The majority of us earn miles and points to help see more of the world by traveling. However, many awards programs have portals where you can redeem miles and points for merchandise.

Redemptions for merchandise aren’t typically a good value. 

Back in 2013, United was offering up to 50% off on a variety of items.

It just so happened that I was in the market for a new carry-on bag and the Tumi Alpha Continental Carry-On was part of the offer. For 23,100 miles, I was able to get a piece of luggage which sold for something like $500-$600. (I don’t remember the exact retail value.)

I debated and pulled the trigger on the Tumi bag, never really regretting using miles for this item.

Since then, I can’t say that I’ve considered purchasing any merch with my miles and points.

I recently received an offer from United MileagePlus where I can get 1,000 miles back when using 20,000 miles on a Merchandise Award.

The offer is good from now until May 29, 2018.

So would this offer entice me to purchase some merchandise with my United miles?

Quick answer- Hell no! My United miles are way to valuable, especially when we need 3 (4 at end of August) airline tickets per trip.