Visa Gift Cards at Stop & Shop and Giant- 2x Fuel Points

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Fuel Rewards Network

Via Doctor of Credit

Stop & Shop and Giant supermarkets are offering 2x fuel points for buying Visa Gift Cards until 3/26/2015.  Normally, Visa Gift Cards do not qualify for any fuel points.



You need to join the loyalty program of Stop & Shop or Giant.



Use the American Express Blue Preferred to get 6% cashback (about $24 after fees for a $500 Visa Gift card) or Chase Freedom to finish off your 5% cashback for this quarter (max of $1,500 in spending for 5% cashback)


Every $100 you spend earns 100 points which is 10 cents a gallon.  $1,000 of spending is $1 off per gallon.  You are earning double points so every $500 Visa Gift Card will you give you $1.00 a gallon off your next purchase of gas at Shell stations near your Stop & Shop.  

$1,000 of Visa Gift Cards will give you $2.00 a gallon off your next purchase of gas at Shell.

Fuel points must be redeemed within 30 days of purchase so only buy what you will use now.

Teaneck, NJ

In my area (Teaneck, NJ), there is a Stop and Shop that is loaded with plenty of $500 Visa Gift Cards and they let you use a credit card.  The maximum savings you can get off one fillup is $2.20 a gallon in my area.  That means you are basically getting a free tank of gas.


You need to hand your Stop & Shop card to the attendant before your gas is pumped to make sure you get the discount.  I have never personally redeemed fuel rewards but according to the Store Locator function, the Shell station on Cedar Lane should allow for redemptions.  That being said, I know that they do not allow for Fuel Rewards Network redemptions so you may have to go to a Shell Station on Route 4 or in Hackensack.

Small Business Saturday - Where to go?

Thank you very much SW for helping me compile these lists.


With Small Business Saturday coming this Saturday, here is a sampling of confirmed locations to spend your money.  I don't know whether the stores will be open, but they are on the map from American Express.  Internet purchases will not qualify, it needs to be processed in store.  If you call in to a store and they process your card that will work.

This is not an exhaustive list.  Please email me with a screen shot of a place on the map that is a glaring mistake I left out.

Seforim For Everyone:

Tuvia's in Monsey - You get a 10% bonus for any gift card purchases ($11 per card).  Call 845-426-0824 to place your order or email info@tuvias.com for information on how to preorder.  

Eichler's - 1-800-883-4245 to order

Teaneck

ChopStix

Nobo

Sammy's Pizza and Bagels

Sushi Metsuyan

Kosher Experience

Dougie's 

Mocha Bleu

Noah's Ark

Bumble Berry

Wine Country

Carvel on Hackensack Ave.

Five Towns

Judaica Plus

Z. Berman Books

Wok Tov

Sushi Mesuyan

Carlos & Gabby's

Pious Pizza

Oh Nuts

Yali Wig's 

Cherel's Hats

Monsey

Purple Pear

Kosher Castle

Yossi's Bagels

Zishe's Homemade Bakery

Monsey Shoes

Kew Garden Hills

Grill Point

Shimon's PIzza

Sushi Mesuyan

Carlos & Gabby's

Benji's Pizza

Hapisgah Steakhouse

Wasserman's Supermarker

Eshet Chayil

Brach's

Passaic

Jerusalem Pizza Falafel

Z. Berman Books

Flatbush

Z. Berman Books

Chap a Nosh

Carlos & Gabby's

Sushi Tokyo

Olympic Pita

Essen New York Deli

Prestige Shoes

The Living Torah Museum

Lakewood

Circa
Bagel Nosh
Pizza Plus
Four Corners Bagel and Cafe
Hot Box
Prestige Shoe

Free Kid Friendly Activity - Flat Rock Brook Nature Center - Englewood NJ

I'm always looking for good, inexpensive activities to do in the Teaneck area.  This past Sunday, my family found a really good one.

Flat Rock Brook Nature Center in Englewood, NJ is 2 minutes off the Jones Road exit of Route 4.  

