As long as some of the office supply stores keep giving away free money, I will share the news here! And until someone gives me a better one, I will continue to use the Mad Lib construct to announce them.
Solve the Mad Lib
Save _____ (amount) when you buy _______ (purchase amount) in _______ (type) Gift Cards at _______. Refund will be given in ___________
This time, the Mad Lib answers are:
1) $20
2) $250
3) Visa
4) Staples
5) Visa gift card
To follow along, if you buy $250 in Visa gift cards this week at Staples, you’ll get a $20 Visa gift card by Easy Rebate in the mail. It’s in the weekly ad on page 9
Making the most of the Staples free money deal
A Visa gift card is in the middle of the 3 different types of these free money deals (best is instant rebate, and a Staples gift card is worst). Even discounting the $20 you’ll get back from Staples, I do think that this deal is probably worth doing. The hardest thing I have is remembering to use my $20 Visa gift card (since I usually am using a CC for points when I spend)
Definitely I would recommend using a Chase Ink or other card that gives 5x points on office supply stores. I love the Chase Inks for exactly this reason, and it’s one of the reasons that I think Chase Ultimate Rewards are the best points out there!
I always recommend 2 $200 cards (if they have them) – the activation fee is $1 more than the $100 cards, but IMO that is worth the 500 extra points you’d get.
I never know what to do when I show up at the store and Staples is (inevitably) out of the $200 Visa gift cards. Do I just buy the $100 cards, even though the deal isn’t as lucrative, or do I try stopping back later at another store. I even wrote a poll about this (how much your time is worth) awhile back, and the consensus seemed to be to just buy the $100 cards in the store that you’re in, and not go back.
Doing the math
If you find and buy 2 $200 Visa cards, you’ll spend $413.90, but then receive:
- $400 back on the actual card
- a $20 Visa gift card
- 2065 Chase Ultimate Rewards
Of course now that most of our Serve cards have been shut down (wave 1 and wave 2), it gets a little trickier to unload these Visa gift cards but still I’d say it’s definitely worth a stop to Staples this week!!
(HT: Frequent Miler)
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Not sure what “the middle of” you’re referring to, as this is the first time in all of 2016 that Staples has put on any kind of promo for Visa gift cards.
Yes, in the past, availability could be very hit or miss, mostly miss. Sometimes I’d get to my local Staples 15 minutes after they opened on a Sunday, and supply gone. (and then the hassle of hoping for re-supply during the week) But not yesterday, there were at least 30 of them on display, and no doubt many more behind the display. (as there often are bundles of them there)
Perhaps the birdocopalypse very much diminished interest in these cards, and I suspect Staples (and even Chase) knew that — if they didn’t have a hand in the Amex culling of bb and serve in the first place. (maybe not)
Anyway, I for one, am glad these deals are back in whatever form. Got my first $600 yesterday, converted it to mo at Kroger and so on within an hour. the ez rebate process has become easier too. When the $20 Visa rebate card comes, no problem…. ez load to amazon account, if nowhere else. (ps, and those staples cards are good for buying stamps 🙂 — have the 110k of IHG points to show for it)