Office Depot Excites With The Return Of Vanilla And $500 Gift Cards, Then Disappoints
Boy, it’s been a crazy busy week for me. I’m just getting caught up on a bunch of reading. Part of that reading was a few posts on Visa gift cards and Vanilla reloads by fellow travel blogger Frequent Miler. Visa gift cards and Vanilla reloads were a popular way to rack up the miles using Chase Ink cards not too long ago. I got to it a bit late and was certainly disappointed when it died a quiet death. I was a bit intrigued when I heard Office Depot was bringing back the gift cards. To be honest, though, I was pretty sure if they came back it wouldn’t be in the same iteration. I had heard from more than one educated source that there were serious concerns about money laundering with the cards, since you could essentially turn cash into gift cards.
I was out and about yesterday and figured I would see what my local Office Depot was stocking. The early comments were that the cards were only for sale as a cash purchase, not credit card. A quick perusal of the new display at Office Depot ruled out any doubts (see the fine print below the category on each card).
This surprises me a bit, as I would have figured the cash purchases would still raise concerns about money laundering. I guess paying out all those extra points on credit cards was the bigger concern. 
More likely, I’m guessing there was fraud associated with people lifting credit card numbers through identity theft and then buying a stack of gift cards. Oh, well.
While I don’t chase Vanilla reloads, for those who do pay special attention to another post by Frequent Miler that details his success finding a few elsewhere. And, if you don’t have those retail locations nearby, doesn’t everyone have a 7-11?
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