Gift cards: Save on Amex, iTunes, Google Play, restaurants, and more

There are a number of popular gift card deals advertised this week (and one unadvertised special below). Here are the gift cards on special this week — all expire 12/9/17:

Rite Aid (weekly ad, page 6)

With Rite Aid gift card deals, you earn the discount in the form of Plenti points, which can be used for future purchases at Rite Aid (though not towards prescriptions in my area at least), towards gas at Exxon-Mobil, towards purchases at Macy’s, or at the many other Plenti partners (though note that some partners are leaving the program next year).

You can do each of the following offers 2 times. For example, you can earn 500 Plenti points when you buy $25 in AMC, Regal, or Fandango gift cards. You can do that offer twice — so you could buy a $25 AMC gift card and a $25 Fandango gift card. You’d have then earned 500 points twice for a total of 1,000 points and that offer is completed (you can not buy 2x AMC, 2x Regal, and 2x Fandango — in that case, you would only receive $10 in points for the first 2 gift cards). Here are this week’s offers in print in case the image above is hard to read:

The offers

• Earn 1,000 Plenti points ($10) when you buy:
  • $50 or more in Rite Aid gift cards
• Earn 800 Plenti points ($8) when you buy:
  • $$50 or more in Longhorn Steakhouse or Red Robin gift cards
• Earn 800 Plenti points ($8) when you buy:
  • $50 or more in Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shops gift cards
• Earn 800 Plenti points ($8) when you buy:
  • $50 or more in Spa Week, Express, or H&M gift cards
• Earn 500 Plenti points ($5) when you buy:
  • $25 or more in Google Play gift cards
• Earn 500 Plenti points ($5) when you buy:
  • $25 or more in AMC, Regal, or Fandango gift cards
• Earn 500 Plenti points ($5) when you buy:
  • $25 or more in Domino’s or Krispy Kreme gift cards
• Earn 500 Plenti points ($5) when you buy:
  • $50 or more in iTunes gift cards
• Earn 500 Plenti points ($5) when you buy:
  • $25 or more in Petco, Auto Zone, or Jiffy Lube gift cards

Office Max / Office Depot (weekly ad, page 28)

The Offer

• Free $10 Office Max / Office Depot gift card when you buy $200 or more in American Express Gift Card
• Valid 12/3/17 – 12/9/17

Quick Thoughts

Amex Gift cards can be a bit tougher to liquidate, but this offer might still be worthwhile for those making a last-minute push toward a Big Spend Bonus. The weekly ad says the discount is taken at the register, 1 per customer (YMMV in terms of finding a store/cashier that will let you do multiples).

Office Max / Office Depot: unadvertised iTunes special

The Offer

• $5 off $50 or $10 off $100 in iTunes Gift Cards
• Offer valid 12/3/17 – 12/9/17

Quick Thoughts

This offer was spotted as an in-store display; I did not see it in the weekly ad. YMMV on this one. I suppose it’s possible that this is regional — I scrolled through the entire ad of an Office Max location and an Office Depot location and didn’t find it advertised. Again the offer notes that the discount is taken automatically at the register, 1 per customer (and again it’s YMMV as to how that is enforced).

Staples (weekly ad, page 3)

The Offer

• $20 Staples Gift Card rebate when you buy $300 or more in American Express Gift Cards
• Valid 12/3/17 – 12/9/17
• Limit 1 rebate per household / mailing address

Quick Thoughts

As noted above, Amex gift cards can be tougher to liquidate (they don’t have a PIN), but can be useful for a category bonus or if you’re trying to hit a big spend threshold.

Bottom line

Saving money that you would otherwise spend is always a good deal (with the key being if you know you were going to otherwise spend at these merchants….and you can keep your gift cards organized). Some of these might even be interesting in terms of resale depending on your reselling relationships. At this time of year, we see tons of good gift card deals — keep your eye out for other Quick Deals throughout the week as other deals pop up.

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