Variable load gift cards to be pulled by Office Depot 2.4.2013
Feb 3, 2013, 8:21 pm
#166
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: New Orleans, LA
Programs: DL PM, AA Gold, A3 Gold, WN CP, and lots of points everywhere.
Posts: 344
NOLA update...
West bank and St. Charles OD are out as of this afternoon. Very conspicuous reorganization of cards at St. Charles seems pretty clear they aren't expecting them back. They each had them in stock Thursday and Friday respectively. Not sure east bank suburbs however.
Feb 3, 2013, 9:33 pm
#168
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: DL, UA, BA, AA
Posts: 28
And add to that don't ask questions even if using weak code because a blog might figure it out. Also when people suggest to let threads die the next question should asked by someone should get them banned for awhile if it is on the same page and they should have seen it in my opinion
Mind you, I am sympathetic to the view in principle -- but FT was acquired by a for-profit organization many years ago and has an incentive to let threads stay alive so long as they generate page views. And also has the right to act according to this incentive.
Feb 3, 2013, 11:04 pm
#169
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: LAX
Posts: 670
I'm pretty sure this would not be a violation of antitrust laws. Exclusivity agreements exist all over the place. How many eating establishments do you know of that serve both Coke and Pepsi?
Feb 3, 2013, 11:35 pm
#170
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: LAX
Posts: 298
It isn't antitrust, but it is wholly ridiculous to think that OD would take orders from Chase. Even if Chase were the bank processing their transactions, there is absolutely no way that Chase could call OD and tell them to pull gift cards because it was (allegedly) hurting Chase's bottom line. The point of the most he was responding to, which was mine, is that gift cards are gone at OD because OD lost money on them. This was not Chase's doing, just as the pulling of VRs was not. Whether this "deal" being publicized by bloggers contributed to the cards being pulled is up for debate, but the bottom line is that these cards were never meant to be used in the way we were using them, and they got pulled because OD did not want to continue taking a loss on them.
Feb 3, 2013, 11:41 pm
#171
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: LAX
Posts: 298
And add to that don't ask questions even if using weak code because a blog might figure it out. Also when people suggest to let threads die the next question should asked by someone should get them banned for awhile if it is on the same page and they should have seen it in my opinion
Last edited by philemer; Feb 5, 2013 at 10:50 pm Reason: rude comment removed
Feb 3, 2013, 11:46 pm
#172
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: LAX
Posts: 298
Data point from my Bay Area source: variable cards with a $5.95 still sold and not to be discontinued according to them. $3.95 variable cards pulled because not a good deal for them. This agrees with a blog post I cited earlier.
Don't know if my OD is missing something, I just bought a couple and will check in again in a few days.
Don't know if my OD is missing something, I just bought a couple and will check in again in a few days.
Feb 3, 2013, 11:47 pm
#173
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 639
Thank you. enough of the blog bashing please.
Last edited by philemer; Feb 5, 2013 at 10:50 pm Reason: removed part of deleted quots
Feb 4, 2013, 7:16 am
#174
Join Date: May 2010
Location: BNA
Programs: No preference
Posts: 1,176
There's your problem right there ...
Last edited by philemer; Feb 5, 2013 at 10:51 pm Reason: removed part of deleted quote
Feb 4, 2013, 10:43 am
#177
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: PHX
Posts: 4,787
I don't have any ODs near me so was happy to be travelling to L.A. this weekend. Bad timing. Universal City had pulled everything but fixed value. Very conspicuous with all the empty segments on the racks. I decided not to waste time driving around more.
I don't think I'll play the $200 to VR game. I already get pushback or incompetence when doing 2x$500. Making them run 5x$200 is not something I'm anxious to do.
It will be interesting to see what OD brings back if anything. In the chain of what makes this work, I never would have thought OD would have been the link to break fist. I would have guessed Chase to have found a way to modify the 5x would be the issue first. Maybe they are just lying in wait to hammer accounts en masse for "perk abuse" or something.
As long as VRs remain available, I'm giving serious thought to just dropping to 2x at grocery stores.
I don't think I'll play the $200 to VR game. I already get pushback or incompetence when doing 2x$500. Making them run 5x$200 is not something I'm anxious to do.
It will be interesting to see what OD brings back if anything. In the chain of what makes this work, I never would have thought OD would have been the link to break fist. I would have guessed Chase to have found a way to modify the 5x would be the issue first. Maybe they are just lying in wait to hammer accounts en masse for "perk abuse" or something.
As long as VRs remain available, I'm giving serious thought to just dropping to 2x at grocery stores.
Feb 4, 2013, 10:47 am
#178
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 676
$1034.75 = approx 5175 miles (not sure how Chase calculates bonus points with the cents; I rounded up to $1035)
5175 - 1000 = 4175 additional miles
$34.75/4175 = 0.83 cpm.
I think it's still a good deal. Obviously, the previous was far better.
Last edited by Ducati; Feb 4, 2013 at 11:04 am Reason: added calculations
Feb 4, 2013, 10:47 am
#179
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Since banks are inherently evil, there is no telling what they may or may not do. However, OD wasn't making money and was taking on risk with the cards so who can criticize their Cardinal Fang for scourging the heretics for consuming so many beans.
It isn't antitrust, but it is wholly ridiculous to think that OD would take orders from Chase. Even if Chase were the bank processing their transactions, there is absolutely no way that Chase could call OD and tell them to pull gift cards because it was (allegedly) hurting Chase's bottom line. The point of the most he was responding to, which was mine, is that gift cards are gone at OD because OD lost money on them. This was not Chase's doing, just as the pulling of VRs was not. Whether this "deal" being publicized by bloggers contributed to the cards being pulled is up for debate, but the bottom line is that these cards were never meant to be used in the way we were using them, and they got pulled because OD did not want to continue taking a loss on them.