Non Pharmacy Bean Locations

Old Mar 12, 2013, 2:32 am
  #91  
 
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Originally Posted by love2ft
Of the places I've checked in the SF Bay Area, either the racks are always empty (CVS) or they don't carry it (Valero) or they take cash only (Luckys, Walgreens). I knew it was too good to be true when the OD next door was emptied out (this was a while ago), but the Luckys had stacks and stacks of them (clerk was willing to try but couldn't complete the transaction).

I've searched from SF to Oakland/Hayward/Fremont down to San Jose the past few months without ever finding one place to purchase beans with CC. Not quite ready to throw in the towel yet, but getting close.

Has anyone had any luck at all in the Bay Area finding a place that has beans in stock and accepts CC?!? Willing to PM to help me make minimum spend? (I've already prepaid all the bills I can for now.) TIA
Originally Posted by iqbalt80
There are stores which carry the VRs but I do not think anyone would want to divulge their locations these days (I know it's against flyertalk policy, but once bitten twice shy kinda deal here). Firstly, as you know it takes time and effort to find the VRs and secondly I witnessed it first hand when i shared few locations via PM and now I can never find VRs in those stores
Having the same frustration. Haven't been able to find a VR in the CVS's in Sunnyvale/Cupertino for over a week now.
iceman77_7 is offline  
Old Mar 12, 2013, 8:03 am
  #92  
 
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Originally Posted by iceman77_7
Having the same frustration. Haven't been able to find a VR in the CVS's in Sunnyvale/Cupertino for over a week now.
More like two months for me.
echip is offline  
Old Mar 12, 2013, 8:05 am
  #93  
 
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Originally Posted by iceman77_7
Having the same frustration. Haven't been able to find a VR in the CVS's in Sunnyvale/Cupertino for over a week now.
To save you time, forget about Mountain View this week, none over the weekend.
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Old Mar 12, 2013, 9:49 am
  #94  
 
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Originally Posted by GatorBlues
The woman at the register said I would need to hand her my card to be reloaded (i.e., my BB card) and she would ring up the VRs and have them applied to my BB card right then and there
Cash Only
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Old Mar 12, 2013, 12:05 pm
  #95  
 
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Originally Posted by iceman77_7
Having the same frustration. Haven't been able to find a VR in the CVS's in Sunnyvale/Cupertino for over a week now.
Up to about 3 weeks ago they were plentiful in the Bay Area (I would buy 2 per week - usually in The City or Peninsula) then they seemed to vanish. Have not seen one since.
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Old Mar 12, 2013, 1:59 pm
  #96  
 
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I thought I found a mother load of over 16 VR cards hidden behind other cards in a San Jose CVS... I was acting like a kid who got a big stash of candy... Too bad cash only in that CVS walked out empty handed.
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Old Mar 12, 2013, 6:25 pm
  #97  
 
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Has anyone been able to find VRs in NYC area? If so, PM would be much appreciated!
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Old Mar 12, 2013, 9:20 pm
  #98  
 
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n00b question here, what do you folks say when you get to the register at a new spot and the cashier says 'Sorry, cash only'? Do you proactively ask if you can pay with cc? Do you try to get them to do it anyways? Just say 'My bad' and walk out? Its all personal preference I imagine, just curious what others do.
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Old Mar 12, 2013, 10:03 pm
  #99  
 
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Originally Posted by BBPlaya13
n00b question here, what do you folks say when you get to the register at a new spot and the cashier says 'Sorry, cash only'? Do you proactively ask if you can pay with cc? Do you try to get them to do it anyways? Just say 'My bad' and walk out? Its all personal preference I imagine, just curious what others do.
I used to try to talk the cashier into trying to put it though, but nowadays I just say oh, sorry, I didn't realize...and walk out. My experience has been that I'm rarely successful in overiding their initial decision. If the cashier is grumpy or frazzled, I definitely give up straight away. If the cashier seems like he/she is simply uncertain, then I usecd to try to see if they would put it through. But then I ran the risk of having them call over a manager. And once the manager is involved, I run the risk of them laying down some store-wide policy that makes it all cash only. These days, I'd rather just hope I stumble onto the cashier that will let me pay with a credit card without a fuss, and then remember them for next time. If I see them on duty, I buy. If I see one that has denied me before, I just turn around and leave. If I see one that I haven't interacted with yet, I'll give it a try. If they tell me cash only, I play dumb and just give up immediately.
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Old Mar 12, 2013, 10:35 pm
  #100  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
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Must be "hided" by some people, every time I was in CVS, I wanted to look behind the greeting cards, but there were so many, I gave up.

Originally Posted by mfidelity
Up to about 3 weeks ago they were plentiful in the Bay Area (I would buy 2 per week - usually in The City or Peninsula) then they seemed to vanish. Have not seen one since.
tonyflyer is offline  
Old Mar 13, 2013, 4:24 am
  #101  
 
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Originally Posted by tonyflyer
Must be "hided" by some people, every time I was in CVS, I wanted to look behind the greeting cards, but there were so many, I gave up.
You could ask the CVS manager to keep all VRs behind the register, and to limit daily purchases to 1K (if they haven't already done so). Additionally, CVS could track the customer by drivers license to limit his monthly purchases. These policies would hurt the heavy churners but increase VR availability for everyone else. If CVS doesn't monitor these cards then we can expect them to disappear (a la Office Depot) or go cash only.
st.exupery is offline  
Old Mar 14, 2013, 6:58 pm
  #102  
 
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Originally Posted by st.exupery
You could ask the CVS manager to keep all VRs behind the register, and to limit daily purchases to 1K (if they haven't already done so). Additionally, CVS could track the customer by drivers license to limit his monthly purchases. These policies would hurt the heavy churners but increase VR availability for everyone else. If CVS doesn't monitor these cards then we can expect them to disappear (a la Office Depot) or go cash only.
Who will pay for the aggregate man hours spent doing it ? Is the fee charged a high profit item that can absorb these costs ?
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Old Mar 15, 2013, 11:36 am
  #103  
 
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I went through 50 and counting CVSs from SF to SJ starting 3/4 to 3/12, most of the rack were empty, and the ones were not empty said CASH ONLY.
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Old Mar 15, 2013, 11:53 am
  #104  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Have people had much luck at F $1? I went to one near me (twice) and have seen some ice cream but the cashiers have been incompetent when I try to purchase!
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Old Mar 15, 2013, 12:00 pm
  #105  
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Originally Posted by BBPlaya13
Have people had much luck at F $1? I went to one near me (twice) and have seen some ice cream but the cashiers have been incompetent when I try to purchase!
You do know those aren't the same at the VR's from CVS, right?
Stoughton is offline  

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