How Fast can you Manufacture Spend? Under 10 Minutes with CVS and Walmart
Happy Friday everyone and happy almost-Easter everyone! I had a crazy idea to see how fast I could spend $1,000 today and load it to my Bluebird Card. Back in the day (last month) when you could still buy Vanilla Reload Cards with a credit card, it was possible to manufacture spend in a matter of minutes. All you had to do was walk into CVS and walk out a few minutes later with a few Vanilla Reload Cards in your hand. Scratch off the code on the back and use your iPhone from the parking lot to load the funds to your Bluebird Card. Those were the days…
Fast forward to today, I went to my favorite CVS stores, bought 2 One Vanilla Gift Cards (and a 99 cent chocolate Easter Bunny) and then drove over to my local Walmart.
My receipts show my purchases occurred at 7:48-7:49am this morning. Click, the clock is starting to run. I got in my car and headed across the street to my Walmart store.
After chatting with the cashier at the Walmart Money Center Department (she is much more friendlier than the Money Center ATM), I had both cards loaded to my Bluebird Card. Both Receipts show 7:59am at the bottom. I was actually surprised how fast this worked and I had no problem punching in my favorite PIN number (1234) and walking out.
As I drove to work, I wondered how I could improve my time. Idea: has anyone tried buying One Vanilla Gift Cards at the CVS drive through? That would shave a few minutes off my time…
Hope you all have an egg-celent weekend, I just wish I was young again, back during my colored egg-finding hay-days. Ahh to be young again…
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
Great! I never bought vanilla gift cards, but I will try the way you did. Buy a vanilla gift card, take it to walmart money center department and ask reloading my Bluebird card….right?
Since CVS stop selling Vanilla reload card with the credit cards, I thought ……I can’t use bluebird to pay my bills anymore. Thank you so much Grant:)
If you follow the steps in the post, you will be fine. If you have any other questions, please let me know.
So I followed the instructions to the T. Bought the exact same OneVanilla Prepaid Visa Card. Went to walmart. Went to money center.
Lady said even though it is a debit card, it functions like a credit card. Convinced her to let me try.
She swiped the bluebird card. I swiped my prepaid card. I put in pin. And then things got stuck. On my screen, it said waiting for cashier. On hers, it said debit pending. Things just got stuck.
No go.
Ideas?
Hmm I’m not sure. Sounds like you did everything right to me. I’ll go to Walmart tomorrow morning and see if I run into a similar problem.
Ok. Lmk.
Check back with me tomorrow if I don’t get back to you before 8am PST.
The WM lady was ignorant. Loaded debit cards do NOT function like credit cards. Because I have no trouble swiping One Vanilla debit cards, I don’t know why their computer had a problem. Maybe, cranky that day? You should have asked her to ask someone for help.
Ok. I will try again today. A couple of questions.
1) Is there a machine on site where I can do this by myself? Without human intervention? Or do I always need to see someone?
2) After the fact, I think I may have identified the problem. I had 2 $500.00 cards I was going to transfer to Bluebird. The lady swiped my bluebird card and told the computer I was transferring $1000.00. When I questioned that each card only had $500.00, she told me it didnt matter. So she specified $1000 and the machine got stuck on the first Vanilla card. Could this have been the cause? Should each card be handled as a different transaction? 2 $500.00 transfers? Maybe this was the cause?
Thanks for all the help.
I always do each load separate. Much easier for them to process the transaction twice vs. doing a split payment. Some Walmart stores have ATMs that you can use, but sometimes they are broken and not working properly. In that case, you have to go to the customer service department or a cashier to process the reload.
Different Walmart, different clerk (obviously), different result.
You were right. Worked like a charm. Thanks a ton!!
I’m never wrong Fernando (except maybe in my Facebook or Twitter stock purchases…)
Noko-No such thing as a Vanilla GIFT card. One Vanilla is a DEBIT card.
Hi. I thought you had a serve account… And yes cc online loading is not considered CA. :)
I personally have an American Express Serve Card and a Go Bank Card, but I also have access to my Mom’s Bluebird Card and my Dad’s Bluebird Card. So I have lots of reload options…
wow, that’s awesome when you have family member helping at the sametime.
They don’t really help at all. I told them to get the Bluebird Cards and I am the only one that uses them. They just get random Bluebird POS reload emails throughout the week :)
Luckily, my Bank Of America branch is across the street from my Walmart to deposit the money orders. I pay bills online electronically from my bank. Why would I waste time with Bluebird? Utilities are automatically taken electronically each month from my bank.
