At my local CVS, Vanilla Reload cards are supposed to be here:
See, all the way down at the bottom on the right. Just where the red arrow points! (CVS isn’t quite that helpful, I had to add that in a photo editor. :p)
But today, this is where they were:
Can you see them? No?
As a refresher, this is what the cards look like:
Now let’s look again:
See them now?
Nope. But they were there.
They were hidden behind the XBoxLive cards.
So whatever frequent flyer out there thought they were clever, sorry dude! I found your stash!
That CVS is mine…
Moral of the story is just because Vanilla Reloads aren’t apparent, doesn’t mean they aren’t there, somebody might have hidden them. Behind the XBoxLive cards or the Red Lobster gift cards.
There were eight cards available (that I found…) so I bought them, two at a time, the cashier knew the drill — you can only buy up to $1000 per transaction and she asks to see my drivers license when I do it, but she did four sets of two. Badabing!
My CVS stores in OC CA are $1000 per day. One store even writes down your name, social, etc. when you buy & checks against the list when you buy. Hiding VR has been so rampant here, some stores keep the VRs behind the register.
Owned!
My CVS has a ton, but has a memo they showed me from corporate stating only $1000 in a BUSINESS DAY. Not just in a transaction anymore, sadly. However, after May 1st, I’m not sure I’m going to put in the effort…
It’s refreshing to know that even veteran point collectors and blogger use Vanilla.
I’d just like to note that stumbling into a store, seeing only eight cards, and then buying all of them in one fell swoop is exactly what LEADS to people hiding the VR. Do you really need to get 8 at a time? Especially when that leaves zero left?
..ya gotta look out for the young ones 😉
http://www.michaelwtravels.com/2013/03/lucas-likes-vanilla-too.html
sneaky little guys 🙂
Gary, when buying so many at a time, do you spread your purchases across multiple cards, or do you buy them all on one (I’m assuming Hilton Amex)? Hiding is rampant at all the CVS I have checked in the NY/NJ area.
What card is everyone using them for that makes them THAT valuable, other than to just generate spend? I can see using something like the CSP to earn UR points and then transfer them to any of Chase’s partners, but am I missing something? What makes them worth 4k at a time?
With what card?
Affiliate link please!
@Ashleigh B,
“However, after May 1st, I’m not sure I’m going to put in the effort…”
How’s this linked to the international socialist holiday?
CA often refuse to process a set of two for a different person if you come in together. Its one per a group and now most refusue to accept anything other than cash.
Mine are behind the Nintendo cards…so Ha!
@Treane – I bought them today all on one card.
@FlyerGuy – I use them to meet minimum spend, I also use them to meet required spend for bonuses — remember, cards like Hilton Reserve give you a free weekend night after $10k spend, airline cards give you status miles frequently and hotel cards often give you stays/nights towards status at various spend levels. But I do think Chase Ultimate Rewards and Starwood points are worth manufacturing at 0.8 cents per point.
@ABC, that’s when Hilton Amex removes it’s bonus category for drugstores. I’m earning 6 points per $ right now…
@Wrlygirl,
“6 points per $ right”. More like 3 points per $ right after the massive devaluation………
Nice work!
In Los Angeles area some CVS stores allow cc purchase and some do not.
Persistence..
I’ll bet that your competitor starts hiding it elsewhere in the store after reading this post.
My store has $1000 limit per day. Surprised that you could buy 8 same day. Luckily my store seems to have plenty of VR available all the time.
I once had a cashier at CVS, as she apologized for the $1000 per day limit, suggest that I take some additional cards and bring them back to the store on other days to get them activated. I wouldn’t encourage doing it unless you get approval at that moment. I suspect interpretations of whether removing unactivated cards is shoplifting will vary widely amongst stores, personnel, and law enforcement officers. Not worth the risk, but it might be worth asking.
You must live in Nashville, TN and hit the CVS in Cool Springs. I’ll hide them better next time.
Me thinks the noobtraveler likes to hide them also!
Enjoy your last $4k at this store
I have no idea what these cards are or why they are so great. I wish you’d have provided a link that explains this.
@Andrew They’re great because they taste like vanilla, and everyone likes the taste of vanilla!
