3 ms·

It's kind of messed up because it's like a permanent discount at every store you shop at because you have enough money to not be paycheck to paycheck. It costs

by bena 6y ago

It's kind of messed up because it's like a permanent discount at every store you shop at because you have enough money to not be paycheck to paycheck. It costs more to be poor.

CaptainZapp 6y ago
> It costs more to be poor. That's definitely true. Time to reintroduce Scalzi's take on the subject: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/ https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/
Macha 6y ago
See also the Sam Vimes boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness (from Men at Arms, 1993): > The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. > Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. > But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
conductr 6y ago
It’s absolutely true. In many ways. Although in this case, a poor person could reap the same benefits. The only requirement would be good credit and payments/financial discipline. I know those things are generally inversely correlated but just wanted to point out you don’t have to be wealthy to get a cash back credit card.
fshbbdssbbgdd 6y ago
This is true, it’s a good system for engineers and travel hackers but bad for the common person. The credit card processors are raking in fees, though. It also provides lots of opportunities for what is essentially legal low-level embezzlement for anyone who can expense things to their employer (especially folks who travel on their dime). Way too comfortable a system for anyone to change it.
- conductr 6y ago
  Speaking of that. I like to look for loopholes / arbitrage opportunities within. Once upon a time, when cash back ran benefits were in the 6% range. I bought prepaid visas from a retail store. And ran them through some merchant account. About $50K went in a circle every day and I kept the spread of almost 4% if I recall. I had to pull some other accounting tricks to make sure it did not accrue tax liability in the process but it was actually fairly impressive once I hit a certain volume I knew I tripped the alarm with the credit card issuer. They changed their entire card benefits in a way that was obviously related to blocking the activity I was doing.
  - lozaning 6y ago
    The best manufactured spend used to just be buying money at face value and with free shipping from the US Mint. Too bad the mint got wise to that and now there's a premium + shipping.
  - nopzor 6y ago
    it’s against the terms of all merchant accounts to use them as a cash advance for yourself, even if there is zero percent cash back. also, what sort of prepaid visa ever offered 6% cash back?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
cyberlurker 6y ago
I think about this all the time with so many things in life. Same with employer tax incentives, like a free metro pass/tax deductible contributions towards commuting. I’m actually paying less to take the subway than someone making minimum wage. It doesn’t seem right. I take full advantage of all the credit card benefits though, as I think everyone should if they can.

by bena 6y ago

It's kind of messed up because it's like a permanent discount at every store you shop at because you have enough money to not be paycheck to paycheck. It costs more to be poor.

CaptainZapp 6y ago

> It costs more to be poor. That's definitely true. Time to reintroduce Scalzi's take on the subject: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/ https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/

Macha 6y ago

See also the Sam Vimes boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness (from Men at Arms, 1993): > The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. > Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. > But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

conductr 6y ago

It’s absolutely true. In many ways. Although in this case, a poor person could reap the same benefits. The only requirement would be good credit and payments/financial discipline. I know those things are generally inversely correlated but just wanted to point out you don’t have to be wealthy to get a cash back credit card.

fshbbdssbbgdd 6y ago

This is true, it’s a good system for engineers and travel hackers but bad for the common person. The credit card processors are raking in fees, though. It also provides lots of opportunities for what is essentially legal low-level embezzlement for anyone who can expense things to their employer (especially folks who travel on their dime). Way too comfortable a system for anyone to change it.

conductr 6y ago
Speaking of that. I like to look for loopholes / arbitrage opportunities within. Once upon a time, when cash back ran benefits were in the 6% range. I bought prepaid visas from a retail store. And ran them through some merchant account. About $50K went in a circle every day and I kept the spread of almost 4% if I recall. I had to pull some other accounting tricks to make sure it did not accrue tax liability in the process but it was actually fairly impressive once I hit a certain volume I knew I tripped the alarm with the credit card issuer. They changed their entire card benefits in a way that was obviously related to blocking the activity I was doing.
- lozaning 6y ago
  The best manufactured spend used to just be buying money at face value and with free shipping from the US Mint. Too bad the mint got wise to that and now there's a premium + shipping.
- nopzor 6y ago
  it’s against the terms of all merchant accounts to use them as a cash advance for yourself, even if there is zero percent cash back. also, what sort of prepaid visa ever offered 6% cash back?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

cyberlurker 6y ago

I think about this all the time with so many things in life. Same with employer tax incentives, like a free metro pass/tax deductible contributions towards commuting. I’m actually paying less to take the subway than someone making minimum wage. It doesn’t seem right. I take full advantage of all the credit card benefits though, as I think everyone should if they can.