So as you may already know, Office Max and Office Depot are once again giving away free money this week. If you buy $300 in Mastercard gift cards, you get $15 off your order instantly. Office Max / Office Depot had a similar deal a few weeks ago (on Visa instead of Mastercard), so between those 2 weeks, I have made a “few” trips to local Cincinnati Office Max and Office Depot stores.
Historical Office Max / Depot gift card policy
Back in the day, some Office Max and Office Depot (and Staples) would allow you to buy $500 gift cards with a credit card, which was a fairly lucrative way to manufacture spending for those of us that had a Chase Ink card
Soon after, variable cost Visa and Mastercards were hard coded to be cash only, closing that loophole. Fixed value ($100 and $200) gift cards were still allowed to be purchased with a credit card, and periodically when they had free money deals like this I would make a few stops there throughout the week.
My experiences over the past few weeks at OM / OD
There are 3 Office Max / Depot stores in Cincinnati that are generally convenient to my typical travel patterns, and I have visited all 3 multiple times over the past few weeks.
At 2 of them, they have said that it is now “corporate policy” that if you’re buying with a credit card they have to PHONE in for credit card authorization. One of the stores suggested that it was for any gift card purchases over $200. I’m not entirely clear what the phone authorization provides in terms of extra fraud prevention that the chip at the POS does not, but I’m willing to be educated on it
Needless to say, this takes a LOOOOOOOONG time. Adding to the delay is that once they see I’ve got gift cards and the cashiers KNOW it’s going to take a long time, that they just lollygag through the whole process, since they know that it’s going to take ~10 minutes anyways. I mean, it would surprise me if there was a deliberate “slowdown” message coming down from corporate to discourage gift card purchases, but it sure feels like it!
In any case, at the 3rd store, nobody seems aware of this “corporate policy” and I’m able to buy cards with no problem at the POS (though it does require a manager authorization)
One other interesting tidbit is that I was able to buy variable load $20 – $200 (not $500) cards with a credit card when the Visa deal was ongoing.
Anyone else run into this at their local Office Max / Office Depot stores? What’s the longest you’ve had to wait?
This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as thepointsguy.com. This may impact how and where links appear on this site. Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers and that compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners and I do not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers and other offers and benefits listed on this page. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them
User Generated Content Disclosure: Points With a Crew encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.
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 
That post was a let down.
OfficeMax #1: Yes. Extremely slow, took about 15 minutes.
OfficeMax #2: No, very quick transaction.
I don’t think it was a letdown. People should know what to expect going into a store.
I agree with Chris.
Bought 3x $200 MC at OD without a problem. They didn’t let me split the payment into different cards (said it would cancel the transaction) and manager had to approve.
What do you guys do with these gift cards you buy? I am a novice and do not understand.
Use them for purchases. The best way to do that won’t (shouldn’t) be spoon fed here on an open comment page so you’ll have to do some digging. Sorry.
I can tell you what I do with mine, which won’t set off any alarms. Also, I don’t do the volume of some people using other methods.
I use them to pay for things at stores where I would only get 1 pt/$…. the veterinarian, tokens at the farmers’ market for groceries, etc. Since I am getting 5pts/$ on my Ink, I’m way ahead.
One store almost always calls in. Others never call. Another store states they must call in with signs posted everywhere, but as soon as I show my Ink they say oh it’s chase – there is no need specifically for chase cards. This sounds to me like someone got tired of calling in for MSers
This is what irritates me. If there is a “corporate policy” then just EVERYONE FOLLOW THE SAME DANG POLICY!
The only store ear me was a piece of cake. Even let me split payment so I could use my AMEX spend $100, get $20 back.
Then used Ink card again, and again. Up to $1800.
Also did same with wife’s Ink(and AMEX deal) card.
Manager instructed cashier on how to split.
I’m convinced some of the stores have employees or managers who just like to bug customers that take advantage of these deals.
Almost the same here for us. Great manager, and employee was willing to learn.
No problem waiting for authorizations at my nearby Office Max, though I did run into a snag on the Visa vs MC promos. On the Visa promo, you could buy $600 (3 x $200) on a single transaction and the register automatically applied the promo 2X for a $30 discount.
On the MC, it’s a max a $15 per transactions, so you have to buy at least 4 GC’s and pay the fee 4x in order to maximize the promo.
Wal-Mart is also a little more temperamental with MC Debits than Visas using them with a pin.
I didn’t have a probably buying 3 $200s and getting $15 twice on the MCs. Agree with what you said about Walmart and MCs
Can you elaborate a bit about the MC debits being troublesome. I’m planning to visit Walmart to purchase a money order (first time doing this) with the 3 x $200 MC gift cards. I’d like to know what to expect. Thx!
I haven’t had much luck but apparently with Mastercards at WM you have to quickly hit the cancel payment button otherwise it runs as a credit (instead of debit).
Texas store I visit has new “corporate” policy where you can’t buy any variable gift card (not even Amazon or Home Depot) using credit.
The OD on ridge in Oakley is the worst!
Actually they are the only ones that haven’t made me call it in!
I don’t know if you go during the day or night. But the day shift manager Phillip is very lets just say particular!
It has been about two weeks since my last purchase and had no problem. I will go again this weekend and see if it happens here. Has there been a report of Staples doing this also ? On a related unrelated note, we have a change of convenience stores here call WAWA.
As of three months ago they stopped taking credit for all credit card purchases. It gets more difficult to find creative ways to get the points.
I also use plastic and had a great program going with the other company like them that closed up (cant remember the name) I would use same as cash deals for large ticket items, get 12-24 months to pay and use gift cards I earned 5 points on to pay the bills. Was great, got 24 months no interest and earned 5 points per dollar when I paid. It became more difficult as that company changed the rules without notice frequently and then closed up.
Plastiq will not allow these types of payments which defies logic because they let you pay line of credit balances. I understand the goal of them wanting to restrict credit card payments with credit cards but i could get around it with using the credit card to pay the line of credit and then use the line of credit to pay the credit card. I could use this process with the LOC and the same as cash deals, just gets to be more trouble than it is worth. If anyone knows of a simpler plan let me know.
My two local Office Depot’s recently started a “cash only for ALL gift cards” policy. Said it’s corporate policy, but it’s obviously not. They wouldn’t even let me buy a $50 Amazon card. So frustrating.
They treated me like a criminal for using a cc, and I was even making other purchases with the cards.
Who carries that much cash around to buy gift cards?
My local staples is very accommodating. OD will not be getting any more of my money.
Come on now. Think about your own job and company policies. Not everyone follows every policy ‘by the book’ every minute of every day. Heck I worked for myself and I didn’t always use my own procedures. Plus some clerks would feel the need to push a transaction through if they’re the only person on the registers at that time and they don’t want to deal with a long line building up. If it takes ten minutes to accomplish what you’re doing think what would happen if there were several people in line having little issues or trying to buy gift cards like you are. It cannot be easy clerking in a big box store.
No problems on Florida west coast with either visa or mc offers. Lucky.
Keep in mind that some of these people may have a good reason for causing you a little inconvenience . That good reason is that making a mistake in a confusing , unfamiliar transaction can get them fired .
It’s not like they’re making the big money anyway so give ’em a break .