Deal has ended, view more Safeway deals by clicking here.
Update 4/26/20: Deal is back through 5/11/20.
The Offer
Direct Link to offer (login required)
Check your Safeway Just4U for a digital coupon:
- Get 8x rewards points when you buy $50 in Happy brand gift cards.
The Fine Print
- Valid until 5/11/19
- Limit 1 per transaction (I guess that means you have to checkout one card at a time)
Our Verdict
Nice to see a deal on all Happy brands. Unclear what happens when you buy gift cards in denominations higher than $50; my guess is that $50 is meant as a minimum.
Remember to save the offer first to your card before use. Make sure to use a card that earns at a high rate on grocery store purchases, that includes the Chase Freedom this quarter.
Hat tip to reader R M and JJ and Celia
at lowe’s, does any folks know if the system accepts happy card for vgc there? thx
think its gc can be used to purch one of the happy card or another gc, correct? thx
I believe these “new” versions of Happy Gift cards have a gift card exclusion so you lose the argument of it’s just a Visa card that seemed to work before if they question it. 🙂
any of u know if lowe’s hardware is also not hard-coded?
I’ve had success in the past with Home Depot (but they don’t make Happy Guy anymore), Panera and Bed Bath and Beyond with buying gift cards… if that helps.
I used to use the discounted Happy Gift cards to buy gift cards there when they offered buy $50, get $10. Haven’t done it in a while because they reduced their menu at my local shops so I didn’t need to do it anymore.
If your question was whether you can use Happy cards to buy other gcs, there are some recent DPs that newer series Happies (with a sticker on the back and specific exclusion against using them to buy gift cards) may be hard-coded. Stick with older series Happy cards without a protective sticker on the back — those were still fine as of a couple of months ago when stores were open.
Has anyone sued these at buffalo wild wings online or in the app? BWW’s gift cards can’t be used online or in the app. In these times it is a pain in the ass to have the employee running the gift card back and forth, and I needs my bogo Tuesday wings.
For those that buy Happy Cards to use at Panera, they started their $10 bonus card with $50 Panera gift card purchase, through 5/31. Bonus cards can be used during the month of June.
…..
How does one use these cards at say, Home Depot (also online at homedepot.com) ?
They work just like a Visa card. There have been reports that they work at homedepot.com, I haven’t tried. I used the Happy Guy to buy 3rd party cards at Home Depot and Happy Lady at Bed Bath and Beyond. I’ve only done exact amounts so I don’t know the success rate for splitting payments (2 $50 Happy cards for a single $100 purchase).
Thank you. I guess I will try buying some open loop cards this week and see what happens.
Update: bought a $200 MCGC with a Happy Lady today with no problems.
Would be thankful if people could share their datapoint what happens if you buy more than $50 (lets say e.g. $106 or $207 😉 ) worth of Happy Cards…
Ended up being my own datapoint. Getting 8x on more than $50 worked… 🙂
Awesome, thanks
thanks, Jay
Thanks a lot for the info. Where would we be able to use these 106/207 cards to buy VGC or MCGC?
cool thanks!
no more happy card that offers or can be used at HD
8x gets you 400 rewards points (value ~$4 unless you have giant gas tank / multiple cars), or about an extra 8% on $50.
Value is $5 for me, use for $ off groceries since I don’t use much gas and when I do, I go to Costco (Shell is at least 30¢ more than Costco and 15¢ more than Mobil).
Can you explain how to redeem these rewards on groceries? It’s unclear to me how they’re valued, and the website only mentions using them at gas stations.
Nvm, found this information online. You can redeem “rewards” for discounts of between about 1cpp and 1.4cpp on grocery items. 100 points = 1 “reward.” My local grocery store is offering $1 off your grocery bill for 1 reward; $5 off for 4 rewards; $10 off for 7 rewards, etc.
Last December they had a coupon worth $20 off for 10 rewards. Haven’t seen it since, so maybe it’s just a winter special.
You also have to consider the value comparison between safeway and your cheapest store. I think Safeway can be one of the cheapest if you invest some time to learning how to maximize the just for you deals, but it takes more time to learn than an “always cheap” place like Aldi.
Too bad you have to actually shop there to maximize the points, but the points are more flexible than most grocery stores points that are only for gas. Cheap gas, yawn.
When you log into your Just4U account, there is a Rewards tab. Under that tab are various grocery rewards you can redeem your points for, for example, 7 rewards to get $10 off a grocery purchase of $10+, or 1 reward to get $2 off a bakery purchase of $2+. You click on the redeem button under each type of reward you want, and it is added to your account, with an expiration date by which you have to use it (typically the end of the following month). The rewards then apply automatically when you shop and enter your Just4U number at check out. Note that all applicable rewards will apply to each purchase, so plan carefully so that you don’t waste them. For example, if you have a $4 off $4+ reward and a $7 off $7+ reward, and try to buy $8 worth of groceries, both will apply, and you will have wasted $3 worth of credit.
The value of points varies because each reward values them differently. In my example above, points are worth 1.4x if redeemed for a $10 reward and 2x if redeemed for a $2 bakery reward. Similarly, the value of points for gas varies with your tank size. If you have a 10 gallon tank, each reward is worth about $1; if you have a 20 gallon tank, $2.
Excellent explanation. Note that not all JUST4U accounts appear to be the same. My account, Jewel-Osco, only allows up to 4 rewards to be selected for $5 off groceries or $7 off meat. (they used to allow 5 until recently). There are lower levels for other products but the money off is the best deal for mine.
if you use self check out, the $3 will not be wasted, it’ll spit out $3 cash for you and therefore a “cash slot machine”!
That has not been my experience. At my local store, the self-checkout machine will ask for the cashier to come over if there is a negative balance, and the cashier will clear the balance but not give out any money. At the regular checkout, they will sometimes let you keep the negative balance if it’s just coins, but YMMV.
Do you get the cash back if you buy a category $ off or just if you do one for the entire order? I’ve wondered about going negative and what the SCO register would do but never tried it.
Oops never mind.