Everything is free, including parking.  They have nature hikes that include bridges and ponds.  It is perfect for kids 2 and up.  We have a newbord so we carried him in a BABYBJORN Carrier. 

$500 Visa Gift Cards at Parthmark in Teaneck - Free Money

Free Money - Teaneck Style

Update 7/4 - Reader SW astutely pointed out that Pathmark is part of the company known as A&P.  They sell under the following labels:

Pathmark
A&P
Waldbaum's
Food Basics USA
Food Emporium
Super Fresh

Look out for the $500 visa gift cards in all of their stores.  Hey, you never know.

In addition, $500 visa gift cards have been found at Stop & Shop stores.


As part of my continual research for free money in Teaneck, NJ I have been looking for $500 gift cards at grocery stores.  Even before I moved I asked a couple people to look out for them.  Thanks IB for checking it out for me.

I went to Pathmark on 80 New Bridge Road in Bergenfield and found the Holy Grail.  Pathmark stocks  $500 Visa gift cards that can be bought with a credit card.  The most amazing part for me was that I saw veyr intelligent people walking right past them and not buying them.  There were a couple racks of them.  How could this be?

This is what you should look for.

As you can see from my online account, the purchase has been categorized as a grocery purchase

Who Cares?

I'm making quite a fuss about this, but why do I care and more importantly why should you care?  The answer is simple, this is an easy opportunity to have a free lunch.

There are credit cards that have special cashback rates for grocery stores.  The two big ones are American Express Blue Preferred and American Express Blue Everyday.

The Blue Everyday card gets you 3% cashback at grocery stores up to $6,000 a year.  If you buy one single $500 gift card there is a $6 fee.  You will get $15 in cashback so a net of $9 or 1.8% cashback.  A nice haul, but not incredible.

The Math for the year.  3% of $6,000 is $180.  $72 of fees brings it down to $108.  Probably not worth your time unless you go to Pathmark and Walmart anyways.

The Blue Preferred gets you 6% cashback on groceries up to $6,000 a year but with a $75 annual fee.  One $500 gift card gets you $30, a net of $24 or 4.8% cashback.  That is very exciting!

The math for the year.  6% of $6,000 is $360.  Annual brings it down to $285 (I got the sign up bonus so annual fee doesn't bother me).  $72 of fees for buying the gift cards and your total haul is $213 per card for not much work.  I have 2 cards so that will be $426 a year extra.  Not too shabby!

Using the Gift cards

What should you do with the gift cards once you buy them?

• Use them like a credit card.  
• You are now getting 4.8% cashback everywhere up to $6000 a year!
• Gift cards can be annoying to keep track of as they start to get in the $20 or less range.  You also want to hold on to them in case you return anything because it usually will go right back on that card.

• Cash them out with Bluebird at Walmart
• These cards are issued by Metabank so you can add a pin to the gift card by calling up (the last 4 digits of the account number should also work but I haven't tried it yet).
• Once you have a pin you can bring it to Walmart and add to your Bluebird account and pay your credit card bill with it. If you bring two cards at a time you have just made $48

Maximizing The Deal - Easy There Cowboy

There are natural limits to this.  You get 6% back on up to $6,000 at grocery stores, after that you only get 1%.  

I have two Blue Preferred cards, one for me and one for my wife.  I now buy one $500 gift card every month.  Once I max out the $6000, I will begin to use my Blue Everyday card for my grocery purchases and get 3% on groceries + over $400 a year!

If that gets maxed out too (life is expensive but unlikely) I will switch my grocery purchases to the Bank of America Cash Rewards, which I normally only use for gas, but gives you back 2.2% at groceries if you have a Bank of America Checking Account.

Don't be an idiot - don't buy $6,000 worth of gift cards in one month.  You have the same $6,000 max for the year whether you buy $500 at a time or $3,000.  If you don't live in Teaneck, I would feel comfortable buying $1,000-$1,500 at a time to avoid extra trips and to minimize the chances that I've already cleared their shelves, jk.