Deal has ended, view more Safeway deals by clicking here.
The Offer
Direct link to offers are below
- Check your Safeway Just4U for a digital coupon to get:
The Safeway deals are usually at Von’s, Albertson’s, Randall’s, Tom Thumb, Acme, Shaw’s, and Jewel too.
The Fine Print
- Expires May 15, 2021
- Limit 1 per household per digital coupon
Our Verdict
You need to save these offers before the end date as they are always pulled early (will stick around as long as you’ve already saved it). These don’t earn fuel points. As always make sure to use a card that earns at a high rate on grocery store purchases.
Hat tip to GC Galore
Be careful if you want to offload these cards at WM!
According to recent comments from DoC’s latest Staples MC thread (as well as lots of comments on reddit) these MCGC cards dont work anymore…
Off topic: while looking into this, I came by a comment that might be helpful to others.
Flyertalk posts in their Sticky on page 1 the dates of Safeways GC promos:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manufactured-spending/1887398-safeway-vons-master-thread-2018-onwards.html As you can see the dates of 2020 match the ones for 2021!
So you can predict when the next promo is going to be (e.g. VGC starting May 23rd) 🙂
yes they have such predictions for Stop and Shop as well. I used to get nervous that they stopped the gas points then saw the FT S&S and ACME threads indicating that most stores take a break after the peak Christmas time when it comes to MGC and VGC points/rewards.
Yup, Visa offer is available.
The obvious problem with this deal is that if you’re trying to rack up credit card points (or meet a minimum cc spend) it is VERY inefficient to buy $50 or $100 gift cards even at (slightly) below cost. Especially if you want to “cash them out” by buying money orders. The “useful” Safeway deal is when you can buy the $500s at or below cost. But we haven’t seen that deal lately.
I think it’s more often than that. Maybe once a quarter? Right now, I have a family member who needs to meet a minimum spend. They can buy $500 Visa gift cards at 7-Eleven for 5 bucks or do this deal. I’m going to recommend they go to 7-Eleven. That’s the right call for most folks, right?
Cheaper cost to buy $1000 for 4 bucks at Simon mall (no Amex card)
depends on 1 preference… make $15 with 10 cards to liquidate vs cost $10 with 2 to liquidate
Here is what did in the past. Buy 4 MC GCs. Use those 4 GCs + 1 credit card to pay a variable Visa GC @ Walmart. WM self-check out allows you to use multiple debit/credit cards. Not sure how cards WM allows at a time. To be safe, I’d just stick to 5. Yes, it’s a little hassle, but you’ll end up paying less fees and earning more points. Good luck, buddy.
That doesn’t sound right. Unless their policies have changed, you can’t pay for gift cards at the self-checkout, nor will they let you pay for a gebit with other gebits.
I may be wrong about using gebits to buy another gebit, as long as it’s PIN debit, I was told that’s OK. But I haven’t tried it.
The Walmart self-checkouts in my area never drain these prepaid cards properly. It always declines with “insufficient funds” instead of using up the available balance.
deleted
Procedure for how to manually drain prepaid card and avoid insufficient funds decline at Walmart self-checkouts: choose Pay > Other payment methods > Multiple payment type > Credit/debit > Enter amount > OK, and then swipe card with the available balance.
Not sure if there is a limit of cards allowed in one transaction, but my local WM allows more than 5 cards at self checkout. I bought non-GC items though. See screenshot here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rSAVUu7W9aFhZ5r4LN_gz77KP-32h-oL/view
Will try to buy a variable GC and post my finding.
Mod: Please remove link if it’s not allowed.
the POS in SCO at the both WMs i went look new; just curious if different WMs may still have some old POS at SCO that GCs can easily be purchased?
use a 5% grocery card to buy with no fee, then use the gift cards to spend on non-grocery categories
What 5% card with no fee were you referring to? Best card for groceries that I know is the AmEx BCP.
When this deal comes around I usually get it to put points on my CSR if not to finish Discover or CF quarterly CB quota. With liquidation being the challenge that it is, larger denominations always better. But also from Chase UR perspective, if Staples or OD have a limit 5 deal ongoing at the same time as this (which is the case today), I think the Staples deal is better by about $5 (Here 2 accounts, 2 trips, $600 in cards, pay $593.60 and get 3x UR on CSR for a total of1781 in points). On the Staples deal, its 3000 UR with 600 payment and a single trip. Of course PAYB matters as well on the CSR and so I might just do it one time at ACME so that I can PAYB the purchase when I have enough points.
These calculations are only between the two chase cards. If you have BCP which is 4.4x after AF or other 5% card to put spend on, then of course those are better. For me BCP I save for year-end S&S GC spend which most times maximizes the 6K limit on it and the some to go on BC.
does mcgc still work at WM money center for <$100?
BAU for $200-$500 MCGCs, so unclear why a $50-$100 MCGC has issues unless you’re not doing it right? Change payment, select debit, decline cash back, and put in PIN before cashier enters amount. If cashier enters amount at any point before then it converts back to credit and declines.
…scratch this (while typing it out I think I noticed my mistake)
Fwiw, I used MCGC loads to BB at Walmart (for $99 each) as recently as like 14 days ago (without going through Superman’s workaround, but just letting them go through as credit). My $200 try on May 2nd was declined though (OD’s Everywhere card worked).
reddit; mcgc to bb is dead @ wm; if anyone else has better news / dp, all ears
Looked around. Still hate reddit’s format, but also found some comments here: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/staples-no-activation-fee-on-200-visa-gift-cards-4-25-21-5-1-21-limit-5-per-day/
dan
So thanks
Make or Break: any Activation or Usage fees on these MasterGiftcards?
Avi, thanks! So the offer is effectively spend $211-15=$196 get $200 Master. Almost no gain from going thru all motions. This should be headlining the TOPIC ITSELF, or at least explained in Verdict
Yeah, the value is in making the purchases with certain credit cards. I find it a handy way to cash out UR points with the CSR.
With a card that get 4-6% back at grocery stores those numbers get a lot better. Personally the annoyance is liquidating $100 GC.
I pay my water bill with $100 debit cards. It’s generally in the range of $88-$95. 5X or similar on a waterbill isn’t making me rich, but if I go to Safeway anyway, it’s little effort to toss a couple in the shopping cart. The remaining balance gets loaded into my Amazon account.
My health insurance accepts partial payments with prepaid debit cards, so I can shift that spend to 5X UR with Staples/ODOM cards.
If you need the deal explained to you then it’s probably not the deal for you.
Plus credit card points, 3-6% depending on card. Not much motion for many if a normal buyers of such cards. I pick them up while already grocery shopping and use them to pay bills.