You got a good system going Jerry.
Not bad, next time you need to time it from leaving your house till arriving back so we can work out a true hourly rate.
I stop by Walmart and CVS on my way to work in the morning. It’s probably a total of 15-20 minutes extra. I don’t mind though.
Any idea if you can do this at a Wal-Mart neighborhood grocery (the smaller Wal-Marts that only have food)?
No idea, I don’t have any of those stores near me. I feel if it is any type of Walmart it will work, but that is just a guess. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
You can do this at the Neighborhood Markets, and it’s usually not near as crowded as the regular-sized Walmarts.
Thanks Jesse, I haven’t seen any of these stores in SoCal.
There are several Neighborhood markets in San Diego.
There’s one in Rancho Santa Margarita by Lowes.
Pingback: How to Use Bluebird in a Post-Vanilla Reload World - View from the Wing - View from the Wing
How do you chose the PIN? Can you use any PIN?
Chose any 4 digits you want. It doesn’t matter. Some people just use the last 4 digits of the gift card.
You can use any PIN with One Vanilla to buy money orders. For amusement, I use the last four card digits./// I don’t know if Walmart sells any gift or debit cards by using a credit card.
You could ask. I got the impression that credit cards won’t work there.
I’ve purchased Visa prepaid cards (the ones that say Happy Birthday) at Walmart with a $4.94 fee for a $500 card. Then I tell the cashier I want to load $500 to my Bluebird. While the cashier is scanning my Bluebird card I open up the gift card and use it right away. This way I only go to one store and only wait in line once.
That’s pretty impressive Craig. It sounds like you don’t need to set the PIN before using that gift card in-store?
Can you load Serve with this example? or only BB?
Serve can only be loaded online with a debit or credit card, unless you pay cash at CVS or 7/11.
Is there a reason not to just skip CVS and buy the GCs from Walmart and load them right to BB on the same trip? Would save time
That’s a good point. I haven’t looked at my Walmart to see what gift cards are available. Thank you for the good idea.
Does it need to be a one vanilla visa, or do the vanilla visa gift cards (gold packaging, loadable up to $500) work as well?
I don’t think they work right away because I think you need to set a PIN and wait for the PIN to be saved to the card. You can give it a try and see if it works.
I can never get BB loads to work with OV cards at Walmart. What is the clerk doing wrong? Kiosk denied me too.
I have no idea. They must be pressing the wrong buttons. Try using your real bank debit card to see if it’s their system. Can you go to a different Walmart and try?
Buy $5k worth in one shot, then you only have one stop on day #2,3,4,&5. Unless you are on foot, the on/off/short drive wastes gas.
Good idea Haley. I’ve never bought more than $2,000 at one time at CVS.
Be careful. A lot of Walmarts have specifically told their clerks not to allow Bluebird loads (or money order purchases) with Gift Cards. You don’t want to buy $1,000 in gift cards then be hung and unable to easily unload.
Yes that’s the official policy, but most of the Walmart stores I go to don’t enforce that policy.
Tom, Grant… I have the same problem. Everything goes fine, all authorizations OK and then at the end the printout says “not allowed” call authorizer. I get this from the money machine and the clerk at the money center. I’ve tried OV prepaid visa cards (using 1234 pin) and also Metabank Visa Gift card from Staples which I set the PIN online before trying to load, both result in everything going well until the end and message is the same for both types of cards. Any help here?
Hmm have you maxed out the $5,000 monthly load limit? Also, you might have to wait 12-24 hours after adding a PIN before using some gift cards.
Bingo! Thank you, Grant. I purchased 5k VRs at CVS March 29th and loaded them, 1k/day April 1-5. In my “rush” to try new MS methods it slipped my mind that I’d loaded the limit previously. So, as I sit here looking at VGCs and OVs, I look forward to May. Thanks.
Any luck getting a Go Bank card? They are very similar to Bluebird Cards and you can load them with gift cards at Walmart. Also, do you have friends or family members who could get a Bluebird Card and give it to you to use?
Anyone try Walmart in NJ?, for some reason I have been to 5 or 6 and none of them work for loading a bluebird with a Visa Gift Card from MetaBank. Always worked in CA and AZ for me, I even tried buying a money order from the post office and the card was denied. I can’t even find a CVS that allows you to buy a giftcard with a credit card. Does anyone know of any grocery stores in NJ that have Vanilla Gift Cards?
