expired Posted by everestsun • Dec 11, 2024
Dec 11, 2024 4:49 PM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expired Posted by everestsun • Dec 11, 2024
Dec 11, 2024 4:49 PM
H-E-B Stores: Bonus $10 or $20 H-E-B Gift Card w/ Select
(In-Store Only)$50 or $100 GC Purchase
H-E-B
Visit H-E-BGood Deal
Bad Deal
Save
Share
Top Comments
Starbucks is genius for doing this, because they have on their app to automatically reload your gift card (which earns you double points, businesses and governments "incentivize" when they want to reward you for good behavior 😏) when it falls below an amount you choose. And whenever you reload, you've put money from your pocket into theirs in the form of a gift card. The gift card is like a holding station for the service you will eventually want later on; but it also allows them to have their cake and eat it too.
Idk for 100% certainty this is the reason why they do it, but that's my understanding of why gift cards are so big with businesses. If people see enough value in your service, they'll literally give you money and call for the service later on. Meanwhile, businesses can pay for employees and other expenses with your money that they haven't provided service for...yet.
Sorry if you already knew this and I wasted your time. Lol. It's just such a simple but genius way of conducting business that I find pretty amazing.
Went back to the store and told the manager, who checked the rest of the stack. They were all compromised.
If you are going to buy a gift card please open the card before you put any money on it.
24 Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Does Lowes sell these at a discount to HEB?
Does Lowes sell these at a discount to HEB?
Part of it is that a percentage of cards get lost or unused or left with a few dollars on card and people don't wanna mess with it…win-win for merchants.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank carlmagno1007
Does Lowes sell these at a discount to HEB?
I imagine they get discounts when they buy the gift cards wholesale from the other stores; so off the bat they make profit when they sell you a Starbucks giftcard. And since those stores' gift cards, Starbucks in this example, are more likely to be bought, they incentivize people to buy it by attaching their own gift card as "Free", but really you've already paid for it because they bought the Starbucks card for $80 and sold it to you for $100, which is why they can give you a "free" $20 gift card to their store. That payment is now in their books as cash flow, so they don't care whether you choose to exchange that $20 gift card for an item in their store because they've already gotten paid. And when you do use the gift card, you've got no choice but to use it at their store; which they'll make more profit because they've marked up all their items after they bought it wholesale too.
Starbucks is genius for doing this, because they have on their app to automatically reload your gift card (which earns you double points, businesses and governments "incentivize" when they want to reward you for good behavior 😏) when it falls below an amount you choose. And whenever you reload, you've put money from your pocket into theirs in the form of a gift card. The gift card is like a holding station for the service you will eventually want later on; but it also allows them to have their cake and eat it too.
Idk for 100% certainty this is the reason why they do it, but that's my understanding of why gift cards are so big with businesses. If people see enough value in your service, they'll literally give you money and call for the service later on. Meanwhile, businesses can pay for employees and other expenses with your money that they haven't provided service for...yet.
Sorry if you already knew this and I wasted your time. Lol. It's just such a simple but genius way of conducting business that I find pretty amazing.
Overall it's a win for everyone, assuming you don't forget to use the giftcard.
- H-E-B gets a cut of the sale. Otherwise, why would any retailer sell 3rd party GCs for no profit?
- H-E-B, like other retailers, have an estimate on how much of their own GC goes unspent after x amount of time. Gift cards are essentially interest-free loans, and in a high interest rate environment, these "free loans" can generate 5% or higher just sitting in an HYSA, on top of not having to pay high interest to borrow money for business expenses/expansion etc. It's a double-win... for the business.
- When a gift card is purchased, the entire money spent is tied to the retailer; barring rules regarding cash redemption of gift cards, this money cannot be spent anywhere else after purchase (things are a bit more complicated with the multi-retailer GCs like Happy/One4All, Zillions). Instead of putting drinks on tabs, customer is prepaying the bar for future drinks they may forget to redeem.
- Some places have restrictions on what GCs can be used for (a common one is no buying GC with GC). Multiple GCs under same company can be confusing (Disney vs Disney+ GCs, iTunes vs Apple store GCs before Apple combined the two).
All of this sums up to: $100 in GC is not of the same value as $100 in cash. Which is why retailers are able to sell GCs at discount.Here's some math:
Assuming HYSA pay 5% (they were up until recently). $100 cash becomes $105 cash in a year. $100 GC is still $100 GC in a year if you don't spend it at all. Essentially $100 GC becomes like $95 after a year subtracting the potential interest gain you could have had. After two years, that $100 GC becomes like $90. In addition, due to inflation, the amount of goods the $100 GC could have bought shrinks every year. The longer a customer takes to spend the GC, the more the retailer benefits.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Does Lowes sell these at a discount to HEB?
You have to physically come into the store to buy the gift card, and people tend to buy other stuff once they make it inside.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank knivez
Went back to the store and told the manager, who checked the rest of the stack. They were all compromised.
If you are going to buy a gift card please open the card before you put any money on it.
Went back to the store and told the manager, who checked the rest of the stack. They were all compromised.
If you are going to buy a gift card please open the card before you put any money on it.
What city??