Kroger to offer Gift Card deals for upcoming stimulus checks.

starting May 2 2008 Kroger will start offering an additional 10% promotion on purchases of Kroger gift cards. I do not have all the details yet but will update it as I get them. I know that if you purchase a $300 gift card they are going to give you $330. I believe this is going to be good in all markets where Kroger has stores. so that would be Ralphs, Fred Meyer Etc. might be really good for you people with Fred Meyer stores out west as they carry alot more products than the local Kroger stores.
Edit by Moderator: Thank you for participating in the forums. However, this topic has been covered in a recent post Here.

Sears is going to be doing the same promotion. What's the catch? You have to give them your whole check and you get it back in a gift card to their store. What is even more disturbing is, according to the article I read, Sears' gift card will only be good until mid July. I'm thinking the article must have that incorrect. They give you a card for the value of your rebate check and a second card for the 10% extra. I'm thinking maybe it is the 10% card that expires in July.

I'm going to check into the Sear's deal. We were planning on buying a new washer and dryer set so the extra 10% would be nice. I'm assuming the cards will be good for any promotion they have during the time the card is good. They have been running some pretty good % off deals lately on appliances.

roy7736 said: The Kroger deal is better than Sears, because Kroger does not require that you actually use your refund check to pay for the GC. They will accept cash/debit cards/credit cards and still give you the extra $30.00.

Doesn't sound like that is the case though I wish it was.

Per Kroger's press release which can be found on their homepage:

"The program allows Kroger customers to exchange their tax refund or economic stimulus checks for a Kroger gift card with an extra $30.00, $60.00 or $120.00 added to it. Gift card amounts correspond to the payment amounts outlined by the Internal Revenue Service for the federal economic stimulus program.

Kroger customers who are interested in exchanging their refunds or economic stimulus checks should present their check and customer loyalty card at their local store’s Customer Service center from May 2, 2008 through July 31, 2008. The program is limited to one offer per household with a limit of $1,200.00.

Amounts that differ from those outlined above will be turned into gift cards in $300.00, $600.00 or $1,200.00 increments with the bonus amounts added on and the remainder returned to the customer. For example, if a customer has a tax refund or stimulus check of $415.50, the customer will receive a Kroger gift card valued at $330.00 and the remaining $115.50 will be returned to the customer."

Opus said: roy7736 said: The Kroger deal is better than Sears, because Kroger does not require that you actually use your refund check to pay for the GC. They will accept cash/debit cards/credit cards and still give you the extra $30.00.

Doesn't sound like that is the case though I wish it was.

 

Per Kroger's press release which can be found on their homepage:

"The program allows Kroger customers to exchange their tax refund or economic stimulus checks for a Kroger gift card with an extra $30.00, $60.00 or $120.00 added to it. Gift card amounts correspond to the payment amounts outlined by the Internal Revenue Service for the federal economic stimulus program.

Kroger customers who are interested in exchanging their refunds or economic stimulus checks should present their check and customer loyalty card at their local store’s Customer Service center from May 2, 2008 through July 31, 2008. The program is limited to one offer per household with a limit of $1,200.00.

Amounts that differ from those outlined above will be turned into gift cards in $300.00, $600.00 or $1,200.00 increments with the bonus amounts added on and the remainder returned to the customer. For example, if a customer has a tax refund or stimulus check of $415.50, the customer will receive a Kroger gift card valued at $330.00 and the remaining $115.50 will be returned to the customer."

Apparently there are different versions of the press release. At this link it says:

"Customers who do not have a hard copy of their government-issued checks may still take advantage of this offer with cash, a credit card or by presenting a valid personal check to the Customer Service center. Kroger Gift cards do not expire. Bonus amounts cannot be used toward the purchase of alcohol, lottery tickets, pharmaceuticals or tobacco products."

Mikul said: SuperValu announced a similar program. It looks like the maximum someone can get is an extra $30.

"Customers can redeem their checks for store gift cards in $300 increments, and stores will add an extra $30 to each card. This offer is available May 2 through July 31, 2008, at all SUPERVALU stores, including Acme, Albertsons, bigg's, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher's, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, Shaw's/Star Market, Shop 'n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy."

"Customers who are interested in growing their refunds should bring their government-issued economic stimulus or tax refund checks, along with government-issued identification, to customer service counters at their local stores between May 2 and July 31, 2008, to purchase store gift cards in $300 increments, not to exceed $1,200 per household. Each gift card will be loaded with an additional $30, to bring each gift card total to $330. Customers will be able to purchase less than the total amount of their check in $300 increments."

