by PointsGuru | Aug 22, 2017 | Free Stuff
We love these free music subscription trials and so far Pandora Premium is one of our favorites. It’s much easier to use than Tidal or Apple music although it doesn’t integrate your own music like Google Play or Amazon Music.
Pandora Premium is like regular Pandora but premium! That means you can choose any song you like — think: Apple Music, Spotify, etc. — rather than just living with whatever station Pandora builds around your tastes. You also get ad-free listening.
It normally runs $10 per month, but for a limited time, new users can get three months of Pandora Premium for free. You will, however, need to provide a credit card. And you’ll start getting billed at the beginning of month four. Just make sure to cancel first to not get billed. The trial lasts for 60 days, which is pretty generous.
To get the Free 3-month Trial head over to Groupon. Then run a search for “Pandora” you will then see the $0.00 Pandora Premium Trial that you can add to your cart and redeem. You can do this on the App or on a computer. It plugged in the promo code for me automatically so all I had to do was enter my card information in Pandora. I then went to cancel it so it did not renew after 3 months and it kept my membership at Premium. (more…)
by PointsGuru | Jul 31, 2017 | Taxi Rideshare & Rentals
Uber’s Flat Fare Ride Package (now called Ride Pass) is available in ten major cities now including Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. You can get access to these really cheap rides by paying a one-time activation fee of $5 to $20 then riding flat-fare rides of only $5.99 to $20 for 40 flat-fare rides. The flat fares vary by city, but overall, they’re dirt cheap. UberPool rides start at just $1.99, and UberX rides start at $3.99.
An example would be in Dallas where they are charging $5 to activate the flat fare for 30 days then it’s only $5.99 a ride. Dallas seems to be one of the cheaper cities so that we have seen. We mean ridiculously cheap.
If you haven’t yet signed up for Uber then you can save even more towards your next ride. Register here to get a $20 credit for Uber towards a Free Ride. Use promotion code “UberVip4me“
How Cheap Are Uber’s Flat Fares?
You must choose a city to activate your flat-fare deal so do not expect these fares on vacation in another city unless you sign up for that city as well. Also, your rides must stay within your city’s designated zone, and some airports are excluded from those areas. For example, in Dallas the DFW and Dallas Love Field are regular price and do not include the Flat-Fare Pricing. You’ll pay your activation fee immediately, but your special pricing will stay active for 30 days (or until you use all your rides).
Here’s the full list of fares. Don’t forget to add that activation fee of either $5, $10 or $20 when doing your own math:
- Boston: $4.99 UberX rides
- Chicago: $4.49 UberX rides
- Dallas: $5.99 UberX rides
- Los Angeles:$3.99 UberX rides
- Miami: $4.99 UberX rides
- New York City: $5.99 UberX rides
- San Diego: $4.99 UberX rides
- San Francisco: $4.99 UberX rides
- Seattle: $4.49 UberX rides
- Washington, D.C.: $4.49 UberX rides
Should You Pay Upfront for Cheap Uber Rides?
Absolutely. One ride would probably pay for the offer to make it worth it. The designated flat-fare zones are wide and cover most of the areas people go clubbing in or practically anywhere but the airports. We have yet to test out if drivers get alerted on the flat fares and may not pick you u
p because maybe they make less money? That would seem to be the main issue of if they try and add on surge pricing. Even if you take a few rides on Uber a month and go over 10 miles this seems like a good deal compared to their normal UberX pricing especially without any other offers going on right now with partners such as Quicksilver. We really have to wonder how Uber is able to make these rides so cheap for 30 days!
My personal experience is that I have saved over $300 using Ride Pass (formerly flat fares). I honestly am not sure how Uber is making any money from my trips. Uber certainly makes money when I travel because you can only get the Ride Pass in one city during a certain sign-up time each month I have noticed. I have marked my calendar each month to look for the Ride Pass in my app so I don’t miss it.
