The $5K is systemwide, that's part of why they scan your DL. When you show up at another store, and try to buy$1K or more, they scan your DL, see you have already done your $5K for the day, and refuse to sell you more.

If you buy $5k at the first store, then $999 per store after that, you won't get checked. But as Dave just said, do that over and over on the same cc, or same bank even, and you risk a fraud denial. But if you are spreading it across multiple ccs from multiple banks it should work.

The HHonors Surpass card does not have double points at drug stores anymore, which certainly lessens the value, but even at the current value the proposition is this:

80 VR's in a year = $316.00 in fess
120,948 HHonors Points
HHonors Diamond Status

Of course, for anyone this is valuable for chances are they'll have some Hilton spending on the card anyway and wouldn't even need to run the entire $40k through the card to hit that.

Personally I use MS to hit such thresholds I have on cards I use ... my plan this year (though this will make it harder to reach) was to spend $60k on my DL Reserve Card (30k DL MQM and RDM bonus), $40k on HHonors Surpass card (HHonors Diamond), and $25k on my BA Visa (companion award ticket). I may still be able to do that, but CVS/VR made it much easier for me to do that while still also running some spending through other cards with various lucrative bonuses (assorted bonuses on Citi AA cards, Barclays US cards, and Discover 5% bonus categories).

I updated the Wiki with this a few days ago - and even gave it by time zone.

They can only track the $5k/day limit when you swipe your DL, which they only do when you spend >=$1k.

When news first broke about CVS going to cash only on VRs I went to at least 8 different CVSs with my better half in tow, getting $5k x2 on the first stop, then $999.99 x2 for a total haul of $25k+ in one day. To be safe, I don't give my my CVS ExtraCare number though.

The $3.95 VR fee doesn't count toward the $1k trigger for ID scanning btw.

I'm still interested in HH points from cc sign up bonuses. But spending on HH ccs is dead to me. Your example of "80 VR's in a year = $316.00 in fees"
gets you enough HH points on the Surpass cc for $500 to $600 in rooms compared to AAA discount cash rate, depending on the property category.

So you get maybe $300 in value from that spend, and use up 80% of your allowed annual BB load. No thank you, I'm going to use that valuable BB limit on cc minimum spend, which gets me way more value for that amount. Beyond that, $30K spent on the Surpass gets you 3 nights at a medium level HH property, say Hampton Inn. The same spend on the Carlson card gets you 2 nights plus 2 nights at a top of the line, (such as it may be), Carlson property in pricy Paris and London.

Of course with pharmacy VR set to expire, this may be a moot point anyway. :(

There is a difference between limited access and overt publicizing.

I like this but if you spend to diamond at a grocery store your getting ~6 nights instead of 3. If you are buying reloadits at grocery stores your paying roughly 50% less in fees as well.

Lakewood Ca still selling vr via CC just now

Actually. I am trying for Diamond Status with Hilton also.

120k points. Should be enough for 1 Night at a top tier. I value it at $500+ if you state at an international destination. Diamond Status, I read is not much difference from Gold. But I am planning to go to Europe next year, and I think with diamond status, it will increase my chances of getting an upgrade.

But since CVDead...this changed my plan.

I disagree.

I consider "circled and arrowed for the masses. " to be overt publicizing.

So for CVS, that's 8pm ET, and 5pm PT. ;)

No one is doing that here. And the major travel the blogs claim 30K readers on their list, many of whom may not read them regularly. 30K out of 360M living in the US, many of whom don't actively participate, isn't much of a factor in the life of major programs. Of course, mistake fares would be a whole different matter....

My favorite store has lots of beans and I just picked up $5000. But my car has such a low credit limit, I don't know how to pay off the balance before I can pick up another $5000 either later tonight or tomorrow. I have the Citi and tried to prepay, but the website would not let me pay off more than the balance.

Poster was advocating restricting information to a limited group. Whatever hyperbole he chose to use while defining his chosen group doesn't change that fact. That you consider something "overt publicizing" is simply not pertinent.

What seems to have set him off, by the way, was a discussion whether explications that "OV" means "OneVanilla" should stop. Hardly circles and arrows.