As you may have heard from a couple of different bloggers, OfficeMax has a great promotion whereby they are quite literally paying you to walk into their store and buy gift cards.
The standard deal is simple: Buy $300 in gift cards and get $20 back. There is no hard coded limit to this promotion and it seems like most Officemax locations will let you buy up to $2000 in gift cards inclusive of fees.
Most people would instantly think to use their Chase Ink to get the coveted $200 gift cards that Officemax sells but there is actually another way to game this that I haven’t seen anyone talk about.
Officemax sells variable load gift cards and they are also included in this promotion. The only issue is that variable load cards are CASH ONLY. If you take $1,800 in cash into Officemax, you can make $96 in profit each time you walk in there and buy 3 cards for $500 & 1 card for $300. Chances are, everyone will be clamoring for the $200 cards and that the variables will still be sitting there because no one is buying them with cash. The magic number to buy is $1800 because that is the highest amount you can get a discount for without going over $2000. For every $300 you spend, you’ll get $20 back. If you spend $1800, you’ll get $120 back.
The Math
$200 Option
$6.95 Per Card X 9 Cards = $62.55
$120 Discount (6 $20 discounts)
Total Cost: $1,742.55
Total Profit: $57.45
Total Points: 8,715
$500 Option (Cash Only)
$5.95 Per Card X 4 (Last Card Will Be $300) = $23.80
$120 Discount (6 $20 Discounts)
Total Cost: $1,703.80
Total Profit: $96.20
Total Points: 0
As you can see, regardless of whether you want to earn points or not, you can still walk out a winner at Officemax. The best way to take advantage of this promo if they run out of $200 cards would be:
Step 1: Buy gift cards at a grocery store with a 5% cash back card
Step 2: Load to Bluebird or Gobank
Step 3: Take out money from the ATM $740/day PER Bluebird, $500 PER Gobank.
Step 4: Go to Officemax and use that cash to buy 3 $500 gift cards and 1 $300 gift card
Step 5: Liquidate those cards however you like to earn a $96 profit.
Step 6: Repeat at another Officemax.