Sorry Chris, I only have first hand experience in CA. Can you drive out of NJ to a different Walmart?
Philly is an hour away. I could try there but that would be 2 hours round trip, long way to drive but If I can’t meet spend any other way I might have to see if It works.
Any Sam’s Club or Walmart Neighborhood Markets near you? I don’t know the limitations on USPS money orders. Ask at drug and grocery stores if you can buy MOs (to deposit) with debit cards.
Thanks Jerry, I’ll have to do some searching for those, we have Costco and BJ’s which are similar
You have to figure how much is your time and gas worth? If you have run out of options, you can always use Square, PayPal, or Google Wallet to send money from one account to another. They all charge 2.7-2.9% fee, which equals $27-$29 per $1,000. It might be worth it for you…
Too bad the Longs Drugs here in HI don’t sell those cards. I have to fly to California to do this. Anyone in HI (Big Island) know a Longs Drugs that sells these?
Check all drug and grocery stores and Home Depot
Check all drug and grocery stores and Home Depot and 7-11 for cards which say DEBIT on them and gift cards which can be converted into debit cards by getting a PIN. PIN instructions in or on the packet. Of course, payable with credit cards.
What is the max value of money orders that you can buy at WM and do they allow multiple debit cards to buy 1 single money order?
Jerry should be able to answer your question, he knows a lot about moneys orders from Walmart.
Does anyone know if the Visa gift cards from Staples or GiftCardMall need to have a PIN set in advance? Or can you just use it and set the PIN on first use?
You need to set the PIN before going to Walmart. It is really easy to do online and takes less than 30 seconds per card.
Thanks… that’s what I’ve been doing, but have been doing large volumes and was wondering if I could save the time…
I have no idea what these Vanilla and Bluebird cards are. People seem quite excited about them so could you please explain the import and process? Thanks so much.
Good morning Leslie, the big deal here is how to achieve credit card sign up bonuses as quickly and cheaply as possible. Most travel credit cards have a large sign up bonus, but you must spend a few thousand dollars in a few months to receive the bonus. With Bluebird, you can achieve $5,000 in spending in one month and it will cost you less than $50 to do. That is a great trade off if you can get a huge sign up bonus.
Just to clarify the dollar cost — please let me know if this is right. 1,000 miles cost 4.95 + 4.95 = 9.90. The cost was 4.95 per $500 gift card. There was no charge at Walmart for loading the Bluebird?
By the way, it’s good to have you back.
Yes, you got that right. Your total cost with fees is $1,009.90, which earn you 1,010 miles/points. $9.90 / 1,010 = 0.98 cents per mile/point. I’m glad to be back home, lots of catching up to do too.
If you’re spending the time and the money to load BB at 1cpp, the economics are very dubious for MS. VRs made sense because the cost was lower (no separate trips to WM) and you could load the cards anywhere/anytime (even overseas).
Anyone who is doing gcs at $4.95 really needs to run the numbers for themselves. I suggest at that cost, for anything other than min spend or premium seats, you’d be better off just paying cash and getting the miles/status.
And don’t be a douche and load at the MC if you have access to a kiosk. I just had my local WM ban all gcs because a slew of idiots who formerly loaded their BBs with VRs now descended on WM with stacks of gcs in their hands ($100s/$200s from the office supply promo). Now those idiots killed it for everyone.
You are right about the math. 1 CPM or CPP is hardly a deal anymore, unless you are doing it for the minimum spend. I’m sorry that the other MS-ers at your Walmart are killing it for everyone. Have you looked into get a Serve Card instead of a Bluebird Card? It might be worth it in your case.
Be careful. WMs are starting to refuse to accept gcs without your name embossed on them (such as every gc bought in a retail establishment like your local drug store).
You could get stuck with a few thousand of gcs and have to use them on legitimate spend. Horrors.
Yes, that is a worry, but I haven’t heard anyone ever enforce this policy at my local Walmart in SoCal. That would be very bad if they did.
Continue spoon feeding the noobs like this and it will be shut down in mo time
We were all beginners at some point.
Pingback: How to Make Money While Loading Money onto Bluebird - View from the Wing - View from the Wing
Not everyday is same at the WM. One day I was cruising with $10K in MO plus $4-$6K in BP (at 4 different WM), next day I got literally nothing out of wasting my 1-2 hr.
You are right, every Walmart is different. Find a Walmart that works for you and stick with it until they change their policies.