Press Release3

The max is $120. You get an extra $30 for each $300 gift card and you can get a max of 4 $300 cards.

I said elsewhere (how many gawd damn stimulus threads are we going to have?), if you can use these at the Store's Gas Station, than it might be a hot deal.

If it's true that they will allow the use of Credit cards to buy GC with the +10% it makes the deal much better.

Even people who get a paper check are better off depositing it in the bank, and using a 5% reward card to get the Kroger card. Using a paper check to get one nets you less than 5% on the deal (10% - 5% lost on CB - 0.xx% due to loss of cc float, and weeks/months of $$ locked into GC).

danteshors said: Do they not think people who have checking accounts do not shop at Kroger?

I don't think that's possible. Every time I've shopped at Kroger, I'm stuck behind some non-credit card using loser who has to:
- wait for cashier to finish rining up all the merchandise
- slowly pull out their check book
- try to calculate their balance to figure out if they can afford the groceries
- slowly write out the check

look at the SUMMARY FOR ALL THE INFORMATION

YOU CAN BUY OTHER GIFT CARDS WITH A KROGER GIFT CARD.

Opus said: taz112576 said: thats not true just go back and get 4 more gift cards later that day.

Its only allows 4 per order.

This is a great deal if you are buying a large amount of items at a store Kroger has gift cards for.

IE Home Depot...or Best Buy for example


The max is $120. You get an extra $30 for each $300 gift card and you can get a max of 4 $300 cards.


This is only good for KROGER branded gift cards. It does not apply to other gift cards that are sold in their stores such as Lowes or BB.

If they are going to allow you to just buy their gift cards with cash/debit card it will be interesting to see if they put a tracking system in place so you can't buy more than $1200. Maybe they will make you use your Kroger Rewards Card and track it that way.

Are these bonuses limited to one deal per employee?

First they

-tried to only buy one 1/2 gallon of milk and 2 boxes of cheerios
-Start complaining b/c the cheerios should be $2.50 each but they are confused b/c the register rings them up as $3.25 minus $0.75
-Eventually decide that they don't want the cheerios b/c they aren't as advertised

then they...

QuePaso said: I don't think that's possible. Every time I've shopped at Kroger, I'm stuck behind some non-credit card using loser who has to:
- wait for cashier to finish rining up all the merchandise
- slowly pull out their check book
- try to calculate their balance to figure out if they can afford the groceries
- slowly write out the check

... then

- tug and tug on the check until it tears in half
- beg the cashier to accept half of a check
- slowly rewrite the check
- argue with the cashier who points out to them that they wrote the check to the wrong store and didn't sign it

While I search desperately for a gun to kill myself and end my misery

Does anybody know if they're tracking this? Me and my wife shop spend about $250/month at a Kroger store, and they have a gas station that I would happily go to for a 15% discount on gasoline (10% Kroger + 5% Chase Rewards CC). I would like to purchase as much of these +10% giftcards as possible, since they don't expire--can I just go back to the store and buy more, or are they requiring personal tracking info? I'm thinking at the very least I can buy $1200 and my wife can buy $1200...

You forgot the cost involved in purchasing a VISA gift card is around $7.95 or so for every 100 on most of the VISA, MASTERCARD, and AMEX cards...although it varies...let me look into the cheapest way to do that. As far as tracking the amount of purchases you make there are ways around that, if they are tracking it per Kroger card....simple get another Kroger card. I am not sure about the ability to do it more than once per Kroger card.

The best thing I can think of to use it is for purchases at Home Depot for a large project or maybe like Best Buy for a new TV ( instant 10% discount on top of any other deals you can make.)

thinksnow said: quick tags said: ok these are the DETAILS...

Purchase $300, $600, or $1200 dollars in KROGER gift cards....mention the Stimulus check program and you will receive and extra 10% bonus on those gift cards...only in the exact amounts of 300, 600, or 1200.

buy 300 get 330 on your gift card
buy 600 get 660 on your gift card
buy 1200 get 1320 on your gift card


YOU CAN USE YOUR KROGER GIFT CARD TO PURCHASE

---FOOD (obviously)
---GAS ( at Kroger gas stations)
---OTHER GIFT CARDS (including Mastercard, VISA and AMEX cards)
---ANY OTHER PRODUCT sold in a KROGER (or any other Kroger affiliate store)So...could you start with $300 and get a $330 Kroger gift card.
Use that Kroger card to buy a $330 Visa gift card.
Use that Visa card to buy a $300/$330 Kroger card, leaving $30 on a Visa card.
Repeat, repeat, repeat...possibly continuing to add $30 to the same Visa card each time.

