I’ve been having an especially tough 3 months. Things haven’t exactly gone my way and there have been some highs and too many lows. Today was a low point. This past Sunday, I went to the local Rite Aid for the Plenti offer. The program doesn’t mean much in the current state, but if you can earn free points for doing nothing, sign me up Accidentally.
When I went on Sunday, I tried to buy 2 cards as the ad states in order to earn 500 Plenti points. During checkout, the cashier told me I would have to do $500 orders each time and I questioned her, well what about the Plenti offer? She said it’d “add up” into my account. I wasn’t going to argue with her and could use the cards anyway. It didn’t post, like I thought. I thought she was making up her own rules like many cashiers do.
Not wanting to miss out on the offer, I went to a different location on my way home and this one has been pretty friendly to me too. I picked out 2 Visa Gift Cards and asked to load $500 each. When I approached the register it was a new cashier because she was wearing a tag that said “New Associate.” I thought perfect this will be great. She rang me up and after I swiped my credit card an error message appeared on her side of the computer. As we were waiting for the manager, I asked her if it was because she was new and they needed a manager’s approval. Instead, she explained to me that she needed a manager to review the transaction.
What It Has Added Up To
When the manager came, he explained to me that the Rite Aid point of sale recently received updates where buying any prepaid cards, the form of tender must be cash or debit card. While we were chatting, he pointed out a professionally printed signage above the GreenDot cards that said any “prepaid debit cards with PIN” are to be sold either cash or debit card. After he and I finished chatting, he was speaking to the new associate on why she can’t sell any of the prepaid cards using credit. Well crap. Now the new cashier has been trained and will be reluctant to sell. I can only hope that when I go it won’t be on her shift.
It sounds like my visit on Sunday, the seasoned cashier knew what she was doing and prevented a manager cancellation. This point of sale upgrade for my region looks to have gone in the last 2 weeks. My last visit to Rite Aid was August 23 when I bought $1000 in one order and there were no issues. If you are in an area with the POS upgrade, that Plenti offer might not work out for you like me.
No Rite Aids here but all my nearby wags have gone cash only in the last month or so 🙁 I am down to a single chain grocery store that will sell with CC consistently.
It’s definitely getting tough out there