The dangers of talking too loudly...

[Mal]

Those who read up various FF stuff may know of a scheme in the U.S called the "$1 coin Direct Ship" program. Basically, you could purchase boxes of $US1 coins at face value using a credit card and have it shipped free to your place.

Well it's over now.
U.S. Mint Online Product Catalog

The United States Mint has eliminated the credit and debit card purchase of $1 Coins through its Direct Ship Program effective July 22, 2011.

Now, why is it over?

The Mint has determined that this policy change is prudent due to ongoing activity by individuals purchasing $1 coins with credit cards, accumulating frequent flyer miles, and then returning coins to local banks. Local banks, in turn, returned coins to the Federal Reserve. While not illegal, this activity was a clear abuse and misuse of the program.

Never fear. Use and abuse of certain things, in life WILL get them shut down. Especially when loose lips keep screaming on about the things.

A salient reminder to all...

 

[kpc]

Use and abuse of certain things, in life WILL get them shut down. Especially when loose lips keep screaming on about the things.

A salient reminder to all...

Agree 100%

 

[ejb]

Don't mention the b*s.

ejb


Sent from my iPhone so please ignore auto corrects!

 

[anat0l]

This had to happen eventually. Didn't really matter much that everyone boasted about it to no end, although certainly there is some validity in the assertion that the boasting probably accelerated the demise of the ability to take advantage of the mint. But the fact that there was so much cycling activity especially when looking at individual accounts would've started flashing some red lights even without all the posts on Flyertalk.

What irks me to no end is when something like this is discovered and shut down, and everyone who took / wanted to take advantage of the scheme complains to high heaven at the removal. For what it's worth, the heavy blogger types on Boarding Area (Flyertalk) have not wailed too much on the subject, instead simply "mourning" the loss of the scheme.

In this case, everyone clearly knew that the way they were churning those coins was very much against the spirit and intention of program. So when the ability to keep churning the mint stopped, no one really should've been surprised nor disappointed. Those who got away with it should just count their blessings. Those who didn't get anything or enough out of the scheme don't really have a good reason to blame those who announced it to the world in whatever means those people chose to do so - everyone knew it was not in the spirit of the program to do this scheme.

 

[tuapekastar]

There may be one particularly disappointed FTer (I remember his real name but not his handle, not that I'm going to mention either), who was at an NZ do a year or two ago, and who was staying in hostels and backpacker joints, but basically travelling the world in award F thanks to that scheme. I think he posted a fair bit about it (not that I've read the relevant thread(s) on FT), and he shared his modus operandi with us, along with his plans to take it to a whole new level.

It certainly is a clarion call to people not to 'brag' too much in public fora about these things. Sharing knowledge is fine (great in fact), but sometimes it pays to be discreet in doing so.

 

[drewbles]

It certainly is a clarion call to people not to 'brag' too much in public fora about these things. Sharing knowledge is fine (great in fact), but sometimes it pays to be discreet in doing so.

P

Perfectly said. There's often a lot of situations that people can take advantage of or exploit a loophole, but the more public it is, the more likely that it is to be shut down.

I've had situations in other non-FF related areas that i've been privy to, and taken full advantage of, sharing this information only with a few trusted people. Eventually, someone (no one I know; it wasn't private information really) leaked it to the internet, and needless to say, the bargain/benefit vanished quick smart.

I wonder how long the Amex 5k for 5 transactions thing would have lasted if no one had said boo on here or other forums....

It's a fine line between sharing and saturation killing a benefit unfortunately.