I was checking fees on all the cards at CVS. Vanilla has inactivity fees but I’m guessing that is not a problem when the balance is $0, correct? What is up with greendot and Paypal? Any reason this is not a good option?
I think the inactivity fees kick in after 13 months of non-use, which is highly unlikely to ever happen if you buy this card with the intent of loading to Bluebird or Serve. Those other cards are not consistently available with a credit card, some stores will let you, some stores won’t.
Thank you. So before I stumbled upon your site, I had purchased AmEx Gift Card because it looked like the best way to avoid any questions on fees. Will I have any problems loading this to a BB, Amazon or Serve? Also, can you have a Serve and a BB at the same time? Thanks!
You can only have a Bluebird or Serve Card, not both. AMEX gift cards do not have a PIN so you won’t be able to load onto Bluebird or Serve. Amazon Payments will work though.
Thank you!
Yesterday, I tried what Craig did; buying OV Visa at Wally and then loading it at the kiosk, since I didn’t want to keep others waiting and it worked flawlessly.
Today, I tried to do the same but since there weren’t any OV Visa, I thought I’d try the OV MC but the cashier couldn’t process the transaction (hardcoded) and told me that I can only use debit card. I snuck into another cashier but same thing happened.
Is it just the OV MC that’s the problem? Or did Wally finally crackdown on buying GC with CC?
Any one experienced this?
I was thinking I could do a 1-stop shop at Wally, but looks like I still need the 3 letter place.
Hmm, I will see if I can buy a One Vanilla Gift Card at Walmart, I haven’t seen any, but I will take a look tomorrow morning.
Went to Wally today and I realized the Visa GC that I got the 1st time was actually issued by University National Bank… not OV as mentioned perviously. I was able to repeat what I did before successfully. So, it’s likely that OV cards (which happened to be MC) don’t allow CC purchase, but the Uni. Nat. Bank GC does.
That’s good to hear. Find out whatever gift cards work for you and stick with them.
Hi Grant,
I went to every CVS, dollar generals, and I could not buy the One Vanilla Prepaid card with my Credit Card. I’m so upset, do you have any suggestions for buying some other kinds of card? I could buy gift card at Giant Eagle(I don’t know whether you know this grocery store), but I don’t know which kind of Gift Card I shall buy.
Thanks,
Han5D
If you buy a visa gift card anywhere you should be fine. I like cards from Metabank. You will need to add a PIN online or by phone before using it.
If you want to load $1,000 into the BB card, can you do 1 transaction and swipe to $500 cards or do you need to do 2 transactions?
I think it’s easier for the cashiers to do 2 $500 transactions, which is what I always do.
At WM money centers, I swipe two $500 debit cards per $1,000 money order for those clerks who are new. For the experienced ones, I can swipe four for two MOs or six for three MOs at one time. They consider it as one transaction. I and they feel it keeps things simpler if I pay the MO fees in cash and each swipe is an even $500. Checkout cashiers are bewildered by this. I’d like to read about experiences in buying MOs with debit cards at Post Offices.
Good advice Jerry, the problem seems to come telling the difference between experience and inexperienced clerks.
It’s easy to tell. If the Money Center clerk seems confused about multiple debit cards at one time for multiple money orders in one transaction, she’s new. I once had to buy the $1,000 money orders (2 X $500) in separate transactions with a new clerk. Not usual. Anyway, a clerk can always ask for help from someone who knows more.
Yes Yes you can. i walked to a check out lane, gave the casheier my bluebird card and told him that i wanted to reload it. he swiped it, then i swiped the vanilla card, put the pin and done.
Easy peasy right Dan?
Do you have to wait exactly 24 hrs to deposit another $1000? Can I deposit $1000 cash and then say $500 with onevanilla on the same day?
One Vanilla GCs don’t work anymore for loading to Bluebird/Serve. The daily load resets at 9PM PST or 12AM EST. You can load $1000 before that time and $1000 after that time.
Pingback: State of the Union: Bluebird, Serve, and Go Bank Reloads at Walmart with Gift Cards as of May 30, 2014 | Travel with Grant
How fast for MS? I can open my mail to get a new credit card. Call to activate it and get it unblocked for big spend. Call utilities, cable, cell phone to prepay. Get it back from no monthly payments for a lot of months. No gift/debit card fees. I haven’t timed it but it does not involve leaving the house. If the timing is right, I can call to pay life/auto/house/health insurances.
Really fast.
Don’t forget to include wait/hold times when you are on the call ;)