Ever since May when I published “One card to rule them all,” I’ve received emails and tweets about once a week from different people with similar stories. Almost all said that an Office Depot manager told them that Office Depot was no longer selling Vanilla Reload cards. Each time I would run out to my local Office Depot and find the shelves still well stocked with the cards. So, when JeffTheWanderer reported the same story a couple of weeks ago, I wasn’t too concerned. This time, though, the story seems to be for real…
Last night, Travel By Points reported the following via Twitter:
Well-stocked OD pulled all Vanilla Reloads today after corporate notice. Mgr thinks it is nationwide. Hope not. … was there last night, full of them. Mom went tonight, all pulled. I didn’t believe her so I stopped by and confirmed myself… mgr quoted fraud and also IRS issues (biz owners paying employees with prepaids to avoid taxes).
Then, today, Toms FF Stuff reported:
@FrequentMiler @travelbypoints Vanilla Reloads are pulled. Tried today and manager brought out a memo to all stores to pull this morning.
I then called my local Office Depot and heard the same story. They had received a memo stating that they would no longer stock Vanilla Reload cards. I have since contacted both Office Depot and Incomm (the company that produces Vanilla Reload cards) to ask for their official stories. I’ll report more when I hear back from them.
Why?
You might wonder why Office Depot would stop selling these cards. The most likely reason (and the one that has been told to people asking) is that there has simply been too much fraud associated with these cards. See “When thieves steal our points.” It’s sad when crooks interfere with great point earning schemes!
Will they restock?
Since we haven’t heard an official story directly from Office Depot or Incomm yet, we can still hope that the memo we’ve heard about is incorrect or incomplete. There’s always the possibility that Office Depot will restock with a new version of Vanilla Reload cards that are somehow more secure. Do I think that will happen? No, but one can always hope.
Alternatives
If you were counting on these cards, don’t worry, there are plenty of good alternatives. On Monday I’ll publish some new findings, but for now consider the following:
- Other stores besides Office Depot still sell Vanilla Reload cards. However, it takes a bit more work to find ones that take credit cards. For example, while many Walgreen store registers are hard coded to not accept credit cards for these purchases, some do allow it. If it doesn’t work at one store, try another. To find cards that get bonus points at drug stores, grocery stores, and so on, please see “Best Category Bonuses.”
- It is still possible to get 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar! Please see the “The 5X everywhere backup plan“.
Please stay tuned for more on Monday. There are plenty of great opportunities still to be had!
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[…] Office Depot no longer sells Vanilla Reload cards (see “Office Depot discontinues Vanilla Reload cards“), many other stores do. For example, many people have reported success buying Vanilla […]
[…] Everyday spend is a different animal. I think the most effective way to explain this is to go over some of the popular cards and the best uses for them. Keep in mind that everyone has their own preferences and goals, so these can vary from person to person. Also note that if you feel like more of an expert you can just skip directly to The Frequent Miler’s trick to earn 5 points per dollar on every purchase (although this trick may not work anymore). […]
[…] We started with a moment of silence for the end of Vanilla Reload cards at Office Depot (see “Office Depot discontinues Vanilla Reload cards“). We then went on to discuss a number of opportunities that still exist. Below […]
Mick…maybe your right. From now on I am going to spread the “love” to a couple of CVS. I am still going to get a lot, but not entirely in only one store. Will this be acceptable to you?
Mick…because this CVS deal will die soon like OD. I am trying to get as much points as possible before it does.
@MeLovesVanilla- no, it does not have to. there are far more CVS stores than OD stores. people need to approach this with common sense ( i know it is hard given the nature of this crowd and the blogs). 20 grand in one store in less than two weeks obviously shows up to loss prevention.
I asked one of the Bellevue OD managers why they had discontinued Vanilla Reloads. He said that he *thought* it was because people were using cash back credit cards to buy them. The OD systems were incorrectly coding the sale as tangible goods. A credit card company asked them to fix this, but they pulled the cards instead.
Biggles209: It’s certainly possible that OD discontinued them for this reason. I still think that losses due to fraud or a more likely explanation though.
[…] Reload cards. As a result, most of the information below is now out of date. See Office Depot discontinues Vanilla Reload cards and The reload game is […]
All…the first CVS that I was successful in buying VR with a credit card or prepaid card now only accepts cash or debit as payment. Just like OD, a memo(via email) from LP was sent to stop the cashiers from accepting prepaids or credit for these VR 🙁 . So sad…less than 2 weeks when this deal died on this particular CVS. I thing the main reason was me…I bought about 20K in less than 2 weeks span at this particular store. Fortunately, I have backup CVSs that keeps this deal alive…for the time being.
@MeLovesVanilla – gee ya think? why cant you take it slow and use common sense with this?
no VR at my 2 local cvs. stacks of greendots, but cash only.
Has anyone tried buying VR at walmart using CC? any success?
i saw someone buying VR from CVS. What best card to use besides AMEX hilton?
[…] Office Depot discontinues Vanilla Reload cards […]
[…] to the very active thread on FlyerTalk and a post by the Frequent Miler, Office Depot has removed the Vanilla Reload prepaid cards from their store […]
Any success at CVS pharmacies in CA?
Spoke to a bro in Los Angeles. He manages an Office Depot, he confirmed that Vanilla Reloads are done.
If the IRS or FBI is truly concerned about using the reload cards to launder money, they should impose a requirement that such cards be purchased using credit cards. This would immediately put an end to the laundering concern.