Manufactured Spending: Involuntary Deal Slaughter!

If I were paranoid, I’d have to admit that I’ve probably killed a deal. NB: I am paranoid!

About three weeks ago, I posted an article aptly titled I Have Changed My Views on Manufactured Spend. In that article I stated this:

Here is what gave me the well-needed nudge in the right direction. One of my readers who happens to live in my neck of the wood gave me a lowdown on a CVS store located within 15 minutes from my house. And it even gets better. I drive past this store every weekend when I take my kid to her grandparents. 

Here are the facts, and I would truly appreciate your take on it. Am I just being crazy (please say yes!)?

Prior to Feb 18 when I wrote that post, I had no problem with VRs. I would stop by on Saturday on the way home from my in-laws, walk into the store and be done in a matter of minutes. Never a problem. Not once!

Since I posted about “the CVS store located within 15 minutes from my house”, on February 18th, I haven’t been able to buy VRs even once! “It’s crazy, man,” said the manager last Saturday. “I’ve never seen it like that. They’re out in 30 minutes.”

Question: did my post have anything to do with that or is it just a ridiculous coincidence?

Are my fellow New-Yorkers really that un-freaking-believably crazy that they would check every single CVS store in a 15-min radius from my home-base? I do realize it’s not that hard to find me since I don’t hide. But still, really?

Please tell me something I want to hear. That this scenario only exists in my sick imagination. Otherwise, you people are nuts!

In any case, this deal is dead to me for all goals and purposes. I’m not wasting hours of my life driving around and looking for a not-yet-defunct Vanilla-stocked CVS store. The way I see it, my time has value. My next step will be finding a permanently stocked CVS in Long Island, since I drive there 2-3 times a month anyway. One thing I’m looking for in this game is maximizing returns on investment, and by investment, I mean my time. Like I’ve said before, I refuse to let this hobby run my life.

OK, end of the rant!

On the other hand, I just received a $250 check from Citi Dividend. That was nice. I can see how I could get addicted to these little stipends considering that I spent less than an hour total to get it. This is what I’m talking about.

Returns!

I”ve opened more Amazon accounts for my wife, my cousin and myself. In order to do so, I had to” open additional bank accounts and I will receive bank bonuses for doing so. Will report when I get the checks. I’m also researching and reading more about the Evolve. Too bad I don’t have a mortgage anymore. 🙂

And here is the best part. I think I might be onto something really interesting. It might be  big or it might not pan out. It has nothing to do with raiding Vanilla fields or/and slaving at Walmarts. If it does pan out, it’s going to be pretty awesome! But I have to complete my research and see if it’s really going to work on… let’s say, industrial scale.

However, I’m not giving any hints here about it. I will tell the details to my email subscribers. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this idea is interesting enough that in the very least it could always work on a smaller scale. If it does work on a large scale, then the sky is the limit. Really!

You could see this announcement as just a ploy to harvest more email addresses. That’s fine. I don’t overwhelm my readers with newsletters anyway, to say the least (which reminds me, I gotta send one already). And I don’t try to sell anything except my books, and I’m being gentle about it, too. Besides, last time I checked, unsubscribing was free and easy.

Subscribe now! You might not regret it after all. 🙂