I think that's the difference, as FlightNurse said. I have the fortunate situation of being in an area with 5 CVS locations within a 10-minute drive, and I drive by a couple of more on the commute to and from work. Of the closest CVS locations 4 of the 5 had no problems selling me the VRs with a card. One of the locations near work also had no issue taking cards. It was only at the one where I got a "CASH ONLY!" and it was with one clerk. If, on the other hand, this were the only CVS in the area with VRs, I would have pushed back a lot more and tried to educate the cashiers on their own store's policy.

It sounds like you don't have anything to lose by talking to the manager about why you are buying the reloads. From my experience the ones around me now know why people are buying them and the attitude has mellowed out from what it was in the beginning when I would get the startled look, a look of fear, and questions. I think the most common reason for not selling is fear of losing their job. So your task is to put them at ease.

Tried two more CVS.

First store, plentiful VRs on the outside rack, probably 40+. I grab one, head toward counter and notice a manager is roaming around helping people and he approaches me as well. So, I ask straight up,

"I can load this with a credit card right?"
"Nooooo. Cash only for those."

At this point, since I'm not holding anyone up in line, I continue politely,
"Is that your store policy because I'm sure it's not corporate."
"Oh no, it's THEIR policy," he says, pointing to the card itself. "Trust me, I've tried HUNDREDS (he may have said thousands) of scans and every time, it will come up alternative payment method if I try a credit card with those."

Well, now I know this is not true at all, but I don't confront, I just continue politely, I know this guy is dead wrong, but he doesn't know that.

"Wow, really? Because I hadn't heard that."
"Oh yeah, it was 1 or 2 Christmases ago they had all sorts of issues with fraud, so, yeah, no American Express, no Mastercard, no VISA. Cash only."
"Well, I'm sure you are right about that fraud business, I heard about that, but, hey listen, would you just give it a shot, you are probably right and this will be the first and last time I bug you about it."

Now, he isn't very pleased because he is adamantly sure he is right about this. And I know if I can just get him to the counter to scan it, I'm good. So, flustered, he says "ooookay, come on" like I'm wasting his time.

He wasn't happy he was wrong when it easily went through, "welll, it looks like it's going through, I am truly surprised." I thanked him, and left feeling like I had not only helped myself, but maybe the next mile seeking soul to come through the door.

Oh yeah, second store? Again 40+ on the outside rack, but this time, I just hand it to the clerk with my card, bingbangboom, done in 20 seconds flat.

:)

Nice to beable to hold your cool. Just sad that we know and the CVS managers don't. I do ask, what was your denomination, for the total buy? $500, $1,000, maybe $5K? Wife and I are going tomorrow to our favorite CVS, and thinking 5K - Each.

Let us know how it goes! ^

I was thinking 5K each today as well, but ended up going 0 for 5. Every place was OOS :( I like to have my MS done by the 15th dangit, second half of month is for spending the points!

Yes, I will. Da Bride has done 5K in the fav CVS, and when she did, the manager knew who she is, (last name thingy), and said 'lets see what happens". So now we are working on October spend. I really don't have any problem with DLs IDs, it is part of the game. All the info is in the CC magnetic strip anyway, and I (we) aren't doing anything illegal, so to me, just scan away.

Okay, I noticed something today that made me think back on this post on all that's included on the barcodes on the back of our driver's licenses.


When the cashier scanned my DL they scanned to 1D bar code and not the 2D barcode which contains all the information listed in the link above.

http://az417327.vo.msecnd.net/conten...e-examples.png

1D barcodes only include vertical lines and spaces. They are commonly used for UPC codes that you find on most products. They dont contain any information other than the unique numbers that's coded in them. No name, no address, no DOB or anything like that. Although they can be formatted in such a way that tells whether a cardholder is underaged or not.

In the event of fraud they can hand over the scan records to LE and say "we scanned the back of this person's DL. Can you use this information as we would like to press charges." Law Enforcement will then run the UPC into their database and comeup with a match. There is no way for CVS to get this information without LE involvement since they don't register us (enter our name, address, etc).

What do you guys think? I'm thinking of removing my tin foil hat now...
That's not to say that they wont hand over the barcode info to some agency if you cross over some predetermined or yet to be determined threshold.
Last note:
* In the state of Texas it is illegal to store data scanned from an ID or drivers license. Do we have anyone from TX around here who can testify if their IDs are even being scanned? Im not sure how CVS can scan in TX and store it for 24+ hrs (in order to check if we had bought 5k already) and not be in violation of the law.

They have run my driver's license through the card reader on the register and I assumed it was reading the magnetic stripe.

http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/scanned/h...8-0/SB1445.PDF

Gotta read up on some other things before I can comment further but the analysis is in there.

edit to add...

Regarding the Alcoholic Beverage Code mentioned in the above (but different) bill. You also have to let them scan if you want to buy beer there and they demand the scan.
Here's the law:

Maybe they just use it for ID because since magnetic stripe contains the same info that is printed on the front of the card. It also helps verify the license is real.

That linked document it mentions using it for ID.

"To identify customers and verify their identities properly and efficiently,
financial institutions need to be able to read the magnetic information on
Texas driver’s licenses and identification cards. Reading this information
would not give the institutions any information they do not have already,
because under current law, the magnetic strip can include nothing but what is
printed on the license and a physical description of the licensee. However,
electronically reading this information would allow an institution to discern
whether a license or card was authentic and, therefore, to verify the identity of the license or card holder. Fake licenses and identification cards often have
blank magnetic strips or strips that are not encrypted like those on authentic
cards issued by DPS. "

My wife's license expired a few days ago and she forgot to renew it. When she tried to check out at CVS today and they scanned her license, the register rejected it due to the past expiration date.

So it's definitely doing some actual checks of the license information.

Yes but from my understanding from the reading that was referring to financial institutions. I dont think a store that sells GCs would be considered a financial institution. And while many drug stores sell beer and tobacco (I still dont understand that one) and are allowed to scan the barcode to determine if 1) you are of legal age and 2) if the ID is real I don't think this allows them to apply this license to any other product but those that are age restricted by law.

I really don't know but I bet someone could contact a consumer protection agency and/or the Office of the Atty General and ask them to get clarification on this on from CVS as it pertains to GCs. If the OAG writes a letter then CVS will write back with an explanation and those letters are usually CC'd to the person filing the complaint.

'Bert
Did they zip the DL with the scanner or run it through the reader?

From my reading the 1D barcode can be formated in a number of different ways depending on the policies of the issuing state. For example, the UPC number 20133456789010185 has the expiration year in front, the DL number in middle and her birthday in the back. I think most licenses expire on your birthday so its pretty easy to know if the card is expired based on the expiration year and the DOB.

The scanners at registers aren't made to read 2D barcodes Im pretty sure.
So its either 1D or Magstrip.

If you provide a passport the CVS clerk has to manually key in your info; expiration, birth date, and ID number. The scanner didn't seem to have the ability to scan the bar code located in the back.

By accident I can also confirm if you buy 5k with one form of ID, you are able to buy an additional 5k with a different ID within the same twenty-four hour period. I used my DL one night around 10pm to purchase, then knowing I was leaving town for a week I stopped in at a different CVS around 6am the next morning to pick up another 5k using my passport. I didn't realize until later that day I sidetracked the 5k rule.