Retailers want your economic stimulus money
By glblguy
Over the past couple weeks I’ve seen TV commercials, print ads, signs and fliers from retail outlets offering special deals for those using their IRS economic stimulus rebate checks. Seems the retailers are aggressively fighting for your money and that’s to your advantage.
Since it would seem many of you are starting to get your checks, or will be soon I thought I would share just a few or the larger “deals” or incentives being offered by various retailers:
- Sears is offering a 10% additional gift card program. Don’t forget, Sears gift cards are good at K-Mart and Lands End as well.
- Staples has an economic stimulus center with discounts, giveaways, and more.
- Fry’s Food stores is offering a 10% extra deal when you purchase gift cards
- Kroger foods is also offering a 10% extra deal when you purchase gift cards.
- Ace hardware is running promotions offering 20% off on selected merchandise
- Radio Shack is offering a 10% discount of purchases of $50.00 or more – Read the fine print on this one though. Seems you aren’t required to use your full check and the remaining balance is placed on a Visa debit card but there are fees for using the debit card!
- Wal-Mart isn’t offering any deals, but will cash your stimulus check and waive the normal $3.00 check cashing fee (nice of them huh?)
- I read that Food Lion grocery stores are also offering a 10% gift card deal, but I was not able to confirm that.
- Old Navy is offering $10 off for a $50.00 purchase, and $15 dollars off for a $75.00 purchase.
- Circuit City is offering special prices
These are the main deals that have been currently announced, but keep your eyes and ears open as new deals are coming out daily! I also recommend that instead, you should put your stimulus rebate towards paying off your debt or buffering up your savings instead, but if you are going to spend it, looking for opportunities like the one above that will provide even more bang for your buck.
Have a deal I’ve missed or just learned of a new one? Add a comment below and let’s make this article a growing list of deals and savings! Add a comment!
* Photo by: greefus groinks
May 12th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I don’t really care for these “deals” since most, if not all, require you to sink all of your check into a non-refundable, non-cash “currency” that is only good at one place. If I was allowed to use part of my check, I would consider taking advantage of one of these offers if there was something I needed (such as Kroger’s – if there was one near me). But there is no way I’m going to hand over $1,500 to any corporation and hope they manage it properly for me – just look at what happened with the Sharper Image gift cards!
May 12th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I noticed that Pick N Save is also offering an additional 10% if you give your money to them.
My check was directly deposited, so I guess I can’t take part in any of this stuff since I didn’t get a physical check, not that I would have anyway…
May 12th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Meijer, which is a grocery and general merchandise store in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, has this Government Rebate Booster program:
“For every $300 in Meijer Gift Cards you buy, we’ll kick in a coupon for $30 off your next General Merchandise and Apparel purchase at Meijer stores!”
No actual tax check needed, just buy a gift card. See http://www.meijer.com.
The detail you want to pay attention to is that the $30 bonus cannot be spent on groceries.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
A $1,200 stimulus check could also be used to save $4,805 (eliminating four payments) on a $200k mortgage (five years in and @ 6.5%).
Exchanging a stimulus check for store credit is a great idea if you already intended to spend the money at the store. It’s, perhaps, not such a good idea if you’re like me—able and willing to invent new needs at a moment’s notice!
May 12th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Great post. I work for a company that manages and tracks gift cards, and we blogged about this issue a few days ago on savvywallet.com. Before exchanging your stimulus for retailer gift cards, consider this: $100B was spent on gift cards, and $8B was lost and unclaimed. My advice? Save it and put it towards debt.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Haggen’s (Pacific NW grocery stores) is offering not 10 but 15% extra.
http://www.haggen.com
May 12th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
To those living in the midwest, Meijer stores are offering $30 in gift cards per $300 you spend. A great deal if you do a lot of grocery shopping, meijer has it all!
May 13th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I’m still not convinced that this huge cash giveaway is going to help the economy in the longterm, I think it merely sends out a panicked message to financial organisations and consumers and I think that many people are still going to save the money than actively spend it. However it’s always great to get free money from the Government.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
I just read a study, and we’re going to blog about it soon. Studies show that consumers are going to send back $42m back to necessities. So we’ll see where it goes.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Food Pavilion (Pacific NW grocery stores) is also offering 15% extra.
http://www.brownandcole.com/