How exactly do you get "blanks?" Other than stealing unactivated cards off the rack.

I always leave the house on a spending run with 6 and hope to return home with at least that many.

I suspect the response you'll receive is that it's not stealing if they're not worth anything yet.

However, no matter what anyone says, it is stealing. There is value associated with the cards. Think of the following: a) labor and material to make and distribute the card; b) labor to put the card in inventory; c) labor to put the card on the rack; d) labor to update the inventory list once the card is STOLEN.

Anyone want to dispute the fact that there are costs associated with a card that is on the rack?????????

Also, by stealing the cards from the rack, it screws up the inventory system of the CVS store. Their inventory system says there are plenty in stock and therefore no need to reorder......hence out of stock for everyone. One of my local stores said their inventory system showed 80 cards in stock.....but in reality they had none. How is an inventory system to take that into account?

I have to say: I'm not a holier than thou type. I do my dirt. But, taking the cards out of the store is a bit too low for my tastes. If they inventory is jacked up, it's going to create suspicion and tick off management.

That's fantastic way to kill off a deal. Don't blame the bloggers for killing deals if you are going to do illegal stuff.

+100 Management refuses to restock knowing something is up. Plus risk getting arrested for 15,000 TY points? No TY! Pretty disappointing idea.

I don't disagree. It's annoying that I only have one store left where I can consistently find beans anymore (out of 7 or 8 I regularly check) because people aren't following the rules.

Yes, taking the cards from the store is a pretty dumb move.
I'd love to hear someone explain to the cops how they weren't stealing since the cards were not activated yet.

Bought a VR yesterday. Noticed a sign on the back of the cash register (sign facing Customer) stating cash and debit cards only for all prepaid cards. I have never seen the sign before but this is my first time at that particular CVS store

When I told Cashier I wanted $500 loaded, he asked if it would be a debit or credit. When I answered "credit" he asked for my ID then rang me up.

The store I've being buying multiples at for 6 months just told me today that they got a call from corporate a few days ago about back to back transactions and are now limiting all to $1k/day. It's only a matter of time until this party is all over.

I'm not going to multi-quote all the responses, but I asked the woman in charge of restocking the gift cards if I could have some blanks. She was more than happy to give me some. I'm not sure how this constitutes stealing, but hey, each to his own...

Mike

^ THIS!

@:-) Because it is missing from store inventory?

It doesn't because you asked permission. Even then, I suspect if you asked that employee's manager whether she should have let the cards walk out without loading and charging, the manager would say no. And, by the way, since I assume you haven't recorded the conversation with the employee, you might be surprised how an employee, afraid of angering a manager and losing his/her job, might decide to disavow all knowledge of the earlier conversation. I wouldn't want to take that chance over a couple of thousand hotel points/airline miles.

Buying a bunch of VRs? Hey, if your credit card company has no issue with you, CVS surely doesn't. They stock VRs in the hopes of selling them, a bunch of them. The more they sell, the more likely they'll want to keep selling them, and the more likely it is that their competitors might decide to copy CVS by allowing their purchase by credit cards.

Walking out with a bunch of VRs without paying for them, even if you intend to pay for and load them later? Of no benefit to CVS although I see the benefit to you.

Unfortunately for us, VRs are an inventory item for CVS, just like candy bars, light bulbs, toilet paper, and drugs. When the inventory of an item remaining in a store doesn't match up with the sales of that item, a lot of retailers might consider dropping that particular item.

If that happens, let's all don't rush to blame the bogeymen, the bloggers. There might just be some other reasons, reasons within our control, that will explain changes that CVS might decide to make in stocking VRs or continuing to allow their purchase by credit cards.

I understand what you are saying, which is why I made sure to find the person in charge of stocking and reordering the GCs. I picked them up several months ago and the store has restocked many times since then, so there were no inventory issues.

The managers see me here every day. I'm not too concerned about being thrown in the brig, since they get a kick out of my gift card purchases. Oddly, no one has ever asked me what they are used for.

Mike