$10 off $100 Visa gift cards at Office Depot/OfficeMax and Safeway/Vons/Albertsons

Both Office Depot/OfficeMax and Safeway/Vons/Albertsons are offering $10 off $100 Visa gift cards, which can be used at online merchants and anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted in the U.S.  The Office Depot deal ends on May 30, 2020 and Safeway's on June 6, 2020, and both deals offer $10 off as long as you purchase $100+ in Visa gift cards cumulatively.  For Safeway, the coupon first needs to be added to your Just for U account before the purchase.  Whereas at Office Depot, the $10 discount is instant and does not require a coupon


Which credit cards to use

$100 Visa gift cards come with $5.95 activation fees and $200 Visa gift cards with $6.95 fees.  Even with the higher activation fee, you'll come out on top buy purchasing a $200 Visa gift card especially if you're using a credit card that earns 5x at office supply stores like the Chase Ink Cash, and 5x at supermarkets like the Chase Freedom and Chase Reserve, which both offer 5x at grocery stores until June 30, 2020.  Let's take a look at the math.

$100 Visa gift card + $5.95 fee - $10 promo = $95.95
$95.95 x5 (w/Chase Freedom/Reserve or Chase Ink Cash) = 480 Ultimate Rewards

$200 Visa gift card + $6.95 fee - $10 promo = $196.95
$196.95 x5 (w/Chase Freedom/Reserve or Chase Ink Cash) = 985 Ultimate Rewards

So with a $200 Visa gift card purchase, you would end up spending $1 more in fees but earn 505 more UR.  Chase UR are worth at least 1.5 cents each, so 505 comes out to an extra $7.58+ valuation.



Best ways to liquidate Visa gift cards

The best ways to liquidate Visa gift cards would be through purchases that you normally wouldn't earn bonus cashback on.  For example, if you already earn 4X on grocery store purchases with the Amex Gold card, then it wouldn't make much sense to use these cards at supermarkets.  A good way for many would be via Amazon debit card reloads, which earn an additional 2% bonus towards your Amazon gift card balance.  Since these Visa gift cards count as debit card purchases, a $100 gift card would end up contributing $102 to your Amazon gift card balance.  Another way would be to shop at Costco, which very few credit cards offer bonus cashback at.


Bottom line

It's great to see this deal return for both merchants.  Whereas I wouldn't recommend just entering a Safeway during this pandemic for the sole purpose of buying a $200 Visa gift card, it would be something good to throw into your cart if you already happen to be shopping for groceries.  Office Depot stores have generally been empty with no lines, so they would likely be a better option if you're going out of your way to take advantage of this deal.

From all of us at Flying for Fitness, please stay healthy during this trying time.  We hope you enjoyed this post.  Please consider visiting one of our sponsors by clicking on the advertisements.  Our sponsors pay us for customer visits and help us to keep the lights on.  Thanks!



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