This weekend I thought I would stop by my local CVS store to check to see if they had any Vanilla Reloads in stock.
I’ve been here before and sometimes it can be hit or miss, but it was the beginning of the month so I wanted to start buying some Vanilla Reloads to load onto my Bluebird® by American Express, since the limit is $5,000 per month
As I walked into this CVS, I headed to the main gift card rack, and lo and behold, the ONLY gift cards that they were out of stock were the Vanilla Reloads.
However, as I was about to head out empty handed, the CVS representative asked me if I was looking for anything. I mentioned I was here to buy Vanilla Reloads and he told me to come with him.
He brought up to the register and had a few stacks of them behind there. He then started ringing me up for one, and I mentioned like I would like to buy 4 of them.
No problem at all, however after the first $1,000 he did scan my ID into their computer, as this is a new policy.
The moral of the story is that if you don’t see the Vanilla Reloads on the shelf, I would go up and ask the cashier if they have any behind the register.
Bottom Line
At this CVS, there was no indication on the gift card shelf that you should go up to the register and ask for Vanilla Reloads, so you must be proactive if you want Vanilla Reloads.
Do you have any tricks for buying Vanilla Reloads? Feel free to share below!
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Why the ID scan?
@Cindi, some of the CVS’s now require an ID Scan if you try to buy $1,000 a day. They limit it to $5,000 per day, so this is how they track it.
Indeed, one of my CVS’s in Miami is playing this game.
any thoughts on the Money Network? I saw it is on the new vanilla reloads and was wondering if it would be a good alternative to bluebird
ID scan is for 1000 or more…So buy 2 Vanilla’s for 495 dollars each….Plus the fee will put you at 998 and not have to do any scan…
That’s great they allowed CC. My local CVS changed to cash only back in August.
@Bryan – you can do $500 & 499.99 and avoid the scan. Its the reload, not the fees that trigger it. Admittedly that is a bit goofy, if I want to duck the scan I do 499 each.
Is there a downside to scanning ID, except invasion of privacy? My usual local CVS store did not carry them for the last two weeks so I decided to check out others in town. Luckily, I have found another local store that also carries them and accept cc. I went back to the previous store and they restocked them yesterday. Now, I have two local stores to visit back and forth. I just began this game two months ago and wished that I started last year. I also wished BB raised the monthly payment/ deposit to $10K for April and December when we have to pay taxes.
Which cvs location in nyc was this?
I bought two cards today at CVS and the store manager didn’t allow me to buy more saying the daily limit is $1000. Is that right?
I have a feeling the CVS representative did that in order to ensure the Vanilla Reloads don’t run out before his shift ends, so he can buy some himself.
Anyway, it is a concern and a relief that they have the power to control the Vanilla Reload availability like that. It’s good that it guards against people hiding the reload cards in the store, or taking non-activated Vanilla Reloads out of the store to buy later. However, I hope none of the CVS staff abuse that and falsely tell people there’s no Vanilla Reload availability (to hoard the cards all for themselves).
Thank you for the tip. Worked like a charm.
Some smaller CVSs in the Miami area also limit to 1k per day. The limit seems set at the store level.