs, has led to the downfall of the brick-and-mortar video stores. There are few businesses I know of that had abused their own customers as much as these stores, so I think many of us are glad to see them going away.
In recent years, NetFlix has demonstrated a commitment to providing modern convenience in movie access. The availability of a subset of their movie inventory via streaming on Wii, PlayStation 3, and select Blu-ray players is their latest effort to improve an already convenient model for accessing movies. Not all movies in their inventory are available for streaming, so I find myself using a combination of discs by mail and streaming. It is nice to know, though, that NetFlix is continuing to make movies available in a modern, convenient manner.
Automatic Price Reduction
Years ago, I received an e-mail message from NetFlix stating that they were lowering my automatically charged monthly subscription fee because they were offering the lower monthly subscription fee to new customers. How many providers of a monthly service have ever done that for you? I cannot think of another. Whether it be long-distance in the old days, cable or satellite service, cellular telephone service, or any other such service, it has always seemed to be that a current customer had to threaten or actually quit the service to get the reduced rates offered to new customers. I didn't have to do this with NetFlix.
The Bonus Discs
Something NetFlix has recently done is to provide a fourth disc to have at home (I'm on the three-at-a-time plan) more than once. This was not the most significant reason to me for staying with NetFlix, but it is another small thing to add to the reasons why I've been a satisfied customer of NetFlix for many years.
Conclusion
There are many reasons to like NetFlix. Their service is convenient, relatively economical (especially when considering the streaming at no extra charge), and provides easy access to a wide library of movies. It has also been refreshing to deal with a company like NetFlix which seems to understand that the secret to keeping customers even when the customers have competitive alternatives is to do the little things correctly.
The Model
One of the things that I have been happy about with NetFlix is its model. This was what attracted me to sign up for the service in the first place and it continues to meet my needs well. Being able to create a queue of movies to see and have them mailed directly to my home is convenient. It was so nice to be freed from the burden of standing in line at Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, or other video store outlet. It was also a welcome relief to have such easy access to such a wide variety of movie titles without the limitation of the physical size of a store. There is no question that the NetFlix model, combined with the Redbox concept and the relatively cheap availability of DVDs and Blu-ray discs, has led to the downfall of the brick-and-mortar video stores. There are few businesses I know of that had abused their own customers as much as these stores, so I think many of us are glad to see them going away.
In recent years, NetFlix has demonstrated a commitment to providing modern convenience in movie access. The availability of a subset of their movie inventory via streaming on Wii, PlayStation 3, and select Blu-ray players is their latest effort to improve an already convenient model for accessing movies. Not all movies in their inventory are available for streaming, so I find myself using a combination of discs by mail and streaming. It is nice to know, though, that NetFlix is continuing to make movies available in a modern, convenient manner.
Automatic Price Reduction
Years ago, I received an e-mail message from NetFlix stating that they were lowering my automatically charged monthly subscription fee because they were offering the lower monthly subscription fee to new customers. How many providers of a monthly service have ever done that for you? I cannot think of another. Whether it be long-distance in the old days, cable or satellite service, cellular telephone service, or any other such service, it has always seemed to be that a current customer had to threaten or actually quit the service to get the reduced rates offered to new customers. I didn't have to do this with NetFlix.
The Bonus Discs
Something NetFlix has recently done is to provide a fourth disc to have at home (I'm on the three-at-a-time plan) more than once. This was not the most significant reason to me for staying with NetFlix, but it is another small thing to add to the reasons why I've been a satisfied customer of NetFlix for many years.
Conclusion
There are many reasons to like NetFlix. Their service is convenient, relatively economical (especially when considering the streaming at no extra charge), and provides easy access to a wide library of movies. It has also been refreshing to deal with a company like NetFlix which seems to understand that the secret to keeping customers even when the customers have competitive alternatives is to do the little things correctly.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
AMC's Weekday Escape Discounts
I've taken advantage of AMC Movie Theaters' weekend and holiday morning deals for some time: movies starting before noon on Friday-Sunday and on holidays have been $5 or $6 regardless of how new the movie is (with up-charges for extras like 3D or IMAX). Now, AMC has extended that deal to cover Monday through Thursday and, even better, for all day on those four weekdays.
The AMC Weekday Escape works similarly to the weekend/holiday before noon deal and does have an "Upcharge for IMAX, IMAX 3D, Digital 3D, ETX, ETX 3D, premium locations, and special presentations." It is also important to note that movies with a weekday opening day (like this week's Twilight Eclipse) are not part of this deal the week they come out.
See the AMC Weekday Escape page for more details.
The AMC Weekday Escape works similarly to the weekend/holiday before noon deal and does have an "Upcharge for IMAX, IMAX 3D, Digital 3D, ETX, ETX 3D, premium locations, and special presentations." It is also important to note that movies with a weekday opening day (like this week's Twilight Eclipse) are not part of this deal the week they come out.
See the AMC Weekday Escape page for more details.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Slick Deals
A colleague brought Slick Deals to my attention. This site, located at http://slickdeals.net/, is not fancy, but it accomplishes its objective of collecting great online deals in one place admirably. One way to use this site is to check it periodically for the best deals, but you can also sign up for SlickDeal Alerts.
I also like the principles behind the sites' stated SlickDeals Commitment:
• The deals are rated and vetted by users
• They research the deal and the price (including use of Pricegrabber and Google Products)
• Only the best, hand-picked deals will be posted (including filtering out of products with only niche interest, controversial products, deals requiring significant effort, and non-guaranteed deals [YMMV])
• Only reputable merchants are listed (on the front page) and focus is on online stores though some B&M stores' deals do get listed when the deal is great and the brick-and-mortar store is conveniently located for a wide part of the audience
• Advertisements and paid placements are never sold, marketed, or advertised as deals (ads do exist on the site, but are not marketed as deals)
There are advertisements on SlickDeals.net (that's what keeps the service free for the rest of us), but according to this commitment, advertisement dollars do not get a product or deal put on the front page. The front page is reserved for the best deals as determined by users. I have just started using this site, but my colleague has used it numerous times with numerous different vendors and has been happy with each purchase. I am a frequent Amazon.com customer, but my colleague who has used SlickDeals.net has often known about Amazon.com deals before me or even about some deals of which I was not aware.
I also like the principles behind the sites' stated SlickDeals Commitment:
• The deals are rated and vetted by users
• They research the deal and the price (including use of Pricegrabber and Google Products)
• Only the best, hand-picked deals will be posted (including filtering out of products with only niche interest, controversial products, deals requiring significant effort, and non-guaranteed deals [YMMV])
• Only reputable merchants are listed (on the front page) and focus is on online stores though some B&M stores' deals do get listed when the deal is great and the brick-and-mortar store is conveniently located for a wide part of the audience
• Advertisements and paid placements are never sold, marketed, or advertised as deals (ads do exist on the site, but are not marketed as deals)
There are advertisements on SlickDeals.net (that's what keeps the service free for the rest of us), but according to this commitment, advertisement dollars do not get a product or deal put on the front page. The front page is reserved for the best deals as determined by users. I have just started using this site, but my colleague has used it numerous times with numerous different vendors and has been happy with each purchase. I am a frequent Amazon.com customer, but my colleague who has used SlickDeals.net has often known about Amazon.com deals before me or even about some deals of which I was not aware.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)