[Now Hard-Coded] New USPS Memo: Gift Cards are Not Accepted to Buy Money Orders

[Originally posted 11/2/17. Reposting 11/3/17 since it’s now hard-coded, at least is some areas, maybe everywhere. Seems to have happened overnight since yesterday 11/2 people were still having success. See data points in this Reddit thread.]

Milesperday just posted a memo which was sent out (regionally?) indicating that prepaid gift debit cards are not a valid debit card to buy money orders at the USPS. The memo also states that it will be hard-coded soon into the registers not to accept prepaid cards for money orders. 

The memo also gives tips to the cashiers so they can recognize someone who is using a gift card:

  • If a customer has a stack of debit cards, preloaded for $500 or $250 each, and they want to buy money orders with them, they are almost certainly not linked to the customer’s account.
  • Gift cards do not normally have the chip embedded in them.
  • Gift cards do not have the customer’s name on them.
  • Gift cards will of then say so on the front of the card.

For now, it could still be possible to buy money orders at USPS depending on the cashier, but keep this in mind before you load up on gift cards, and ensure you have a backup plan.

USPS money orders are the favored method of most heavy MSers for the past year or two. This is partially due to the fact that Walmart got more difficult to deal with, not all cards work anymore at Walmart, and additionally, Amex stopped allowing MS on Bluebird/Serve cards. Another factor is that at some point in the past few years the USPS system was updated and in the process began allowing many more prepaid debit cards as payment methods than had been previously allowed.
    Chuck
  • On November 3, 2017, 10:42

View Comments (153)

  • Sorry guys, this is all my fault. At least some of us got rich before they cancelled us. I bought all the giftcards at sams club so they switched over to $250s thinking that would stop me. All that did was lower my daily profit from $900 to $600. So that made Sams club mad and they stopped selling giftcards to anyone except little old ladies buying a $25 giftcard for junior's 13th birthday. Then the post office got mad that I was bringing in mucho stacks of $250 giftcards. They were sorta mad about my daily stack of 60 $500s but got really steamed when I started bringing in 120 $250 cards and it took more than an hour each day to check me out. It was a one two punch, first Sams screws us, then USPS follows up. I beg for your forgiveness.

    • Curious now:
      1. Did you use one same credit card with $30,000 limit everyday? I think you need 2, or 3 to pay the balance.
      2. Which bank credit cards were you using? No issue from the bank side?
      3. You got ~4 points for buying Gift Cards? Which cards give you so many points for retail purchases?
      4. You also split the payments for $1000 money order?
      5. I think USPS would just refuse to provide you a service, and technically they were not supposed to accept gift cards as payment, I don't think you were able to swipe 60 (or 30 times).... and manager didn't tell you anything...
      Thanks!

  • Yep just came back from PO and VGC did not work and read as CC's. Denied. PO master was nice and tried different amounts but guess this avenue is done for NOW...............all such things close sooner or later But i am pissed at all those who did multiple MO's in single visit or upto 10-15k in month and abused the system.................i wish they were collectively riding bikes on that NY street wearing T shirts showing 'MO ABUSER GROUP" instead of the actual ones...........

    • Bought nearly half a million this year (and over a million each of the years before that) and cleared over six figures in profit.

      It was good while it lasted. Paid off my mortgage with my USPS runs! And with the rise in housing prices over the last couple years this was a god send.

      No regrets here! Go hard or go home.

        • meed18 - it's make sense, he wrote "Spent ten hours a month, plus I’d buy $20k-$50k in a shot at a visit to the PO. Not worth my time to get $1k-$2k a visit

          Well worth it. Invested a huge chunk of that in the stock market two years and turned it into about a half million. Sold all my positions last month."

        • > Bought nearly half a million this year (and over a million each of the years before that) and cleared over six figures in profit.

          that sounds like around ~$2.5 million to me (of which 5% would be $125,000.)

