hw711

That's similar to my experience. I used to be able to buy other gc's with walgreen gc's then recently was they said it's cash only and I tried 3 WGs in downtown chicago, same thing.

msnut1

I have the Citi Dividend Card which gives 5% cashback upto $300 until March 31 on drug store purchases. Unfortunately, there are no CVS loacations where I live. So I went to Walgreens and tried to buy a Vanilla Visa GC and was told that it was cash only

This morning, I chatted with a Walgreens rep on the website, who said CC was acceptable form on payment for GC. The store just needs to verify ID and as long as it matches, it should be ok to buy a GC.

I then took a copy of the chat transcript to the Walgreens store, long story short, the supervisor talked to the store manager and said it was ok to buy Vanilla Visa GC with CC. However, it is only limited to 1X$500 transaction per day.

Still I'm glad that I can now buy at least one VGC with CC @ my local Walgreens and receive 5X bonus points.

cuebert

Two weeks I tried buying a VGC at WG with BC and was successful. Last week all the Visa cards were gone, only Amex remained. I tried buying a PP reload and a MP. My items were declined by the cashier. She mentioned the max amount of VGCs I could get (if they were available) is 1k.

Fuerza

I bought a OneVanilla Visa at Walgreens during lunch with BC, No issues. I've tried reload cards and they told me cash only.

PtsJunkieWI

Just last week my GF was told by cashier at the Walgreens across town that there was "a company policy" change and the max a person could buy of the good stuff (i.e. variable load GCs) was one per day.

Skeptical, I made her go with me to our downtown WG, and my cashier let me buy two... her cashier limited her to one.
I suggested she get another and checkout with my cashier, who was amenable to it, but cashier #1 decided to be a hero and called out that only one was allowed and not to let her (my GF) purchase another... stink of a scene. Needless to say, my GF was POd... and at me!

Not believing its quite a national policy, but I know the good folks here will root out the overall trend. If true, it's a bummer for the fallback location for MS, on non-bonus CCs and meeting min-spend.


EDIT note: They did not scan DL or take names or anything... so not sure how they'd enforce this if you visited multiple times..esp across shifts / register areas.

Fuerza

Absolutely right on the none scaned ID. I do enter my phone number to get the rewards, lol.

I have 3 Walgreens within my drive home and could easily hit all 3 during my lunch break. I'm not concerned.

cbb13

I was able to purchase Vanilla Visa GC at my local WG. Initially I asked the cashier to let me purchase a Vanilla Reload Card with a credit card. He didn't agree, so I told him I had purchased it once before. He tried to run my card, but their would only allow to pay for with cash!
So he went over and got me a Visa GC and allowed me to pay for it with my Amex. Hope this continues for a while!

mikeyb45

So is MS at walgreens for One Vanilla officially a thing now? Or is it ymmv like CVS? I tried one store by me and got the snarky "cash only" from an older Lady who wouldnt even try.

cuebert

Try another shift.

antignos

All the WG in Vegas have Cash only signs for ALL gift card purchases by the racks. Sucks. CVS is even difficult and all depends on the who is manning the register.

ericliujian

I could use cc to buy my paypal reload or vanilla visa at walgreens. But only 500 per day.

jimmyrules712

Quick data point. I live in a small (pop 30k) town that has two Walgreens (no CVS). One of the Walgreens just opened up 6 months ago, the other has been there for years. Last week I went into the old one and tried to buy a VR, the cashier tried to ring it up and then said the machine said cash only.

I immediately went to the newer location, which was only about 1 mile away from the first location, and was able to buy a VR with no issues. I came back the next day and bought 2x500 with no issues (no ID check or any hesitation). I've made a few more visits since then,each time 2x500 VRs, had several different cashiers, and no issues.

As far as I can tell they just didn't implement the same cash register restrictions at the new location that the old has.

Lemma

I've had the same experience exactly. I used to buy larger amounts at WG but it seems like the $500 policy has become pretty universal. The whole "it's by law" thing really irritates me. I'm so tempted to tell them I can buy 5k/day at CVS and pay with CC although I know it's probably not a good idea to tell someone who suspects me of fraud that I'm in the habit of buying thousands of dollars of GC. Tell me it's cash only because of corporate policy or whatever, fine, then at least they're taking ownership of it.

Interesting. I've always been able to buy GC but not VR regardless of location.

uncommonsensical

Yeah, the Asst. Mgr actually made me lol when he told me it was illegal and he could go to jail. I asked to what law he is referring to, he confidently told me it was Homeland Security. He said corporate security made everyone in the branch sign a document stating they would sell no more than $500. I heard the same thing from 2 other stores in the area- even a friendly one who said they signed it this past week. The stories were the same, so it's definitely from corporate security.

The twist at the one store was that the $500 limit was regardless of payment method- so cash as well. So the drug dealers are finally getting a taste of being shot down too- well, figuratively in this case...

StuckinKC

I bought eight 500 One Vanilla cards at walgreens yest. Manager rang me up. Didn't seem to be any limits or problems x the little five dollar free gift cards with purchase of two had to be done manually. I do 1K at a time about three times a week. (Cheapest milk in town, and drive past all the time).