Unintended Consequences ...

[cmeisenzahl]

Oops. ;-)

U.S. Helps Frequent Fliers Make a Mint - WSJ.com
Free Shipping of Coins, Put on Credit Cards, Funds Trip to Tahiti; 'Mr. Pickles' Cleans Up
"Enthusiasts of frequent-flier mileage have all kinds of crazy strategies for racking up credits, but few have been as quick and easy as turning coins into miles. At least several hundred mile-junkies discovered that a free shipping offer on presidential and Native American $1 coins, sold at face value by the U.S. Mint, amounted to printing free frequent-flier miles. Mileage lovers ordered more than $1 million in coins until the Mint started identifying them and cutting them off. Coin buyers charged the purchases, sold in boxes of 250 coins, to a credit card that offers frequent-flier mile awards, then took the shipments straight to the bank. They then used the coins they deposited to pay their credit-card bills. Their only cost: the car trip to make the deposit."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126014168569179245.html

 

[MetroStyles]

Yep - I tried doing this but was a little late as some asshole on flyertalk reported this to the CC companies/Mint and now most of them are treating it as a cash equivalent purchase (not eligible for points). It was a pretty sweet deal while it lasted.

Although honestly just buying gold bullion on Ebay with the bing 20% cash back is even better.