Received my Free iPod Shuffle from Hedge Street

Back in December, a new company called Hedge Street had a promotion where you could earn up to two iPod Shuffles and two $50 Amazon gift certificates (one reward for signing up for an account and completing a trade, and three rewards for referring friends). Unfortunately, I missed the deadline for referrals and only ended up with the one iPod, which I was pretty bummed about, but I really can't complain.

What was a pain is that the iPod was sent Fedex signature required to my home address. I understand why Hedge Street would require a signature on an expensive item, and I even understand why they might not ask if I had a different mailing address I would have preferred. Unfortunately, most people are not home during the day to sign for a package, meaning that I and who knows how many other people are making evening treks to out-of-the-way Fedex warehouses to pick up our prizes. I made my trip into an excursion involving a stop at a favorite restaurant, so it all worked out okay.

To be honest, I never managed to figure out how Hedge Street's trading program works, and I still don't understand futures trading, but thanks to Jonathan of My Money Blog I did manage to figure out how to execute a trade with minimal risk (I lost $3) so I could get my free shuffle.

Hedge Street sent me a 1099 for my $3 loss. I wonder if next year I'll get a 1099 for the value of the shuffle?

(By the way, in case it wasn't clear, this promotion has ended--but there are always new iPod Shuffle offers cropping up.)


Tags:Hedge Street iPod Shuffle Deals Freebies

Stock photo courtesy of Amazon.com