$10 off $100 Visa gift cards at Office Depot/OfficeMax and Safeway/Vons/Albertsons

Both Office Depot/OfficeMax and Safeway/Vons/Albertsons are offering $10 off $100 Visa gift cards, which can be used at online merchants and anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted in the U.S.  The Office Depot deal ends on May 30, 2020 and Safeway's on June 6, 2020, and both deals offer $10 off as long as you purchase $100+ in Visa gift cards cumulatively.  For Safeway, the coupon first needs to be added to your Just for U account before the purchase.  Whereas at Office Depot, the $10 discount is instant and does not require a coupon


Which credit cards to use

$100 Visa gift cards come with $5.95 activation fees and $200 Visa gift cards with $6.95 fees.  Even with the higher activation fee, you'll come out on top buy purchasing a $200 Visa gift card especially if you're using a credit card that earns 5x at office supply stores like the Chase Ink Cash, and 5x at supermarkets like the Chase Freedom and Chase Reserve, which both offer 5x at grocery stores until June 30, 2020.  Let's take a look at the math.

$100 Visa gift card + $5.95 fee - $10 promo = $95.95
$95.95 x5 (w/Chase Freedom/Reserve or Chase Ink Cash) = 480 Ultimate Rewards

$200 Visa gift card + $6.95 fee - $10 promo = $196.95
$196.95 x5 (w/Chase Freedom/Reserve or Chase Ink Cash) = 985 Ultimate Rewards

So with a $200 Visa gift card purchase, you would end up spending $1 more in fees but earn 505 more UR.  Chase UR are worth at least 1.5 cents each, so 505 comes out to an extra $7.58+ valuation.



Best ways to liquidate Visa gift cards

The best ways to liquidate Visa gift cards would be through purchases that you normally wouldn't earn bonus cashback on.  For example, if you already earn 4X on grocery store purchases with the Amex Gold card, then it wouldn't make much sense to use these cards at supermarkets.  A good way for many would be via Amazon debit card reloads, which earn an additional 2% bonus towards your Amazon gift card balance.  Since these Visa gift cards count as debit card purchases, a $100 gift card would end up contributing $102 to your Amazon gift card balance.  Another way would be to shop at Costco, which very few credit cards offer bonus cashback at.


Bottom line

It's great to see this deal return for both merchants.  Whereas I wouldn't recommend just entering a Safeway during this pandemic for the sole purpose of buying a $200 Visa gift card, it would be something good to throw into your cart if you already happen to be shopping for groceries.  Office Depot stores have generally been empty with no lines, so they would likely be a better option if you're going out of your way to take advantage of this deal.

From all of us at Flying for Fitness, please stay healthy during this trying time.  We hope you enjoyed this post.  Please consider visiting one of our sponsors by clicking on the advertisements.  Our sponsors pay us for customer visits and help us to keep the lights on.  Thanks!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Citi temporarily adds American Airlines as a mileage transfer partner!

Image
In a surprise move, Citi has added American Airlines as a transfer partner for their ThankYou Points (TYP) earning credit cards.  What's especially intriguing is that even no annual fee cards that normally don't offer transfers to loyalty programs are eligible for this new and temporary partnership, albeit at a lower transfer ratio.  Citi's premium line of cards, including the Prestige and the Premier, both have 1:1 transfer capability with AAdvantage miles (1,000 TYP = 1,000 AAdvantage miles).  Whereas no annual fee cards, including the ThankYou Preferred and the Rewards+, get a 2:1 transfer ratio (1,000 TYP = 500 AAdvantage miles).  This transfer partnership is valid from July 18 through November 13, though one could speculate that it could be extended. American Airlines AAdvantage program was the only loyalty program out of the three U.S. legacy carriers that didn't have a 1:1 transfer partner with any credit card accounts.  Delta has long been a transfer partner wit
Read more

Park Hyatt Sydney review

Image
For our trip to Australia's east coast, we started off with a 4-night stay in Sydney.  We decided to stay at the Park Hyatt Sydney as it has been consistently rated as one of the best Hyatt luxury properties worldwide.  The hotel, located in the heart of Sydney Harbor at the Rocks, is famous for its stunning views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Price As a category 8 hotel, the Park Hyatt Sydney is Hyatt's most expensive award category ranging from 35k-45k points per night.  Fortunately, since we were traveling during Australia's "slower" winter season, we were able to get off-peak rates of 35k for most of our nights in a standard 1 King Bed room. Seeing how the hotel's standard rooms were over $700 a night during our stay, this was a pretty good redemption value at well over 2 cents per point.  This hotel is also known for releasing tons of free night award space, even during peak travel times.  This is atypical for many Hyatt top-tier hotels such as t
Read more

Spend $10 on small businesses on Amazon, get $10 credit

Image
With the annual upcoming Amazon Prime Day scheduled for June 21 and 22, Amazon is running a promo where you get $10 credit to spend on Prime Day if you spend $10+ at a small business on Amazon. The deal From June 7 through June 20, spend $10 or more at a participating small business on Amazon.  Amazon will then send you an e-mail with an activation link for your $10 credit.  The $10 promotional credit is value during Prime Day only on June 21 and 22. Link to the promo Amazon has many small business sellers, and you're very likely to find something $10+ fitting for your needs.  There are a good variety of keto, low-carb foods for sale , as well as all-natural sunscreens for your outdoor activities.  Terms & Conditions Prime members: Purchase $10 of select small business products between June 7, 2021 and June 20, 2021 and earn a $10 credit to use on Prime Day. Exclusions apply. You’ll get $10 to spend on Amazon for Prime Day, starting June 21, 2021 at 12:00am (PT) and ending on
Read more