3 more beans, just like clockwork in the Midwest (not Chicago). Still think this is regional...

My store manager is an extremely sharp older Russian lady that was probably a surgeon back in the old country. She gave me a copy of the memo w/ product numbers, and said that the new policy starts April 2 in our area. She also said that the registers would be programmed to deny CC use, such her people really didn't have to be re-trained.

Good thing I had some VRs stashed behind the Bob Evans cards ...

this is accurate, 21 cents plus 0.05% for major debit cards

Regional was a good guess until we got the updated memo. Now it's pretty clear that the only thing that's regional is the rollout date.

Still working in Suburban Charlotte, NC....Just got 5k more

Gary from View from the Wing supposedly has a CVS employee who commented on his blog entry that he has the memo on his desk confirming 4/4 all stores will be cash only.

Does anyone know if this change impacts vanilla gift cards or mvd cards??

Well, possibly only from one side. Not sure any MS person would be great at running the business profitably

So far VGCs are safe. Not one report on this thread about them going under too, which is great! My Wally World is right on the way home from my CVS. Even if it's not regional, as long as the VGCs stay the same, it's totally game on!

Got $5K in VRs from my favorite Atlanta location today. The manager, who I know pretty well, knew nothing about any potential move to cash only.

Boston MA: Bought some Vanilla variables ($20-$500, 4.95 fee) today with a credit card, as usual.

The point is the memo states that the reason is increased card swipe fees. If the VR at CVS was previously profitiable, breakeven, slight loss, whatever, with a CC before the increase, clearly its now considered enough of a loss with the increase that its not worth doing anymore (per memo statment), however, there is no way that paying with a VR with a CC BEFORE the increase was in anyway shape or form cheaper than a debit card transaction, and i highly doubt debit card transactions have risen to the level OVER what the fees for paying with a CC used to be, so if VRs were being nixed on the sole reason of increased fees, and they still desired selling them, debit cards would still provide enough of a margin for them to keep them. But they arent allowing debit card purchases either, its cash only. So the increase in fees is clearly not the main reason for disallowing purchase, its just being used as the reason.

profitability??? What's that?? :D. 5% cash back!

Denied in Houston at Westheimer @ Voss. Manager working the register said cash only on VRs. Also tried Westheimer @ Yorktown but no cards in stock.

You see, that's outstanding news! With VGCs still in play, the game is still on big time. It's a dollar more, and a trip to WalMart. Still the best option out there for low hanging fruit, for sure.