Is there a way, short of going from store to store, to know which CVS carries the cards? None of my local CVS stores, also in the D.C. area, seem to ever have the cards, so is there any way to know where they are to be found?
My CVS store occasionally takes them off the racks and places them behind the counter.
I’m not to sure how anyone can get the amount of points these bloggers get without manufacturing extra miles or points.
@Andrew http://www.google.com
Visiting West Hartford this weekend, the CVS there had a small stash of them.
Whew at least now I know thats not my stash, I dont hide em behind the XBL ones.
@Frank,
There should be an app for that. Or how about a dog that could smell vanilla? Now that’s a business opportunity.
I’ve somewhat given up between them not being in stock or not wanting to take credit card it’s becoming somewhat of a pain. I am on track (as suggested by Lucky) to become a Hilton Diamond this year along with 240k points @ +/- $360 but I’m not sure those points are worth it anymore.
I have bought tons of em and just bough 20k in DC 2 days ago. They can be found and hidden. I have also found stashes in the diapers area and female’s tampons. Both times I moved the stash elsewhere.
Today I went into my local CVS and was talking to the Cashier about VR cards. She told me one couple drives about 20 miles every day to buy $1K each of the VR cards. Since this is not the only CVS in the local area that stocks the cards, I assume the couple is hitting numerous stores each day.
At least now they can’t hit that same store until it restocks.
Just recently had my neighborhood CVS make the switch, and start taking cash only because people were buying them too frequently. 🙁
Ha, sounds familiar. A couple months back my local CVS appeared to be out but i just happened to notice a stack of cards that looked “off” (i.e. back cards were smaller and thinner than front cards. I poked back there and it was a big stack of VRs. Ever since, i look up and down the entire rack when i don’t see them in the proper place :). I’ve noticed at my CVS, there is one employee who enforces the $1k/day rule, the rest don’t seem to care. So I walk in and look to see who is at the counter before deciding how many to grab. I normally cap myself at $2k/day though so as not to seem like a complete crack, ‘er, vanilla addict.
This is why Gary is the best. He’s got VR x-ray vision. He’s the super hero of travel bloggers!
omg I just found 5 today! I haven’t been able to buy any for the past month and I thought they stopped carrying it. This is slicky of some people.
Guess I’ll have to hide them better next time.
Can someone help me understand this process? Isn’t there a cap of $5k a month of VR’s that can be loaded onto bluebird? If so, that amounts to 60k a year. Most credit cards give you a 50k sign up, so why not get get one more credit card a year and avoid the hassle???
Haha! This happened to me too. Last month I went to my “regular” CVS and suddenly the cards were hidden behind something else. I just took 2, and walked away smiling and wondering who else in my neighborhood is playing this game.
@John people use these to meet minimum spend to get those bonuses, for instance
Some of us still have uncapped 5% grocery and drugstore cards 😉
How about we all use this smartly and in a manner so as to avoid trigger obvious suspicious behavior
Are you all buying vanilla reload with cc or cash? Thought can’t buy w cc anymore
People,
Slow down on your purchase of vanilla reload cards…
Don’t go everyday to buy $2000 each time. It takes only one annoyed CVS manager to complain to their upper management and make it the next hot topic on their meeting. We do not wanna repeat what happened to Office Depot. Please lets not f… it up~
A lot of people have the 5x Citi or the Travelocity card or even the Hilton and Delta Cards. For those its easy money 2-4k at a time.
@john so you get another CC with a 50K bouns which only gives you 100K miles, however, if you get another 60K, that is a total of 160K which is enough for one FC ticket anywhere AA flights or it’s partners.
If your SO does the same thing, then guess what, now you have TWO FC tickets….
@Vinnie – there is no reason to buy with cash, I bought with a credit card
Not sure if it is me or everyone.
I previously had no issues buying the VR.
As of yesterday around noon PT, I have not been able to buy any with my CC. I get a error of use another payment message on the CC reader. i have tried this at two stores. It is not my CC issue as my CC doesnt even see the attempted charge. I have only tried this on one CC, it was even a newly CC. I am thinking CVS no longer accepts CC for these purchase. No way they can block me and me only right? I have not had any run ins w the managers of any stores.
Can someone confirm/deny this?
