The Trials and Tribulations of Turning a Little Steem Into Fiat

I Need a Nap

Why would anybody want a bunch of greenbacks when they could have Steem?

Well, I have been working with Steemit for several weeks and decided that I needed to prove that I could turn 5 SBD into George Washingtons. Also, I've suggested Steemit to some friends. I even promoted it on my website. I didn't feel right about recommending something that I wasn't 100-percent sure of.

After all, we're doing this to support the platform but ALSO to earn. I wasn't going to be satisfied until I actually turned just a bit of Steem digital currency into traditional money. I do plan to use most of my earnings to power up and transfer to other Steemians, but I just had to know, OK?

What Did I Want to Do With My Moolah?

This is what I wanted:

• A debit card I could reload
• For obvious reasons, it had to take US residents

YES, I POWERED UP TOO -- THIS WAS JUST A TEST

Don't worry. I spent more powering up a bit. Since I lost my tiny, new-member delegation a few weeks ago, I've been sad. What's up with that, anyway? They couldn't have let me use their lousy 14 SP a little while longer?

Here's What Did Not Work for Me

All I have to say, is the process has been difficult so far.

What didn't work is trying to fund BitPay with Blocktraides. Blocktrades said the wallet address from BitPay was invalid. Crap, what do I know? Then I looked and saw that BitPay only accepts a few wallets, and that would mean transferring to one wallet, and then to BitPay, and that's way too hard.

I was about to give up and just try buying from @steemgiftcards. I might do that in the future because that looks like the easiest option, but I really wanted something I could reload.

I Finally Got a Shift Card

I finally just sent the Steem through Blocktrades to Coinbase, signed up for a Shift card, and then completed that process. The problem is funds evaporated all along the route, both from Bitcoin fees and then paying for the Shift card for the first time.

Here's the deal:

• What should have been well over $40 in SBD, turned to about $30 by the time it got to Coinbase.
• Then I paid some tiny crumb of a bitcoin for the $10 Shift fee, so I've got about $20 left in Coinbase. Hey, I'm a baller!

PLEASE, GURUS, TELL ME A BETTER WAY

I've got shiny, new .05 upvotes and polite replies for all relevant comments.

Please either tell me amusing stories about how hard it is to turn Steem (SBD, in this case) into USD or give me better advice. Thanks, and have a nice day! I'm in the USA and would prefer a debit card I can reload. Thanks!