PETCO: Recycling Dog Stuff, Why Not?

The Deal Messiah loves to push the boundaries of "the establishment". Also, being an environmentalist, he staunchly supports recycling efforts. Everyone should follow his recycling efforts, of used dog toys and items that he simply doesn't need anymore.

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A pretty ridiculous idea occurred to me while cleaning out our "dog bin". We had a bunch of old toys and miscellaneous non sense items leftover from our old dog. They either wouldn't fit our new dog, due to size differences, or were just stuff we wouldn't use anymore, as shown below.



So, I put everything into a grocery sack (not recommended) as I was feeling pretty bold that day, and rolled over to Petco. I told Michelle at the checkout lane that I needed to return "some stuff I didn't need anymore" and they went to get the manager. "Linda" the manager, came out, and I noticed that she was wearing a studded black belt. Classy. I didn't have a receipt, or most of the original packaging, and the items were for the most part, very used. It was awesome.

They didn't even question the fact that I was returning a bunch of used stuff. Linda told me that they couldn't issue me a refund, but that I could go pick out other items in the store and they could do an exchange. I said no problem and picked out some dog stuff that we didn't need. It felt good, it was like winning a shopping spree.

I returned with a few AKC stuffed squeaky toys, a bag of rawhides, and some greenies for our new pup, and the manager proceeded to process my return. She went to get SKU's for items I was returning, as I didn't even so much as have the packaging. So to make it easier on them, I found a few new versions of what I was returning, and brought them up to checkout. This helped, as they were being lazy, and a huge line had built up behind me, so they just scanned the new items straight up. I definitely maxed out my return of $46 at Petco.

Thanks guys.

Bitch Betta Have My Money: AT&T Wireless

The Deal Messiah is not to be trifled with, especially when it comes to his cell phone coverage. AT&T, despite being very convincing in their fancy commercials, has failed to deliver for the second month in a row. Of all the places in the grand old USA, midtown NYC simply shouldn't make the list of places where your celly drops calls. This kind of thing brings out the "D Game" in the Deal Messiah.

I'm up in NYC for an extended celebratory weekend with the crew. Extended meaning my fun bus connection through Baltimore got canceled due to snow (surprise surprise) and I'm here for another night. I dropped multiple calls during the day yesterday, and I sensed an opportunity via AT&T. They're developing a strong track record of incompetence, and mid town NYC is a place where one would expect decent coverage. I called *611 and quickly got down to brass tax with $2.00/hr call center employee Latoya. Here are the results:



Latoya was the ideal person to get on the line, and ask the age old question, what can you guys do for me, as a valuable customer? Conveniently, through the course of our 10 minute phone call, AT&T dropped the call 3 times. Latoya was competent enough to call me back each time, run a search on my address on the West Side to determine a tower was experiencing a power issue, and also to credit me $50 for my "frustration". Quick tip, don't let them transfer you to technical support, there is ultimately nothing those chumps can do but waste your time, and they're not on the account side of things, so they can't credit your account.

Between the $40 credit I received from AT&T last month, and this month's $50 credit, I have a negative balance and AT&T effectively owes me money, which is nice for a change. And as they have "come calling" in the past for my payment, I will repay them in kind.

The Deal Messiah Return Rally Challenge: How I Made Over $100 By Going Shopping

The Deal Messiah is unfortunately living in a boring fiefdom, devoid of character and interest. Thus, he has to create his own “fun”. Last weekend, the Deal Messiah created a “Return Rally Challenge”. It seems that Mrs. Messiah had been out shopping several times, and was letting unused items pile up. It was time for action, and a little fun with the local merchants.

I decided to attempt to return items to 4 different stores without a receipt. Most of the items were used, such as the shampoo from Target. I went 4 for 4, and surprisingly didn’t have a single issue with a manager. With this many outrageous returns, I normally prepare myself for at least one rebuttal, or at least a raised eyebrow. Not that it would matter, I have an answer to every rebuttal.

Bed Bath & Beyond: Returned a gimmicky kitchen tool without a receipt, received $10 in credit, which I rolled into a head massager and a candle. The candle was on a clearance rack, retailing for $25, I got the clearance price of 50% off, and it was also improperly marked down an additional 50% off. I had to get the manager out for it, but he submitted, and manually marked it down. My total out of pocket was $.27, but I asked the cashier if she could spot me $.02, which she did, so I could get 3 quarter back as change.

