You can't obtain $20 off bill by helping others.

[Zz]

I spent countless hours helping out in these forums last month just to see if it was possible to even get a cent off my bill by doing this and sacrificing much time better served actually doing something useful for my life and to no avail. Didn't even receive a cent off my bill for helping despite many replies, likes and solutions arrived at. I must be doing something wrong here. Someone wanna enlighten me as to what it was?

[Carld123]

Also..its good to spend time here, learn all the pros and cons,tips and tricks so you can honestly refer a friend to a service that will work for them...then the referral payoffs are well worth a little effort.

[computergeek541]

For the top tiers of community rewards, you'd have to spend quite a bit of time around here.  And even then, with only limited spots open for each monthly accomplishment and reward amount, spending a few hours each day wouldn't be unheard of to get into the top 1%, top 5%, etc. 

Even if you do put in a lot of effort into the community, reward amounts aren't guaranteed because there's always going to be someone who's willing to put more time into it.  The time factor aside, know that going to the park in the summer and picking up empty beer cans or pop cans (where there are deposits on them), or even stalking unreturned shopping carts at a grcoery store will yield far more monetary gain.  You'd also probably get more just for going in for one hour at your workplace.

If you're going to post here anyway, the community rewards are a nice bonus.  If you're doing it on your spare time and enjoy it, the monetary rewards will eventually come and your efforts will be acknowledged.

[6500K]

@Psygineer  Well said mate!  People have different motives for helping others and I think altruistic ones are the epitome of humanity.

[Psygineer]

Eh? I usually get $1 off my bill for doing something that I would do anyway. Sure it would be nice to have the Oracle title and get the $20 a month and all that but I don't help others for the money off my bill. I help others to help others.

Case in point. I volunteer each year to do at least 10 days of Operation Red Nose (It's a volunteer-run weekend service to help people who are drunk get home safely as well as get their car home too.) It starts at 8:30 pm and runs until at least 3:00 am (often later). If you take a look at those hours, that is like a 7-hour job, factor in I also stay to help wrap up, document, etc. it's easily a 10-hour job. Factor in that I do it 10 times, that 70-100 hours easily (if not more) any given December. If you took it to be a minimum wage job,  that is at least $1000-1400 worth of pay I could have earned had I taken paid retail gig. Sometimes they give you a token prize like a coffee tumbler or a coupon for bowling or something small like that, but most of the time there is no reward. That isn't entirely true, there is a reward, the reward is knowing that you are a decent person willing to help others in need. Nothing forces you to do it, hardly anybody "wastes their time" doing ORN work, but I still do it, year after year. I will also continue to help people on here even if tomorrow they said they removing the rewards system. Getting the $1 or $2 off on here is a nice perk, but I am just happy to help others when I can. I am also not a wealthy individual, which can be reflected on why I am on PM. I can't really afford to pay the $60+ a month a post-pay customer typically has to pay. It's not even in my own best interest to do Operation Red Nose or to help out on here because neither one of them pays me, but not everything is about money.

[ShawnC13]

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@dna2016 wrote:

@Zz that seems a bit odd.  I mean if you're actually active within the community on a regular basis, (i.e. replying/responding regularly, creating new posts), not necessarily getting a lot of bravos but mostly just communicating within the forum, then you should get a little something for that month.  Keep in mind I believe only the Oracles can get up to $20, everyone else the most we can get is $15.  Just seems a bit odd not to really get anything if you're contributing as much as you say you are.  

Suggest you touch base with a MOD and make sure your community profile is in sync with your My Account profile. 

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It was discovered that he did get teh top 25% and a $2 reward for that month.

[dna2016]

@Zz that seems a bit odd.  I mean if you're actually active within the community on a regular basis, (i.e. replying/responding regularly, creating new posts), not necessarily getting a lot of bravos but mostly just communicating within the forum, then you should get a little something for that month.  Keep in mind I believe only the Oracles can get up to $20, everyone else the most we can get is $15.  Just seems a bit odd not to really get anything if you're contributing as much as you say you are.  

Suggest you touch base with a MOD and make sure your community profile is in sync with your My Account profile. 

[srlawren]

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@Zz wrote:

there are far better ways to make $2.

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@Zz absolutely.  This has been stated many times in the past (including at least twice in this thread before you said it), and will be stated many times again in the future.  

[krazykiwi]

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@Zz wrote:

yes and i hope anyone who has dreams of striking it rich and winning that $20 reward is crazy to think that after reading this thread. i was here for nearly 20 hours checking in on threads last month. certainly wont have time for that with just a $2 payout but i will occasionally be on to provide help from time to time no doubt.

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Hi, I spend a couple hours a day doing other things on the computer and at the same time helping out on this forum. Usually get $10 for that, $2 for autopay and with a few friend referrals you have a $20 month credit. As others mentioned, we do not do it to make money and I would never consider $20 a month off of my bill "striking it rich". 

Without helping in the community you can still get $2 for autopay, $1 per friend referral and $1 loyalty each year, so you can still get to $20 without putting in much effort. Even without all the credits, PM is still a cheaper option than its competition for those capable of managing their own accounts.

Helping others is not a priority for everyone, as you pointed out making money for what you do is more important to some. I do not agree with suggesting helping in the community is for "people without a life", not everyone is solely financially motivated in their actions. 

I hope you enjoy the service that PM delivers and may you never require the service that the community offers.