Dallas Area Update – July 31, 2017: I’ve saved over $924 using the Ride Pass in the Dallas area. This comes out to over $155 a month with only paying $5 for each 28 day pass. Uber has also offered me the pass one day before August so that I can continue saving only raising the price of the rides $1. The price before was $5.99 and now it’s $6.99. I imagine they will raise it each month because they are ultimately losing money on frequent users such as myself. See below for my total savings and what the email looks like you would receive to activate the Ride Pass each month:
by PointsGuru | Jul 19, 2017 | Free Stuff
Chipotle is offering a Buy One Get One Free Burrito, Salad, Bowl, or Tacos with the coupon. This is done with their partner Savorwavs where you make a musical mix of your order. Yes, they even talked about this earlier today on CNBC and played their tunes. If you add sour cream the mix gets quite entertaining but do not spend too much time on it if you are at work. (more…)
by PointsGuru | Jul 18, 2017 | Retail
One of my favorite Amex Offers is back again! While last time you received a $25 statement credit on a $65+ purchase at Boxed.com, this go around it is the same $25 statement credit but on a $75+ purchase. And the best thing is that this offer is available via Twitter, so everyone is eligible and you can take advantage of this offer on every single American Express card you own! This offer expires September 30, 2017.
- Make sure you have synced your AMEX Card with a Twitter account.
- Register your Amex card to this promotion by Tweeting: Click Here to Tweet #AmexBoxed to get $25 statement credit on a purchase of $75 or more at Boxed.
- If you are new to Boxed.com, sign up here to save $15 on your first Boxed order of $60 or more. This is a stackable promo you can use so you save $40 in total if you are new to Boxed when spending over $75 for the total order. They sell everything from food to kitchen appliances and cases of energy drinks.
Boxed also runs coupon codes and offers a rewards program for AMEX card members meaning you get around 2% back on each order so your account will have money in it waiting for the next order. Some coupon codes I have used lately are SAVEUP10 (10% off), GETBULK (15% off), JULY17 (17% off). You can try these and see if they will work or do some googling for Boxed Promo Codes and check your emails from them they send out Graduation, Back to School. and holiday codes all the time.
Background on Boxed:
Boxed.com also offers 2-day shipping via FedEx and front-door delivery of fresh produce in select cities. I am a pleased Boxed customer, but, have recently found myself shopping at Jet primarily because of their larger product selection.
- 2-Day shipping on every order
- Free shipping on first order
- No membership fee
- “Boxed for Business” accounts save an additional 10% on each order
- 2 free samples with each order!
- No Sales Tax!
Both Jet and Boxed fall into the online shopping club category. This means their direct competitors are Costco and Amazon. One large exception is that neither charges a membership fee like Costco or Amazon’s Prime program that cost $55 and $99, respectively. This is a big win-win when it comes to maximizing savings due to the lack of recurring expenses for Jet & Boxed, if you do not need additional services like digital streaming or buying discounted gasoline.
by PointsGuru | Jul 12, 2017 | Taxi Rideshare & Rentals
Ibotta is one of my go-to apps to coupon these days. The days of cutting coupons should be over for most as it’s too time consuming. The smartphone app lets you earn cashback when you purchase anything from grocery items to electronics to meals.
New on the Ibotta app is a $1 rebate when you take an Uber ride. We use Uber frequently on our travels which saves us from all the hassles of rental cars and fees.
To earn the $1 cash back, download Ibotta (YOU GET $10 to start you off with Referral Code UNCVEUI) AND Uber app, open Ibotta and search for Uber under stores. You’ll then need to click on Uber, which will open your Uber app THROUGH the Ibotta app when you are ready to hail a car.
You’ll need to take your Uber ride within three hours of opening Uber through the Ibotta app to earn your $1. This is only valid for rides in the U.S. You may realize $1 is not a lot, but it adds up when you use Ibotta or Uber a lot. You can also stack this Ibotta $1 and $5 bonus offers with existing Uber Ride Passes and Starwood points earned with the app. (more…)
