Get 30 miles per dollar for Mother’s Day! Earn 1750 points per dollar! 25% cash back for flowers! ….
You’ve seen the ads. If you know a little bit about flower shopping then you know that these “deals” aren’t really deals at all. If you know a bit more, then you know that it is possible to turn these bad deals into great deals. And, if you know even more, you know that the details are extremely complicated. In this post, I hope to simplify things down to a single question… Do you care what gets delivered? First, a few background details…
First, 1800Flowers (and associated brands) is the only online option worth pursuing. The reason is simple: it is the only option I know of where you can get free shipping and earn rewards on the same purchase. Shipping and handling charges can be outrageously high. Worse, with mile per dollar offers, the shipping and handling portion does not earn miles. This alone can change a 30 mile per dollar advertised offer to be effectively less than 20 miles per dollar. The same happens with percentage discounts. Free shipping is an essential ingredient toward getting a good deal.
Second, all of the deals that offer a significant number of airline miles require applying a promo code at checkout. Promo codes invalidate portal rewards and limit what you can buy. Hence, The Question.
Third, regardless of your answer to The Question, you can use gift cards to pay, but with one big exception. Discounted gift credit offered by sites like Groupon usually have restrictions that prevent applying promo codes. That’s something you’ll need to know if your answer to The Question is no. For details about buying gift cards cheaply, please read: 1800Flowers Extreme Stacking promo codes, portals, gift cards, and more.
Now, back to the question…
Do you care about what gets delivered?
If your goal is to get airline miles and to satisfy the “I sent something to mom” Mother’s Day requirement, but you don’t care specifically what you send her, then answer “No”. If you care about what gets delivered and simply want to get it as cheaply as possible, then answer “Yes”
No, I don’t care. I just want miles!
Since you don’t care about what you get, you should be able to live within the promo code constraints. Find up-to-date promo codes and details about buying gift cards cheaply here: 1800Flowers Extreme Stacking promo codes, portals, gift cards, and more. If you choose a promo code that offers a set number of miles per order, then try to find items that are as close to the minimum order price as possible (usually $34.99).
Yes, I care! Give me good stuff, cheap!
Since you do care about what you get, you can save yourself lots of frustration by avoiding promo codes. Instead, watch for great cash back portal deals (as I write this, eBates is offering 25% cash back, but 20% or 15% is more typical). You can find the latest portal offers at CashBackMonitor.com. You can also subscribe to Frequent Miler’s Portal Alerts to get daily updates of portal changes.
For detailed step by step instructions for buying stuff you want cheaply, please see: Real world extreme stacking in-home dining and more. Note that these techniques will usually get you stuff cheaply when compared to other delivery options. If you’ll be seeing your gift recipient in person, you can often do better by buying from local stores.
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Gift cards are available again at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. The following message is also present: “This special offer cannot be combined with Promotion Codes.”. Is the ability to earn big mileage bonuses from gift card purchases gone? Thanks in advance for the input.
I believe that means that you can’t use promotion codes when buying gift cards, but I don’t think anything has changed about using gift cards.
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