K-Mart: Bread & Butter style. Returned a strand of used Christmas Icicle lights we didn’t like, and an extension cord for $12.73 back on the plastic.

Ross: Returned a pair of work out pants that shrank in the dryer on me, $18.57. Rolled the credit into a heavily discounted dog bed for the back of our suv, for the new puppy.

Target: Returned a variety of used bathroom products, including some fancy shampoo that Mrs. Messiah didn’t like. No receipts, naturally. $48.25 back on the plastic.

Total time, under 2 hours. Nice work.

BOGO Rooms @ The Homestead Inn

The Deal Messiah recently brought his “D” game to Austin, TX. Entirely by circumstance, The Deal Messiah was given an opportunity, and as an Ayn Rand style “capitalist” maxed the opportunity out, in a big way…



I always try to run lean, so a buddy and I decided to split a room (with two beds of course). The best value was apparently the Homestead Inn. And the efficiency suite lent itself to our plans to drink multiple beers, with its full size fridge.

The room was one notch above unacceptable, but I decided to postpone "making it rain free rooms", as I was running late to meet my buddy for dinner at WhatABurger. The WhatAFish sandwich is the ticket. After popping off on 6th street, we returned to our room, and my buddy mentioned that it looked like a rat had taken a shit on his bed. Almost immediately, I called the “night manager” and started working my magic. I specifically, and drunkenly, told Cynthia to make a note so that I could address the situation with the day manager.

The next morning, I went down and explained that we had a situation the night before, and asked what they could do for me. Adam at the front desk said that he could move me to another room and possibly offer a discount. He said he would have to ask the day manager Linda.

$1.50/hr employees usually aren’t allowed to make decisions, as was the case with young Adam.

I went to check out the room, and heard some noise in the hallway. As my luck is always up, I happened to run into the manager Linda outside, and explained that we’d had an issue the previous night. I was very nice while impressing my stature upon her.

Within minutes, Linda's henchwoman was told to “Make us Happy.” Despite the hotel being full for the weekend, we were somehow upgraded to the top floor of the hotel, and each given our own suite with King bed, for the same price. I was very pleased.

FFwd to the last night of our stay, it got cold, and I noticed my heater wasn’t working. I called young Adam up to figure it out, as I had to go to dinner, and left him to his devices. Naturally, being a $1.50/hr employee, he couldn’t figure it out.

While freezing my rumpus off the entire night, I placed another complaint with the night manager. On our way out the door to the airport, I asked what they could do for me at the front desk, and they said they would be refunding us the full night stay for the previous night.
Not a bad deal overall.

Craigslist: 5 Selling Tips. How We Made $40 On A 2 Year Old Set Of Bookshelves

The Deal Messiah is preparing to move from one castle to another in a few months. In preparation, he is systematically selling off miscellaneous items via Craigslist. By doing this ahead of time, he can command top dollar for what he is selling, and avoid getting himself into a "fire sale" situation.

We had a little scare this morning, our new puppy didn't feel good, and once he went #2, we discovered what the problem was. He had eaten an entire piece of our floor rug, therefore it had to go. We're moving anyways in about 6 weeks. So why not.

In the process, we decided to go ahead and pack up all of our volumes of fine literature, and sell off our bookshelves. Mrs. Messiah snapped these up at Target at a "back to school" clearance event for $9.99 a pop. They're two years old, and not in the greatest shape, but I said let's try to sell them on Craigslist.

At 1:35 pm, I posted the following on Craigslist:



At 2:02 pm, I had my first buyer call me, and said she was very interested and would like to come see the bookshelves.

How was I so successful you ask?

1. Price it right (typically 50% of retail) $75 ask on a $150 set of shelves
2. List your phone number only, if comfortable doing so. This eliminates the dozen people that will email you if "its still available" or lowballers. Only serious buyers will pick up the phone and call.
3. Note in the post: If you're reading this, it's still available
4. Cash buyers only, always specify this, and never take a check
5. If people try to negotiate, always tell them you have others interested, and that you don't feel comfortable dropping your drawers yet.

Anyways, our buyer showed up about 2 hours later with a pickup truck, and we graciously helped her load the bookshelves into it. With $75 cash in hand, we know have plenty of coin to blow on Valentines Day Dinner.