The Pudding Guy – 12k Chocolate Puddings Into A Lifetime Of Free Flights
In 1999, civil engineer David Phillips was grocery shopping when he noticed something peculiar. Healthy Choice Foods was offering frequent flyer miles to customers who bought its products. A 25-cent pudding would bring 100 miles — the reward was worth more than the product itself.
Recognizing a good thing, David visited 15 grocery stores in the Sacramento area buying 12,150 servings of pudding for $3,140, claiming he was stocking up for Y2K.
Then he enlisted the Salvation Army to help him peel off the UPC codes, in exchange for donating the pudding, so he could take advantage of a bonus the promotion included if the packages were mailed before May 1999.
He mailed his submission to Healthy Choice, and to their credit they awarded him 1.25 million frequent flyer miles.
Since 2000, Phillips continues taking advantage of frequent flyer promotions, and is earning points five times faster than he is spending them.
There’s no downside. Phillips also got Advantage Gold status for life with American Airlines, which brings a special reservations number, priority boarding, upgrades, and bonus miles. And he got an $815 tax write-off for donating the pudding.
And to top it all off – it’s a true story.
Posted on March 6, 2010 | Filed Under Life
Leave a Reply