[mcs11]

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@ShawnC13 wrote:

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@Zz wrote:

p.s. all in all not worth the time and effort to get the $2...just saying in case anyone is wondering...you must literally have no life to apply this to your life every month...there are far better ways to make $2.

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If you are doing this for the rewards then you are doing it for the wrong reason they are a bonus.  People can make it work in their schedule.  I log in different times of the day, while watching TV at night, when I take my kids to their sporting activities.  Just whenever the opportunity comes up and I feel like it I will log in.

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@ShawnC13  Me too. It's a great way to fill a few minutes here and there in between drop offs and pick ups, and other life activities. It's just kinda fun to help others.

[ShawnC13]

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@Zz wrote:

p.s. all in all not worth the time and effort to get the $2...just saying in case anyone is wondering...you must literally have no life to apply this to your life every month...there are far better ways to make $2.

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If you are doing this for the rewards then you are doing it for the wrong reason they are a bonus.  People can make it work in their schedule.  I log in different times of the day, while watching TV at night, when I take my kids to their sporting activities.  Just whenever the opportunity comes up and I feel like it I will log in.

[stonechucker]

@Zz, looking at your registration date for the community, if it matches when you signed up for service, you may have had the reward rolled into your renewal.  This would be shown in your transaction history.

[Someone_here]

To be clear, the $20 is only for oracles. Other folks can have up to $15, and for most people up to $10.

To be an oracle, you (unofficially) need to be in the top tier of community reward ($15) for most of the months over a long time, say more than 1 year (probably 2 years). Given this, you probably also need to be ranked as a community mayor (the title/status next to your community username). 

You also need a current oracle to "retire", or get less involved and lose his status (or PM to decide there is room for a new oracle), and furthermore you need to be choosen by PM teams/other oracles/the community among other people equally as involved as you.

[ute1978]

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@Zz wrote:

p.s. all in all not worth the time and effort to get the $2...just saying in case anyone is wondering...you must literally have no life to apply this to your life every month...there are far better ways to make $2.

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Indeed there are. This community was never meant to be a money maker.... The members in this community are here mainly to help others. Some spend hours and hours a day for just a fraction of a cent off of their bill.

[Zz]

yes and i hope anyone who has dreams of striking it rich and winning that $20 reward is crazy to think that after reading this thread. i was here for nearly 20 hours checking in on threads last month. certainly wont have time for that with just a $2 payout but i will occasionally be on to provide help from time to time no doubt.

[Someone_here]

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@Zz wrote:

p.s. all in all not worth the time and effort to get the $2...just saying in case anyone is wondering...you must literally have no life to apply this to your life every month...there are far better ways to make $2.

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Indeed, it was never met as a way to "make money". I think most people here are aware of that, as suggested by previous comments 😉

[Someone_here]

Around the 6th of each month, the community reward will appear in your reward section in your selfserve account.

Then whenever your cycle renew, that reward money will be applied to renewal before your credit card/avalaible funds are debited.

You can also check total reward received for the lifetime of your account at the bottom of your selfserve page.

Great to see you received it!

[Zz]

p.s. all in all not worth the time and effort to get the $2...just saying in case anyone is wondering...you must literally have no life to apply this to your life every month...there are far better ways to make $2.

[Zz]

You are correct it looks to appear on my rewards section as a $2 reward but difficult to see why i got it in my account details. sad i had to go this far to find out why that was applied to my account and for what reason but i think we are all clear now and can close up this thread. thanks.

[Someone_here]

Top 25%, should be worth $2 reward (check under community reward here).

[Zz]

Top 25 of what?

[mimmo]

@Zz you received the top 25 reward a weelk or so a go. You should see it in selfserve under rewards. If not then you might want to ask a mod to investigate.

[ShawnC13]

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@Zz wrote:

I spent countless hours helping out in these forums last month just to see if it was possible to even get a cent off my bill by doing this and sacrificing much time better served actually doing something useful for my life and to no avail. Didn't even receive a cent off my bill for helping despite many replies, likes and solutions arrived at. I must be doing something wrong here. Someone wanna enlighten me as to what it was?

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Welcome to the forum.  It has been said that you can make more money collecting cans and recycling them for a refund and earn more than you can here in the same time.    Not to discourage you or anything but 42 Posts 13 Bravos and 0 Solutions probably isn't going to put you at the top of the reward table.  We have people that are getting upwards of 40 Bravos a day and probably posting 50-100 posts a day helping out.  Really you must want to just help out and if you earn a reward that is a bonus.  Stick around and you might be surprised next month.  Each month differs in participation level you may have just found one where really high levels were required to make the rewards level.

[popping]

@Zz

You will need time to learn the PM system.  With time, your reply will get more brovos when your posts are correct and helping subscribers.  Concentrate on providing good quality answer and not more posts.

The brovos to posts ratio for the top contributors is 1.5 and higher. 

[Zz]

my email is streamlined across all socials

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

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@Zz wrote:

I spent countless hours helping out in these forums last month just to see if it was possible to even get a cent off my bill by doing this and sacrificing much time better served actually doing something useful for my life and to no avail. Didn't even receive a cent off my bill for helping despite many replies, likes and solutions arrived at. I must be doing something wrong here. Someone wanna enlighten me as to what it was?

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Does your email address in the community match you email address in your account?

The account email address *could* be different than your log in email address too.

That's the link for the rewards.

At the end of the day though...this is not the best use of your time for money. As the saying goes, you'd be better off collecting bottles for refund. That's real money too.

Edit: and...the $20 is kinda misleading. That's for Oracles.