Are you frugal or a cheap b@$t@rd?

[MasterBlaster]

Along those lines of outrageous attempted purchases with frequent flier points...

< from Wikipedia>

The Pepsi Stuff promotion became the subject of a lawsuit. In one of the many commercials, Pepsi showed a young man in the cockpit of a Harrier Jump Jet. Below ran the caption "Harrier Jet: 7 million Pepsi Points." There was a mechanism for buying additional Pepsi Points to complete a Pepsi Stuff order. John Leonard, of Seattle, Washington, sent in a Pepsi Stuff request with the minimum amount of points and a check for over $700,000US to make up for the extra points he needed. Pepsi did not accept the request and Leonard filed suit. The judgment was that a reasonable person viewing the commercial would realize that Pepsi was not, in fact, offering a Harrier Jet. In response to the suit, Pepsi added the words "Just Kidding" under the portion of the commercial featuring the jet as well as changing the "price" to 700 million Pepsi points (see Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc.).

 

[travelover]

Along those lines of outrageous attempted purchases with frequent flier points...

.............The judgment was that a reasonable person viewing the commercial would realize that Pepsi was not, in fact, offering a Harrier Jet............

Probably just as well. I've heard the Harriers are tricky to fly.

 

[rockyj]

Our local foodbank makes their purchases through "America's Second Harvest" (secondharvest.org).

Some time ago when we first started giving regularly to our local food bank I asked them about the most effective way to donate. The rep I was talking with said cash was by far the most effective, as they too use sources like Second Harverst that effectively magnify your cash donation. So even though they do feel good food drives (canned goods at the basketball game, office collections for holiday items, etc.) and even though those donations do get put to good use, or can put a tangible face on giving for children participants; cold cash was the best way to go for overall effectiveness. A number of charities are very good at leveraging donations through corporate donor networks or similar. Americares is another example (they focus on emergency relief and medical supplies and benefit from a network of corporate donor partners).

Perhaps more in keeping with the thread topic, I regularly play mind games with myself re: street collections (charities, homeless, etc.). I don't want to be a cheap bastard (slinking by the Salvation Army ringers, or even avoiding the hapless "spare change for a sammich" guy) but neither do I want to give inefficiently, waste a tax deduction, be taken for a sucker or inadvertantly fuel someone's bad habits (i.e. donation goes to liquor store or worse). So I try to decide to what what types of causes we want to give at what levels, "give at the office", and then try take solace in that knowledge as I slip past the red kettle gang or less organized street seekers of relief. I still feel like cheap bastard on ocassions and sitll cave in on others, but at least there's a plan in place for effective (a.k.a. frugul) giving.

I've found Charity Navigator - America's Largest Charity Evaluator an excellent source for effectiveness ratings for charities you may be considering.

 

[cj]

I still feel like cheap bastard on ocassions and sitll cave in on others.

The one that makes me feel guilty is when, every time I go to Petsmart, they ask if I want to donate $1 to help homeless animals. I donate hundreds of $$ each year to animal rescue groups, but I still feel like people think I'm a tightwad because I don't tack on the extra $1 to the Petsmart bill...

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

A couple more for the CB list:

-Re-gifting presents.

-Holding a garage sale to sell your company's free customer gifts (golf balls, etc.).

I don't consider either of these to be CB characteristics. The first is actual being frugal if you are giving it to someone who will actually use and appreciate it. The second may sound cheap, but if you've left the company and still have the free gifts in your garage, why not? I saw many, many folks do this when their dot-com employers went out of business. Some of those "free" gifts are worth quite a bit on the collector market (e.g., replica Pets.com sock puppet, Enron-monogrammed calculators, etc...).

 

[happy2bretired]

Anyone from Wisconsin gonna 'fess up? Calling cheap b@$tard from Wisconsin? I am going thru toilet paper like mad since I retired.... Those extra 8-10 hours at home really make a difference.


posting a link...

Someone's swiping toilet paper - CNN.com

 

[happy2bretired]

Crap...now it looks like I broke a copywrite law! See if I can edit.

 

[free4now]

Stealing toilet paper is pretty cheap, but I'll have to give the CB badge to the government for not springing for a locking TP holder.

 

[old woman]

I cut my Christmas gift list to 3-4 people except tiny gifts to nieces and nephews and families.
My brother asked if we could just stop but I said I still wanted to get them a package maybe a bottle of wine, his wife said put her name on it too. Last year I didn't get around to buying them a gift at all but my boyfriend got them a nice big shop vac they needed.
Mom loves getting gifts and I will spend any amount of money on her if I can find anything she wants or needs or would like, no limits. She is 80 and doesn't want things she just likes presents.
My boyfriend and I agreed to knock it off when he was unemployed a few years ago but he spent about $100 on me last year so I guess we are buying again. I got him some clothes and a log splitter because we had a huge windstorm and he had wanted one for years and he cut trees with rounds too heavy to lift in neighbors yards. But he cuts all the firewood to heat my house so not a wasteful gift.
For the nieces and nephews I cut them off when they started getting married and having babies. Mom said if I spend on them they will feel they need to spend on me and they can't afford it. So I cut back to one tiny gift per family like a plate of cookies or tin of popcorn. Then they give me something from the dollar store or a jar of homemade salsa and don't feel pressure to overdo. Last year one had her children dip pretzels in chocolate and roll them in sprinkles as gifts.
This year the office supply store has been giving me things for buying for the office. I have two stereo systems and many zippered bags a digital camera, a digital picture key ring and other assorted free gifts of values between 5-10 so I may re gift them to those I exchange cheap gifts with maybe give the stereos to the great nephews.