# AGR Flyer in Amtrak mailing



## Guest (Oct 24, 2009)

I placed a request for timetables. When I got them, they included an AGR brochure, which didn't seem like anything to be careful of. When I opened it, it had a member number and temporary password printed in it. Then above it, it said that that would be your permanent member number. I would like to join AGR sometime in the future, but not in the near future (1-2 years).

Does this number expire?


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## AlanB (Oct 24, 2009)

Why wait? You have nothing to loose by joining now.

As for how long till that temp number expires, I have no idea. Sorry.


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## sky12065 (Oct 25, 2009)

Guest said:


> I placed a request for timetables. When I got them, they included an AGR brochure, which didn't seem like anything to be careful of. When I opened it, it had a member number and temporary password printed in it. Then above it, it said that that would be your permanent member number. I would like to join AGR sometime in the future, but not in the near future (1-2 years).
> Does this number expire?


I would very strongly suggest that you take Alan's advise and join right away. In the beginning of this year I felt the same way you did except that I didn't think I would ever benifit from joining.

Thanks to Alan I was convinced to join and did so at the end of March as well as applied and receive the AGR Master Card right away. Since then I have accumulated over 43,000 points with only about 3200 of the points being actual rail points.

With my membership I learned of a program that will earn me another 43,000+ points very soon. There is a program where if you sell/buy a house, you earn points based on the sale/purchase price of the home involved. I was about to sell our home that we lived in for 28 years and decided to take advantage of the program. I should be closing on the property this coming week and about 6 weeks thereafter I should be receiving the points again based on the selling price.

By the end of this calendar year (or soon thereafter) I fully expect to exceed 100,000 points and if you check out the redeem section of the AGR site, you will find that 100,000 points would get you a round trip bedroom from the Atlantic Coast all the way to the Pacific Coast and back or visa verse! Not bad for having an open mind when Alan explained things to me heh?

Now I'm sure that my results are not typical, but it does demonstrate how one can miss out if they don't act now rather than later. Take Alan's advise; you have nothing to lose! BTW, don't worry about the temp member number. Even if it does expire, you'll just be issued another!


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## the_traveler (Oct 25, 2009)

I agree with everyone's advice to join AGR now. As long as you travel on Amtrak once every 36 months, the points do not expire! And there is no cost either.

Plus, there is a current promotion going on that if a member refers you, and if you travel within (IIRC) 90 days, the referring member receives 500 bonus AGR points - and *you receive 1,500 bonus AGR points*! I don't know if you're an AU member, but if so, you can send me a PM and I'll be glad to refer you. (I would not recommend posting your email address online!)


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## RailFanLNK (Oct 25, 2009)

Ok...so whats this about selling your house via AGR and getting points? I will be putting mine on the market in spring 2010 and would love to find out how to go about doing this. Thanks!

Al


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## AlanB (Oct 25, 2009)

Al,

You can start here for more details on that program to earn points when you sell.

And then Joe may be able to give you some other thoughts on his experiences.


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## sky12065 (Oct 26, 2009)

RailFanLNK said:


> Ok...so whats this about selling your house via AGR and getting points? I will be putting mine on the market in spring 2010 and would love to find out how to go about doing this. Thanks!
> Al


Al, the link Alan gave you will refer you to another site, http://www.pointsformoving.com/. That page pretty much gives you what you will need to proceed.

As for my personal experience, I had a freind named Clint that worked for Prudential and wanted to use him for an agent. So When I initiated the process, I heard back from a representative of the organization that handles the process. It's called SIRVA our of Ohio. I discussed with the woman what I wanted to do. She checked out her list of participating agencys and did not who I wanted as having previously participated. Later I discovered that they were actually listed, but under their original business name, but that's a side issue! Now, they don't necessarily need to be on their list, but they will do what they did for me... contact the agency I wanted to see if they will participate. They did and the paperwork began.

The process was pretty simple, at least so far. SERVA sent me a few papers to sign as well as to the real estate agency and shortly thereafter we were ready to go once I had the house ready for sale. Don't forget to make your initial contact at least 30 days in advance of when you anticipate you will sign the contract for the listing of your house. Also, if you're buying and/or moving, you can really rack up quite a few points if you go through that service for those activities too!

I hope when you do sell that you have as much luck as I did in how quickly the house sold. The average time for sale in our area was about 86 days on the market. We got our offer in 39 days! Didn't get quite as much money as we would like, but we did want to sell before the snow and had to risk damaging a brand new driveway with snow removal. So we priced reasonable to start.

As a note of interest, up until 1 week before we received an offer we were worring because their were practally no showings going on. We decided to try something that worked for a freind when they sold their home not too long before we did ours. We took a small statue we had of St. Joseph and buried it upside down in front of and facing the house. Believe it or not, we then got the offer within a week! Now we don't really know if that action really did help at all, but it's interesting how it did work out. They also say that if you want to get rid of a pesky neighbor, do the same thing but have the statue facing their house instead! :lol: We did have that kink of a pesky neighbor... oh, if only we had known sooner!!! 

So Al, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me here on this thread or PM me if you wish!


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## the_traveler (Oct 26, 2009)

sky12065 said:


> if you want to get rid of a pesky neighbor, do the same thing but have the statue facing their house instead! :lol: We did have that kink of a pesky neighbor... oh, if only we had known sooner!!!


I was never your neighbor :angry: - unless living in the same county counts! :lol:


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## sky12065 (Oct 26, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> sky12065 said:
> 
> 
> > if you want to get rid of a pesky neighbor, do the same thing but have the statue facing their house instead! :lol: We did have that kink of a pesky neighbor... oh, if only we had known sooner!!!
> ...


For you, I'd have to mount the statue on a rotating base!


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## jmbgeg (Oct 26, 2009)

Guest said:


> I placed a request for timetables. When I got them, they included an AGR brochure, which didn't seem like anything to be careful of. When I opened it, it had a member number and temporary password printed in it. Then above it, it said that that would be your permanent member number. I would like to join AGR sometime in the future, but not in the near future (1-2 years).
> Does this number expire?


There is no cost so why not join. I syarted traveling Amtrak in 2005 and did not jpoing AGR until March 2009. I cost myself several trips by this oversight.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Oct 26, 2009)

I got the same flyer today with the new timetable. Had a membership number and temp password. A very good idea on Amtraks part. Even had a little dotted line so you could cut out the small temp card and carry it around if you were so inclined.


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## RailFanLNK (Oct 27, 2009)

To me, there's absolutely no reason NOT to join. Doesn't cost anything and I wasn't bombarded with train spam or junk mail about trains. The only thing you are doing is losing out...on points, more points or alot of points. I'm so glad I joined after my first trip because I was then able to get the points for the trip since it wasn't more than 21 days after the trip. Join my friend!


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## Guest (Oct 27, 2009)

I'm the original poster of this thread.

The problem is you must be 16 or older to join online. I'm 14.


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## PRR 60 (Oct 27, 2009)

Guest said:


> I'm the original poster of this thread.
> The problem is you must be 16 or older to join online. I'm 14.


Oops. Maybe they could send you a credit card, too. :lol:


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