Then you use the Vanilla card for everyday spend? Gasoline?, Grocerys? Restaurants? You would use it like a credit card?
Is that the way to use the $$ on the Vanilla card?
@Kai There has been talk that error will pop up however, people have been successful in re swiping the same CC and it works. So far i havn’t had a problem with this yet.
@Ross B – I add the funds from Vanilla RELOAD cards onto my Bluebird card. Then I either use the billpay feature of bluebird to pay off the credit card, or I transfer funds from Bluebird to my checking account
@kai – as you can see i bought my vanilla reloads by credit card yesterday, albeit before 3pm Eastern 😛
Over at FT, there have long been reports of people who “hided” [sic] cards in various places throughout the store. Fortunately, I haven’t once had to go hunting for them in my locale. I’m glad I live in a backwater with lots of CVS stores, but not many miles fanatics.
Thanks, Gary, for the clarification. Seems like a few hoops to jump through, but I do see a couple CC applications coming up. Probably a dumb question, but why can’t you just put a $1,000 or so directly onto a Bluebird card? I would think Walmart or similar, would take a CC to pay for a Bluebird card. I have put $500 on a Walmart card with a CC. Then use that Walmart card at their gas, and Sams pumps to get the 3¢ / gallon discount there.
i’ve had them swipe it twice more in the afternoon and got the same msg. 🙁
One key thing that I’ve found out buying them at CVS is to wait until they tell you to swipe your credit card. One time I swiped my cc before the teller had even scanned my vanilla reload card (I had another item to purchase and she had scanned it) and there was an error. It didn’t want to take my cc. She had to redo the entire transaction but then everything worked fine. I always forget though that they are going to ask to see the last 4 digits of my cc so I have to get it back out of my wallet. I always but something else with the vrc just to mix things up and not be too obvious in what I’m doing.
Just a tip…
If you do not see any Vanilla Reloads on the rack, or a place holder for the Reloads… Walk up to the front counter and inquire about the cards. Usually the clerk will first act like they aren’t sure what they are, but I’ve found that 3 local CVS locations have put the cards up at the front counter hidden in a stack that can only be accessed by employees.
After asking.. they usually look puzzled and then pull out the stack and say these? I think supervisors are doing this locally because some have resorted to hiding the Reloads. One location made it so that only a supervisor could sell them, so he could make sure each person purchasing was only doing $1k a day.
Moral of the story.. ask about the Reloads if you don’t see any.
When folks mention the $1K limit, is that two $500 VR (transaction total $1,007.90) or two $496 VR (transaction total ($999.90)?
@Scott it’s 2 $500 vanilla reloads plus the $3.95 fee each so $1007.90
Gary,
Thanks for the update. I’ve run into the problem some (@Kai) have reported – the “please use another form of payment” message when buying two VR at one time. I’ve wondered if that’s because the total transaction is over $1K. I don’t seem to have that problem when I buy one at a time. FWIW, the problem seems most common with AMEX cards.
@MileageUpdate
There are also a few grandfathered cards that offer 5% on drugstores, uncapped and for the life of the card, not one year like the recent citi promotion.
I also have the Hilton Amex, and with the devaluation, using the citi card has become far less worthwhile.
@scott if you buy two VR your total will be over 1K…
just tried a purchase at another CVS in the SF Bay area.
Tried buying one card with reload of 500. same message
had cashier swiping it as well with no luck. maybe it’s a bay area thing that they have it hardcoded into the system or blacklisted me 🙁 didnt want to try it with my other CCs as I only get 1% CB… not worthwhile.
@Kai I disagree with you on that it’s not worthwhile, your theory is “they might have blacklisted me” so find out, and use a different CC. The more data points we have the better we can understand this game.
@kai – I purchased 4 (2×2) yesterday at about 5:30 EDT on the east coast without any problem
One time I board Vanilla at one CVS and tried to buy another $1,000 at a CVS a block away. The second CVS had rejected my card because of a fraud alert. So make sure that your credit card isn’t fraud alerted.
@calwatch Try using a different card. It was probably a fraud alert because you tried to make multiple transactions in quick succession.