No alcohol?! Dang, I can't say I'm surprised though. The GC thing is reassuring, as that was my hesitation between buying 600 and maxing out. Definitely maxing it out on my 5% card now.

djspray said: No alcohol?! Dang, I can't say I'm surprised though. The GC thing is reassuring, as that was my hesitation between buying 600 and maxing out. Definitely maxing it out on my 5% card now.Use the Kroger card to get a Visa, then buy alcohol with that!

So I just did this last night.

I asked ahead of time and the employee said:

No, not good at the Kroger gas station. I will still prob try the next time I am there though.
No, can't be used to buy other gift cards. I just don't see how this could be true, so I will probably try it too.

You can just pay with your debit card or whatever, does not have to be any specific check.

ALSO Kroger honors competitors pharmacy coupons. I had gotten a prescription earlier in the day with a $30 one. Instead of issuing a physical gift card they link it to your Kroger card and it subtracts from your next purchase. It worked on the gift card! So I ended up paying $270 for $330.

Combine this with the 10% rebate on $200 through the Miller current promotion with form, this averages out to almost 25% off of everything I buy with this card. (Not to mention coupons too)

Very happy, may do it again when I actually get my check!

lberryma said: So I just did this last night.

I asked ahead of time and the employee said:

No, not good at the Kroger gas station. I will still prob try the next time I am there though.
No, can't be used to buy other gift cards. I just don't see how this could be true, so I will probably try it too.

You can just pay with your debit card or whatever, does not have to be any specific check.

ALSO Kroger honors competitors pharmacy coupons. I had gotten a prescription earlier in the day with a $30 one. Instead of issuing a physical gift card they link it to your Kroger card and it subtracts from your next purchase. It worked on the gift card! So I ended up paying $270 for $330.

Combine this with the 10% rebate on $200 through the Miller current promotion with form, this averages out to almost 25% off of everything I buy with this card. (Not to mention coupons too)

Very happy, may do it again when I actually get my check!

I need a new prescription GC--took mine to walgreens and it was only for transferred. Where did you get yours-can't find any online right now. thanks...

my arlington, tx kroger has a sign up @ service desk. on the bottom, it said "cannot use to buy other giftcards".

djspray said: linrick said: my arlington, tx kroger has a sign up @ service desk. on the bottom, it said "cannot use to buy other giftcards".
Well, I bought a $25 yesterday, then used it to buy a Shell GC afterwards. I cannot possibly see how they would differentiate the GC's.i asked the service guy and he said i can't use it to buy other gcs so i didn't try. maybe i should have tried buying $300 and go to another kroger to buy visa/AMEX/mc gc or something.

No need to prove you got (or are even qualified for) a stimulus check!

Article link

This is available at ALL Kroger owned supermarkets across the country (IE Fred Meyer and Ralphs on the west coast).

linrick said: FarmerOak said: linrick said: the greendot moneypak i got, you can put up to $1100 w/$4.95 fee. i didn't want to spend more than $300 oop. so far i've made a profit of $95.20 @ kroger.

i went to albertson and they didn't have the greendot program. they have something else similar but will only take cash for it. albertson also want the actual check or bank statement showing a direct deposit according to their corporate policy. i'll pass.

i haven't tried tom thumb yet and i don't know if they have the greendot program either. hopefully they do so i can finish up w/the initial greendot visa from kroger and proceed with AMEX spring fling thing.
Where did you pick up your money pack and what are the terms? I haven't actually looked at any at Kroger (so they might say $1100), but the Greendot site and card terms say that a Moneypack only allows up to a $500 reload.

Moneypack info

I hope what you say is true as that will make this MUCH easier!the moneypak was picked up at kroger. this is what it says in the back:

here's how it works:
1. first, take moneypak to cashier and purchase any amount from $20 to $1,100. a service fee of $4.95 will be added to your purchase.
2. then, visit www.getmygreen.com or call 1-800-greendot (1-800-473-3636), ......
3. green dot will then apply the funds to your card or account.
Thanks a lot. Instead of each round netting ~$25, each round could net ~$115. Interesting