03/05/03’s illustrious band:

Book Bucks

Brought to you by a conversation with Amy 2.0.

Amy likes to travel, so she takes advantage of a credit card that awards frequent flier miles for money spent. This sounds like a good deal to me -- or it would if I ever went anywhere, especially anywhere requiring airline travel. But I don’t. I don’t need frequent flier miles. What I need is frequent book buyer miles or something.

Yeah, that’s the ticket. I need a credit or debit card that awards me points based on what I spend, like Amy’s, but those points have to be redeemable for something I actually want to buy. I’d like to earn book bucks to spend at Barnes & Noble; gas points to put in my fuel tank; calling minutes for my cell phone or long-distance service; grocery points to spend at Byerly’s; movie money to spend at Blockbuster or the local cinema. I’d even consider general mall money I could take to the nearby Mall of America.

Since this is a good idea, and more importantly, one that involves money, I can’t possibly be the first person who has thought of it. Surely there are already cards out there that offer these kinds of rewards. The trick, of course, is finding them. I don’t know where to start looking. Do you? I’ll try to spend some time on it this weekend and report back, but in the meantime, I’m open to suggestions.

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