Gaming The System Legally

1

What are some ways that people game the system; meaning they take advantage of deals, corner cases or mistakes?

I mentioned in a different thread about a slot machine that paid out in the incorrect denomination of coins.

There is the retired couple who was playing scratchoff lottery tickets and noticed an off payout schedule. They made more than $26 million.

Then there is “The Pudding Guy”, who I believe Clark has mentioned before. He took advantage of an airline mileage promotion which was not well thought out and gained lifetime light status.

Oftentimes there are websites that allow you to stack coupons (use multiple coupons or a discount on a discount. I was able to buy an item in K-Mart by buying it online for in-store pickup. I ahd it in my physical shopping cart and I ordered it while standing in front of the item in the store. Pickup was in 20 minutes. When I sat in the store enjoying a pizza snack, the power in the store went off and all registered stopped. The Manager texted me that my online order was available for pickup. He said that it was funny because when the guy went to get it from the shelf, it was already in an abandoned cart :slight_smile: Since I had paid online I was able to take my purchase out wile everyone in the store waited for the registers to reload.

I have been bumped on a bump and gotten a number of free flights or miles.

What kinds of things have you gotten?

2

I seem to remember the one red paperclip story was a series of successive trades that started with a lowly paperclip:

One red paperclip - Wikipedia

I think sometimes a person could pull off something like that using Ebay as the medium to buy and flip, wash and repeat if they have an eye for underpriced items. The rub is the Ebay fees and taxes that get tacked on to each buy and sell they would do.

3

I do not want to commit a dishonesty and I would never do it but it is possible to take advantage of the Costco return policy. Buying a Christmas tree for the season and returning it after you are done. I know it sounds cheesy but it can done. The return policy from Costco is pretty liberal.

4

Many people take advantage of the COSTCO return policy. Some of those recently-purchased big screen TV’s come back the day after Super Bowl.