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This is it. Today is the day…
Today (April 3rd) is the last day to buy reload cards at CVS (with a credit card)
Incase you’ve been hiding in a cave, I should mention that the rumor of CVS going cash only for reload cards is true. The only slightly false part of the rumor was the date. Yes, some CVS stores went cash only on 3/31, but most of the country is going cash only on April 4th (Friday). What to do? Run out today to your favorite CVS store, then read this when you get home: 9 ways to cope without reload cards.
Swipe reloads at at CVS
Before the fateful CVS memo was leaked, I thought I had found something fabulous. Do you remember how I said that you can “swipe reload” Amex Serve cards at the register at CVS? Well, I found out that you can do the same with almost all Vanilla Reloadables (one exception I found is the Bluebird card that has stayed faithful to Walmart). So, bring in a stack of Vanilla Reloadables (MyVanilla, NetSpend, JH Preferred, etc.) and load them each up one at a time at the register, up to $500 per transaction. Simply hand the cashier your reloadable card and say you would like to reload your prepaid card (say “please” too). Other than Serve which is free, you will be charged a $3.95 fee per transaction. It’s basically just like buying Vanilla Reload cards except that it doesn’t matter whether or not the reload cards are in stock (and guess what, they’re probably not in stock today). Unfortunately, swipe reloads are going cash only too. So, you have today only to try out this trick (sorry).
Finding cards where they’re not supposed to be
If Swipe Reloads aren’t enough to keep you busy today, you’ll probably make your way over to the gift card rack to look for your favorite reload cards. And, they won’t be there. After all, everyone else in the world has been scrambling to buy them before April 4th, so it should come as no surprise that they’re sold out. Or, are they….? Grab random piles of other gift cards and fan them out. If you’re lucky, you’ll find some that were previously hidden there by others. If you find more than you plan to buy, do the next customer a favor by leaving the extras exposed. After all, they won’t do you any good after today!
8PM EST deadline: Today!
Amol, at Hack My Trip tells us that CVS computers switch over to “the next day” at 8PM EST each evening (see “The Reports of Vanilla Reload’s Demise Have Not Been Exaggerated“). So, if you’re reading this on April 3rd, you have just until 8PM EST / 5PM Pacific to use your credit cards to earn points and miles at CVS. Hey, I’m just the messenger. Blame Amol if you don’t get there in time.
What about load-once MasterCard/Visa gift cards?
The memos stating that CVS was going cash only refer specifically to reloadable cards. So, it might still be possible to buy load-once gift cards such as OneVanilla. The problem is that I doubt managers and cashiers will understand the difference. So, I expect it will be hard to buy just about anything of value at CVS for a while. We’ll see.
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[…] perpetual point machine (PPM)… except for the “perpetual” part. That PPM died in April 2014 when CVS decided to accept cash-only for most reloadable […]
[…] was all fine and good until CVS went cash-only. Now its no longer possible to pay with a credit card at CVS for Vanilla Reload cards (to reload […]
i bought a couple of visa gift cards off my cc at rite aid with no trouble (they didnt mix it up with the reloads)
[…] buying Vanilla Reload cards with credit cards to load Bluebird and then pay bills. Now that CVS has gone cash-only, some of the content of the conference became more applicable to those who attended from nearby […]
Completelly unrelated
Has anybody had problems loading BB using GC from GCmall using the moneymachine?
Today I had 4 GC , 1 OV 2 Visas I ordered from GCM and other Visa I bought at the store but it is commercialized by GCM. The 3 from GCM were rejected by the Money Machine.
Luckily to get 4 Ice Cream cards using CC in one Tampa store around 8:30EST.
Went 1 for 2 at tonight, first store no problem, second stroe I was told Cash opnly and then was allowed to see the memo/email, many other cards were also listed as cash only now, the first line of the memo mentioned the huge increase in CC processing fees… Will try again tomorrow at the good store. I am in Orlando,FL.
It’s officially over. All the cvs registers on mkt street are hard coded to decline once serve is swiped. I tried 3 different serve cards. They all showed me the declined message. Then she showed me all the vanilla reloads they had hanging on the rack. She said someone tried this morning and it’s cash only….
Yesterday the mgr said the change is not due to cc fees… It’s due to cc theft and reload fraud. Cash will cut this down.
Oh and I like your captcha…
Market St SF?
Market St CVS seems to be sold out when I checked.
I usually go to the CVS on California St near the Ferry Building, and those are cash only too for VR.
Extremely interesting at CVS at BonAir in Marin, CA……….Woman has greeting card and $500 Visa gift card purchase…….she pays with credit card and departs
I start a $3000 purchase of VR…….first card scans in…….second card scans in and asks for driver’s license……driver’s license scans in……..third card causes pop up on screen to say “Cash Tender only”
Now I won’t be buying my VISA gift cards at CVS but for some of you that have drugstore 5X this might be of interest as it seems the same hardwire that killed VR has not killed a $500 Visa gift card………
The Vanilla Reload is dead, Long Live the Vanilla Gift Card!
CVS would not accept my cc for VR cards today. I’m in Harrisburg, PA.
Couldn’t load VR either of the 2 BB we use .
Just got a VR at a gas station and it will not load to BB. The VR people told me on the phone that there is nothing wrong on their end, that I should call BB (oh no,not the offshore call center again…)
Called BB and rep told me they are having “issues with web reload at this time”. Um, ok, when can I reload my acct with VR then? “oh maybe 4 or 5 hrs from now”.
OK, I wait, I guess… Anybody else having VR to BB issues?? I had no issues loading gc’s at wm right before this (different BB acct….)
Just an update… 4 hrs later I loaded the VR…crisis over…
It is cathartic to know a mad dash to do the funeral load is crashing the phone lines…………this situation calls for alcohol consumption in copious amounts………
Excuse my ignorance but should I expect the cc option to work in San Francisco tonight up until 859pm? BTW there are still some out there? My CVS manager laughed last night as I cleared another cc and asked “what will I do once this ends? Well I’ll watch the gift card rack as the poor VR cries out “Why won’t somebody buy me? I need some love”……………A sad day in history indeed!
@Ben & FM, for the Citi TY 5x promo, there is a max of 2500 points, or $500. Lame…. My father got that offer but I got one for 2x (lame-er….)
I had a wonderful cashier at one CVS last night. She sold me 5K worth of vr’s despite the other cashiers waving the memo at her and complaining to some manager on the phone. She just told them to buzz off, “this is our regular customer”. ☺
Just found it on the web, even Hitler is furious about the CVS news: http://captiongenerator.com/14754/Hitler-Rips-CVS-for-Vanilla-Reload-Masacre