Vanilla Reloads “Cash Only” Policy Is Not Nationwide (At Least Not Yet)

Update: As of 4/2/2014, I am no longer able to buy Vanilla Reloads in NYC with credit cards. Others have reported credit card options disappearing in various cities. There have been reports of a new memo (see the post on View from the Wing) detailing a chainwide rollout of the “cash only” policy on April 4, 2014. 

Yesterday, I wrote about a CVS memo indicating that Vanilla Reloads and other reloadable cards will be switching to a “cash only” policy starting today, March 31. Everyone awaited this “judgment day” expecting the worst:  every single CVS to instantly switch to a “cash only” policy and to be cut off from Vanilla Reloads forever. While the lack of Vanilla Reloads is certainly not the end of the world in any case, there is some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that the policy change seems to not be nationwide, at least at this point. There have been reports coming from Virginia, New York, northern California, southern California, Philadelphia, Chicago suburbs, Miami, Atlanta that Vanilla Reloads seem to still be able to be bought with credit cards. So it’s not the end… at least not yet.

The bad news is that some stores have gone “cash only” and the register will not allow any credit card use. So the memo was real.

What does all this mean? Since the memo did come from the product line manager for gift cards and reloadable cards from CVS corporate, it’s certainly possible that he may intend all CVS stores nationwide to go “cash only” on reloadable cards. But it’s not happening overnight. That’s somewhat expected as big corporations know there is significant risk in rolling out big changes everywhere in case something goes wrong… any bugs in the code would more easily be contained if they try out new register policies in a few stores first.

My Plan of Action

Since Vanilla Reloads may still be available, I plan to continue to use them given this really is the simplest and quickest method for me. But, of course, I am fully prepared this avenue may close any day. Opportunities are always disappearing so I am not going to have my heart set on any Vanilla Reload-dependent travel plans. And as I said in my last post, it’s still possible to buy OneVanilla or Vanilla Visa gift cards and load Bluebird at Walmart, although that does require the extra step.

I gave a quick visit to my local CVS after work today and was able to buy some Vanilla Reloads with a credit card. I didn’t question them about any potential new policies or possibly memos. Others are reporting asking the cashiers and managers about new policies and memos and some CVS stores reporting they knew nothing. This is good news, of course, but asking directly makes it a dangerous game.

While I know we’re all eager to know exactly what’s going to happen and when, I don’t believe directly asking and bringing up potential new policies is the way to go. If enough people suddenly ask about new “cash only” policies and make reference to a “memo”, it’s only a matter of time before a manager starts asking around and hunts down the memo, whether it was meant for his store or not. If he hears “cash only” enough times, he may decide to implement a “cash only” store policy himself. In summary, it’s best not to make the cashiers paranoid or raise any new alarms. I plan to just continue business as usual.

Anyone else try to buy Vanilla Reloads after this morning?