Gary’s Saturday post reminded me to head for CVS Saturday night. The store had that end of the day messy look. As a general rule no way in heck am I gonna pick something off the floor. However, I smiled as I approach the card rack, as the VR was on the floor and I picked it up. Others were in the proper usual spots.
I definitely hid a few under the scotch-brite pads at my CVS :p
My cvs actually started keeping these at the checkout register for this very reason…
As “fatso” said ( #11), its crazy that they only allow 2 per “group” of people. Our cashier thought only two could be sold the entire day for the entire store. Clearly, they are all up in arms about this and confusion is rampant among employees. So, I’m thinking my husband and I have to act like we’re strangers and go in one at a time. Ridiculous. Makes you feel like you’re breaking the law.
At a CVS in Austin the clerk followed the VR “hider” twice and saw her take the VR cards to another section of the store and hide them behind merchandise. Now they are displayed by the register … and I am waiting for the chance to get a picture of the culprit.
I bought a $20.00 VR to check it out. After I was sent the actual card from Vanilla I tried to reload it with a cc at my local CVS, but they would only take cash. Do some CVS still reload with a cc?
For those folks who are experiencing the error code “use another form of tender” it could be your card company. CITI did that to me – called it “unusual activity” but when I called them it went thru. I guess they wondered about $1000 at a pharmacy? Once I made the call, and answered some ID questions for the rep, they allowed it.
VR PULLED from my NJ store. Cops at the store yesterday investigating.
Thanks a lot you greedy bastards.
@e – if there were really ‘cops investigating’ vanilla reloads clearly it wasn’t because of miles and points, much more likely actual money laundering related to other illegal activities…
Are stores legally allowed to say “ONLY cash for VR?” I just tried buying them in a Waelgreens, but couldn’t use a cc. Who made that rule? Vanilla? Waelgreens (why should they care?)
I have -50 cards in the box… I’m accepting offers??
Tried to buy a VR at CVS in Waukegan IL on 6/18/2013 with aCiti AA cc. Clerk tried it several times then said it could not be purchased with a cc.
How do I make it work?
Excited to be earning miles on my rent payment, I managed to buy a grand total of 4 cards from 3 different CVSs in the West Covina / City of Industry / Walnut (CA) areas over a few weeks. Now each of the CVSs no longer seems to stock the VR cards! I can see the space where it should be on the rack in each of the stores, yet none have appeared despite several revisits. When asked, store clerks don’t know anything. Then I went to a CVS near Ontario, CA and there were three left on the rack. It’s too far for regular trips though. So, sadly my excitement quickly dissipated!
I’ve been checking the local CVS stores in San Jose, CA lately and they have been out of VRs. I asked a clerk this morning about when they would restock the VRs and she told me that all VRs have been recalled. Anybody heard anything about this?
Further to my earlier comment, I gave up looking for them but if I happened to be in a CVS then I would, of course, check the rack. Much to my surprise, after months without any VR cards (and the manager saying they’ve been ordered but never arrive), lo and behold there were suddenly FIVE there today! Bought two, one with AMEX, the other with a VISA credit card, no problems. Is this a last gasp distribution before they go away completely – or a resurgence?
I just *found* some VRs hidden behind some Disney Dolphin game cards (or something like that), and breathed a sigh of relief, because I really needed at least two. Then I got up to the check out and saw them hanging by every register, too. So, I needn’t have worried. I’m not sure I would have thought to check by the register, though, unless I was actually going up there to buy something. But from now on I will.
Had to ask at a South San Jose CVS today as none on otherwise full display, supervisor didn’t think they would be kept separate but checked safe and low and behold there they were 🙂
Bought with cc without problem save handing cc to cashier post swipe for verification or whatever
It would be very helpful if you would allow the date of the posts to be visible, as some of this information is time sensitive. Thanks for your consideration.
This is somewhat really outdated. CVS allows $5000 per day VR purchases with a valid drivers license. The cash register/computer will not allow over $5000 per day per person. (Have not checked at different stores in same day – that would work for the $1000 limit). Also many of the CVS in the Austin area are stocking huge amounts of VR cards. Many times the rack by the cash register is full of VR cards.
@TexasYankee, yes this is a year old post.
Gary – DUH on my part … 🙂 I should have remembered that. Thanks for all the great tips over the years!