RogerD408

Never implied that... AA was probably the reason for them going away just like they were the reason for them to exist in the first place. Costco did not create the AA gift cards.

brp

So the fact that the still sell AA gift cards on AA.com, and only the discounted gift cards at Costco seem to be going away means what, exactly, in this tinfoil hat context?

Cheers.

RogerD408

I'm just guessing here, but could it be easier for them to control what they have in inventory than at an outside merchant? My company would give resellers 120-day notice on products about to be obsoleted, yet we didn't say word one to direct customers.

scubadu

Good lord, where do people come up with this stuff??

Yes, FT is made up of rampant speculation. But that is only because people make a conscious choice to do so. If you read the FT "Terms and Conditions" it turns out members actually are not required to speculate. It's amazing; you don't have to, even if others choose to, it's your conscious choice.

Regards

sukn

Or Costco, as it tends to do, purchased these gift cards from AA in bulk and at a significant discount, and when it came time to renew the deal, either Costco or AA or both decided it was not in their interest to renew the agreement.

DebBrown

Plenty of gift cards in stock at Chicagoland Oak Brook store on 7/9. I bought 20 and no one I talked to had heard that they would be discontinued.

Deb

bHbZ

Thanks for the tip about the LIC Costco. Before reading your post, I called Hackensack, Rego Park, Harlem, Port Chester, Yonkers, and Nanuet. All said the item number was being/already deleted from the system. Only one said Pentagon City was the closest one that had it. Not sure why none mentioned LIC.

If it means anything, on 7/12 around 2:30pm, LIC had 30 remaining.

FWAAA

No, that can't be it - it has to be because AA is in bankruptcy! Or AA's in bankruptcy because of the cards. I can't make up my mind.



Of course, about half of the time these have been available at Costco, AA has been in bankruptcy.

In case it's not obvious, I agree with you.

toomanybooks

I'd imagine that Costco only gave (gives) money to AA at the time these cards sold (sell). Same with the other gift cards. In fact, probably the same with many things Costco sells.

Well, that's where I bought mine and 2 diff. people told me quite clearly that they are marked for discontinuation in the computer (with no date for coming back), and that AA gift cards had been coming in from other stores in the area, like ORD-TGU's local.

In any case, I wouldn't depend 100% on what some random Costco front-end person says about stuff like this.

FWAAA

You may very well be right but I don't think that sukn's point depends on the timing of the paymnent by Costco to AA.

About the bolded part - I seriously doubt that Costco is selling very many items that are present in its warehouses on consignment. Costco may not have physically paid for every item (depending on the terms they have with suppliers) but I'd bet that title to most goods in the stores has passed to Costco long before the goods hit the floor. Dunno about the gift cards, however.

The one thing that's very different about the sale of Gift Cards at Costco is that, unlike the unactivated cards you find hanging on racks at every grocery store (and many other retailers), Costco's gift cards are all activated before they hand them to you.

Ordinarily, retailers activate gift cards at the register (which triggers electronic payment to the underlying issuer). At Costco, the gift cards are stored in the locked high-value vault because every gift card in there is already activated. I have to imagine that payment for the cards is set in motion when those cards are activated, not when Costco sells them.

In any case, I agree that not every employee entrusted to hand out the high-value items from the cage is competent to authoritatively tell customers if a product has been discontinued, but enough Costco employees have told Flyertalkers that these cards have been discontinued for me to believe them. It was nice while it lasted.

Apieinthesky

I just bought several cards yesterday at the Manchester Costco in St. Louis. They also had plenty (at least 60) left, and I was told they were still being restocked on them.

a330300

I picked up a few at the San Francisco Costco last night, and the rep mentioned that they had about 80 left - and reminded me that they wouldn't be restocked.

MarkedMan

Better pop over this morning

geclub1

You may want to read Costco's SEC filings to see how much Costco's business model is depending on being financed by Accounts Payable (Hint: a lot!).
Now obviously, we do not know the exact payment terms on these gift cards. But I will be very surprised that AA gets paid anytime before we pay for them.

JY1024

Costco in Waltham, MA had 75 left yesterday, and the supervisor confirmed that the item was marked for deletion in the system.