I recently decided (well, my aging eyes decided) that I need a larger flat screen monitor for the office. I have a Dell 24" LCD flat panel at home and have become quite spoiled to it.

Having had good experiences with Dell over these many years, I went to their website to check out their products. I went for a 23" monitor for $189.00. They offer free shipping on this particular product and the price was affordable so I was set to pull the trigger.

That's when I remembered USBC Member Rewards. I went to Perkspot.com and looked at the Dell offerings there. Some were product-specific, and another was "monitors excluded." But, I did find one that gave me a 7% savings on purchases.

When I clicked that link, I was taken back to the Dell site. I went through the exact same procedure to purchase the monitor and at the end received an additional $13.23 discount.

It's not a giant pile of money - but it IS $3.23 more than the USBC portion of my annual membership fee and $13.23 less than I was expecting to pay.

Perkspot is pretty good - there is a wide range of stores where I actually shop already, so I expect to find additional opportunities through the year. Especially a couple local restaurants that I frequent. Money I would normally spend already becomes less money spent.

So - thanks USBC, Dell, and other affinity partners. If you think the long list of USBC member benefits is difficult to "sell" to members - this is one TANGIBLE benefit that is quite useful. Spread the word.