Hit 3 of 4 in-town Targets today after 1 month redbird load hiatus.. Varying experiences.. In general, the new POS software is buggy, cashier POS training not comprehensive, and significant increase in training all strata of employees to police customers using gift cards to load Redbird. It's as if all Target employees went to WalMart BlueBird policing training then returned to Target to practice their new customer service skills. I was NOT aware of K8 workaround(?), OR the Starbucks register load trick which might have helped considerably.

Store 1: new POS: K8 function NOT used.. Swiped debit GC with PIN.. transaction cancelled immediately after "Enter PIN" screen appeared (prior to entering PIN. Tried this 5x using diff Debit PIN GCs (Sunrise, BankCorp, and Meta). Switched to SunTrust Debit/w PIN and the load succeeded. Conclusion: Store 1 either a) Requires K8 workaround for non-personalized Debit GCs or b) has register software HARDCODED to prevent non-personalized Debit GC with PIN. 2 diff cashiers at CSR desk insisted that "gift cards could not be used", and that "only cash and CREDIT cards are accepted.. I took the bait and tried a CC which of course failed. Paradoxically, without asking, was given a $3 courtesy coupon for my troubles

Store 2: Old POS: Debit GC with PIN: no POS software changes. After successfully dumping 2x$500 Sunnys, the head CSR ("DeDe" insisted to check for my name on GC when I switched from Sunnys to Staples $200's.. I asked her to "try anyway", but she refused with a snarl.. Walked out to parking lot, returned 5 mins later, bypassed CSR desk to furthest cashier line from CSR desk.. I convinced cashier to "try to load" despite "all loads must take place at service desk" recited mantra.. Got 1 $200 Staples to load, then looked up and out of nowhere "DeDe" peered over cashiers shoulder, snarled at him, and at me, asking "which type of card is "he" (aka the perpetrator) using".. I ignored her, swiped Staples $200, pushed accept button on pinpad, got the transaction "approved" message. DeDe, seeing this, lunged on top of cashier and lept to press the "void" button on the register-- she succeeded in voiding the approved transaction. I walked out without further discussion. Conclusion: old POS registers accept all PIN-based debit cards; store policing policy increasing dramatically with head CSR resembling nastiness of in-town Walmart customer treatment.

Store 3: Same as store 1, but a mixture of new and old POS. new POS software (did not use K8) at cust svc desk would not load debit GCs unless contained name (ST Debit worked). Old POS failed upon each redbird swipe "system error message "Contact CSC or COC" (which I presumed? was the name of the POS software company). Store manager was called to front who quickly spewed the ""no 3rd party "Gift" cards"" faux rule, only to have the cashier tell him "we never even got that far". conclusion: POS too buggy to draw POS conclusions; store managers now actively policing GC Debit Redbird loaders. CSR desk was NOT enforcing the "no GC Debit" policy at either new or old POS.

To the posters who claim universally, "nothing has changed recently at Target", this couldn't be further from the truth, at least for in-town ATL stores.

Were I not trying to finalize the $20K minimum spend for AMEX Bus Plat for 150KMR, I would opt for other less confrontational GC liquidation methods