I have been asked to explain (on another thread) how I fill up my 30 gallon tank a few times a month for free. First of all, it's not completely free. There is "overhead" which I will explain. Also, the bigger your tank, the better the deal. If you drive a small car, this isn't so much worth it.
Where I live, we have a place that I will simply refer to as Nesher HaGadol. They have a program that gives 10 cents off per gallon on gas for every $50 spent on groceries. This itself is nice just for regular (non MS) grocery spend. But, it's even better for GCs.
Once every 3-4 months or so, they have a special where Visa GCs get double "perks." The bummer is that they never have cards bigger than $100 denominations. (Yes, I have spoken with the managers about getting bigger amounts and no go.) Anyway, when the promo is on, you get 20 cents off per gallon on gas for every $50 of VGC bought. Do the math. If I buy 10 cards, that's 4 dollars off per gallon. Yes, it rolls over, so one fill-up is completely free and that will still leave 1.43 at current prices off of a second fill up.
My outlay was 69.50, but if I charge the 1069.50 on a card that gets 3% CB on groceries, now my outlay is 37.41. (However, I personally prefer to use this as an MS method for reaching bonuses.)
As for cashing out, what I prefer is to simply walk straight from the cashier where I bought the GCs and go to the CS desk and buy two $500 MOs for 45 cents each. So, total outlay is still less than 39 dollars and the return (with my 30 gallon tank) is (at current prices) is 120 dollars.
