I just received my new PineCone debit card in the mail as PineCone has decided to change the way they pay us for taking the surveys. In the past you would have a paper check mailed out to you every time you completed a survey. I would then collect a few of these because the amount was small and then bundle them to mail out as a deposit.
PineCone has decided to send participants a debit card and they will load your payment on to the card every time you take a survey. With this new system I see a few pros:
- Faster payment
- No checks to deposit
Faster payment: Now that they have the ability to load the payment directly I do not have to wait for the check to come in the mail and then
img from drugstoredivas.net
have to wait again to make the actual deposit.
No checks to deposit: I no longer have to pay for stamps to mail deposits in, nor do I have to wait in line at the back to deposit checks. Yes I have tried to do the deposit via check image but these checks are long and the deposit feature just does not seem to work in my case.
I also see a few cons:
- Loss of cash back
- Extra card swipe
- Loss of interest
Loss of cash back: I used to deposit those payments into my accounts and then make purchases via credit card and pay for the purchases from the checking account. I will no longer be able to earn cash back on the total purchase amount since I will now have a separate debit card to use.
Extra card swipe: Now when I go to purchase something instead of putting the full amount on my credit card I will have to use the debit card AND a credit card…meaning one more card swipe for me.
Loss of interest: The checks were adding to my base amounts for earning interest but now the funds on the debit card will just be sitting until I use the card…and I will not be earning interest on the PineCone payments.
In any case I just received my card and when I went to register it on the site I saw that my most recent payment had already been loaded so it looks like I am all set to go!!!!!
UPDATE!!!! I now have referrals available for new members to join PineCone so please email me OR fill out the contact form if you want to sign up. I am not allowed to post the sign up on the site so you will have to contact me and I will send you the email with the link. Good luck!!!!!!
it sounds like a better system, but you have listed some valid drawbacks. I am all in favor of anything that reduces unnecessary waste. Sending so many small checks must’ve added up to a lot of wasted paper and wasted shipping costs for pinecone. I wouldn’t be too worried about the drawbacks if the amounts are quite low. Maybe just leave the card alone and treat it as an extra backup fund. The few cents you are missing on interest and cashback isn’t a big deal.
It is certainly better but do you know if there is a fee per month?