This is the time of year that many people really think more about their giving and charitable actions. Part of it is the festivities of the Christmas season and trying to look out for those who are in difficult situations and the other part is the end of the tax year for charitable contributions. Being able to give and help others is wonderful and it is just a little bit of an added bonus when we can receive some kind of benefit from doing so – besides the good feeling we receive.
Earn Up To 30 Miles Per Dollar While Donating Magazines
Portal payout through United
There are three types of retailers that are normally the highest with portal payouts – printer ink providers, floral companies, and magazine resellers. One of the reasons they can give such high payouts is because they are making a good amount of money on their profit, whether it is their markup over similar sites or that they buy in bulk and are able to save that way. Normally, I stay away from those companies because I can usually find a better deal, even after factoring in the value of the miles earned.
But, I thought I would throw this one out there as it might be a nice gesture for this time of year and help you to earn some extra miles as well.
Earn 26 Ultimate Reward points going through the Chase Mall
For the next 6 days, the United MileagePlus shopping portal is giving out 30 miles per dollar spent at Magazines.com. While there are some magazines from there that could be obtained at a cheaper price from some other retailer (Discountmags.com is a great place for magazine deals, but they do not have some of the very popular magazines that are on sale at Magazines.com).
In addition to United, you can also get 26 Ultimate Reward points per dollar through the Shop Through Chase Portal and 20 AA miles per dollar at the AAdvantage portal. Personally, I would value the Ultimate Reward payout higher than United given the greater level of flexibility, but it is nice to have options!
Earning By Donating
Since I am not a tax expert, I am not going to speak to whether your magazine subscriptions can be counted as charitable contributions for the purpose of your taxes. Talk to your tax expert for information on that.
Some of the deals at Magazines.com
There are dozens of organizations and libraries that regularly welcome the receipt of magazine subscriptions. If you were to pick a few magazines and choose one of those organizations this holiday season, it could be a help to some of them and make you feel a little better while earning some great miles and points! I would call that a win-win!
Before you order a subscription for an orginazation, consider reaching out to them to see if they have a preference or what the protocol is for submitting that subscription. Some organizations have the information and suggestions right on their website (like this one – Children’s Hospital Los Angeles).Find some organization that you would like to extend a gesture of kindness to and order a subscription (or 10!) and pick up some miles and points while doing this good deed.
Running the Numbers
If you were to buy $50 worth of subscriptions through the Ultimate Rewards portal, you would earn 1,300 Ultimate Reward points. That is worth roughly $20 in redemption value. In fact, consider this. Let’s just say you wanted to be extra generous. You could donate around $175 in magazine subscriptions to a single organization or various organizations and earn 4,500 Ultimate Reward points – enough points that, when transferred to British Airways, could get you a short-haul flight that would otherwise cost over $300!
Love. It.