Advantage Play at Menards?!

To the APs here, do you guys see this kind of stuff a lot in every day life and do you think being an AP helps you spot things like this faster or more easily than the general public?

Menards frequently has an 11% sale where everything in the store is 11% off via rebate. If you don't know, Menards is a hardware/home improvement chain like Home Depot or Lowes and is located throughout the Midwest. So the deal is that while this sale is going on you get an additional receipt that has your 11% rebate amount on it and you mail that in with the rebate form. The advantage is that you can purchase gift cards and get the 11% off also. My brother-in-law owns a restoration company and is the one who figured this out. You can buy, say for example, a $10,000 gift card(GC) and then get the 11% rebate receipt and then take that GC to buy another GC of the same value but you get another 11% rebate receipt for the new GC that you purchased with the last GC. You can do that over and over! Now he only did it enough times to essentially get a free gift card but that is huge. He also told me that he has heard of a guy doing that in IL somewhere with an amount of $50k!

Since my brother-in-law does so much business at Menards, likely into 6-figures, he is constantly bringing in receipts to get price adjustments since they will give credit for new sales and promotions that are going on. During on of these trips he realized that during the 11% sale they actually raise prices ~12-15%. Funny how its likely costing more to purchase during the sale! I bet they make a killing, especially with people who don't bother with the rebate because they think it is not worth it.

According to Menard's website gift cards are excluded from the rebate.

Quote: DRich

According to Menard's website gift cards are excluded from the rebate.

Thanks for the update! I think they learned that one the hard way.

Quote: falecf4

Menards frequently has an 11% sale where everything in the store is 11% off via rebate.

It's a very short sale, 5 days usually. They issued
this statement in Feb 2014:

Excludes gift cards, propane purchases, delivery and handing charges, all rental items, processing fees, packaging charges and extended service agreements.

And from what I read, doing what you're
describing is hard to do, anything over
$500 has to have store manager approval.
The limit on a card is $2000.

Quote: EvenBob

And from what I read, doing what you're
describing is hard to do, anything over
$500 has to have store manager approval.
The limit on a card is $2000.

Interesting, all I know is that it had been done with the $10k amount for sure. If it was 5 $2k cards then so be it. It happened last year so I'm sure they had they had to update their terms for the sale.

I maxed out the Target gift card offer on Black Friday and had my mom do it as well. They offered 10% off everything in the store, including gift cards, for that 6 hour morning. They capped the gift cards at $300 face value each (so we paid $270) and they shipped them free.

The reason I mention it is, last year Target repeated most of their Black Friday pricing right before Christmas; if they need to show more sales, they may do it again. They published it in their flyer, so you may get a few days' notice if they do it again.

Quote: beachbumbabs

I maxed out the Target gift card offer on Black Friday and had my mom do it as well. They offered 10% off everything in the store, including gift cards, for that 6 hour morning. They capped the gift cards at $300 face value each (so we paid $270) and they shipped them free.

The reason I mention it is, last year Target repeated most of their Black Friday pricing right before Christmas; if they need to show more sales, they may do it again. They published it in their flyer, so you may get a few days' notice if they do it again.

Nice, thanks!

Quote: beachbumbabs

I maxed out the Target gift card offer on Black Friday and had my mom do it as well. They offered 10% off everything in the store, including gift cards, for that 6 hour morning. They capped the gift cards at $300 face value each (so we paid $270) and they shipped them free.

The reason I mention it is, last year Target repeated most of their Black Friday pricing right before Christmas; if they need to show more sales, they may do it again. They published it in their flyer, so you may get a few days' notice if they do it again.

It's funny that you say that. I was thinking of taking advantage of that same Target deal as well. But my mom said that was a stupid idea so it deterred me from following through. I also told my mom that I count cards. And she said gambling was stupid. I had tried to explain to her the advantages of the Target Black Friday gift card offer and card counting, but she didn't want to hear any of it.