          • meed18 - the main questions: 1. Did he used 3 or even 4 credit cards, and maybe under different names? Otherwise credit cards would shut him down - making same purchase over and over again. Which stores we used to purchase it, and they allowed him such transactions over and over again? They had in stock his prepaid cards? Which one did he used One Vanilla? Store had in stock 20-30 cards? Or he traveled different stores to purchase them. 2. I doubt that he was able to find USPS to buy $20-$50K MOs in a shot, who would allow it? managers will not let him do it probably, and employees certainly don't wanna do it, maybe he paid them a bit? Did he split the payments to get $1,000 MOs, otherwise he would loose a lot, I just cannot believe who will allow it over and over again every other day. 4. Which bank allowed him to deposit so many money orders or he used 5-10 different banks. (Stores to purchase Visa GCs, Credit cards to purchase them, USPS to get MOs, and bank to deposited money orders) - way too many "people/variables" involved here.
            Either he knows people, pay them, connection-networking, or he is trolling.

      • Spent ten hours a month, plus I'd buy $20k-$50k in a shot at a visit to the PO. Not worth my time to get $1k-$2k a visit

        Well worth it. Invested a huge chunk of that in the stock market two years and turned it into about a half million. Sold all my positions last month.

        So paying off my mortgage and walking away with $500k in cash?

        Yea....that was worth 10 hours per month

        • IIRC, there's a guy from CT who does $10K daily at his PO with all staff knowing what he does and are fine with it. I wonder if he can still do this now? This was posted on FT and reddit.

        • Congrats on finding that unicorn post office. Many people have spent more than 40 hours driving around and testing and still couldn't find one which would do them in volume.

      • There is no difference between IS#S azzholes who hurt others for religious beliefs and selfish Dastards like you who hurt others for personal gains..........no wonder world is becoming full of people who have no sympathy for others and hatred spills from people's breath and sweat......Based on your lack of empathy for what has happened, i would dance on graves of people like yours.........hopefully soon...........FU$%*NG AZZ#0$#S

        • Boo hoo. Someone used MS to change their entire financial future. You didn't have the brains or ballz to do the same. Now you cry that you can't make minimum spend on CCs because your financial position doesn't afford enough spend to hit SUBs organically. We should all strive to achieve your brokeness.

      • You could've also just found a regular job, or a higher paying one for all that time you wasted.

  • I was once in line to cash out a single $500 VGC and I could see there was a single individual who was requesting multiple money orders. He was holding up the line. Multiple...as in, more than 5, but probably less than 15. The cashier was clearly frustrated at this guy. People like that ruin it for everyone. Tragedy of the commons....

    • Get real, you think because you do $500 at a time it would have saved this from happening. I've done multiple with cashiers who I'm friendly with even when the lines were long, when they know you they don't care.

    • There are always people like that, shameless and more than willing to ruin a good thing for the rest of us. I've always been friendly to the local USPS staff, did a single swipe for a MO and only bought 2 per trip. On one occasion they checked my card and tell me that they cannot run a gift card - I would say sorry i didnt know and thank you for telling me. I didn't make a fuss and tried to be quick and polite. But I've also seen people go in there and ask for a dozen MOs and doing multiple swipes per MO etc and pissing everyone off at the PO. I still have a single unicorn left and a way to liquidate the VGCs, this is why we share rejections and shutdowns online but not successes. We need to keep secrets to ourselves so it doesn't get ruined by certain hogs.

      • TheMonkeyTech - hey, can you please just give a little hint, "still have a single unicorn left" is it online, is it in stores, does it involved Money Orders? thanks in advance for the tip! samsimonusa@gmail.com

  • Being a big procrastinator, glad I got another 2k in last night, before this overnight "update". Now the cost of liquidating the USB MCGC from Safeway just got higher.

  • i just did greendot like 5 minutes ago and the clerk was business as usual. didn't even look when i was swiping.

    498 mo + 1.20 fee = 499.20 + 0.80 *amazon reload
    round number with no cents makes me feel 'safer'. :p

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