Loblaws admits to bread price fixing (with immunity) & Offers $25 Gift Card

[bhlombardy]

No one told me anything ... what I said was "I saw these two posts on twitter today" and put it here for comment and discussion. Nowhere did I say it was fact or fiction. So stand down.

Geez, sorry...

[dq14]

I received my card today and my dh received his yesterday.

[Ciel]

I did read somewhere that if we use the gift card and the total is over $25, we have to tell the Loblaws (or whatever affliated banner store) cashier that we are doing a split transaction before we profer the card/cash whatever. So that is my plan as I want to use the entire $25 for food donation and a bag or two and realize I may need some extra cash to cover the over $25 gc part.

Ah, it was in the Loblaw Cardholder Agreement, near the bottom of page 1:

Split Tender Transaction: If you do not have enough funds available on your Card to cover the full Transaction Amount,you may request the Loblaw Store to conduct a split tender transaction, which is where you use the Card as partial paymentfor goods and services and then pay the remainder of the amount with another form of payment (e.g. cash, credit, or debit).If you fail to inform the Loblaw Store that you would like to perform a split-tender transaction prior to swiping your Card, yourtransaction may be declined.

https://can-cdn.azureedge.net/Cardho...reement-en.pdf

Great to read that a member was able to use the gift card at a Self-Serve checkout with no issue!

[Colsgirl]

For those whose cards have arrived, don't forget to activate them (I haven't got mine yet, so no idea how you do this). I was just in RCSS and the lady in front of me tried to use it and she hadn't activated it, so it kept declining.

[dq14]

It's easy to activate... call, type in card number, type in date on back of card and type in 3 digit number on back of card and you are done.

[tjthemanto]

Can you buy other GC's with this GC ( I am guessing not ). Like the ones available on their store racks like Home Depot, Cineplex etc ?

Didn't go through T & C .

[tjthemanto]

Buy $ 25 worth of food at No Frills, Loblaws, RCSS for yourself. And donate $ 25 cash to food bank . $ 25 cash is like $ 75 worth of food for them.

How ‘not donating’ your $25 Loblaw gift card can actually help the food bank

By Simon Little

https://globalnews.ca/news/4060978/l...ard-food-bank/

[bhlombardy]

Buy $ 25 worth of food at No Frills, Loblaws, RCSS for yourself. And donate $ 25 cash to food bank . $ 25 cash is like $ 75 worth of food for them.

How ‘not donating’ your $25 Loblaw gift card can actually help the food bank

By Simon Little

https://globalnews.ca/news/4060978/l...ard-food-bank/

I'm glad you posted this... I recently learned of that same logic.

I was originally going to buy items for the school breakfast program, but instead opted to donate the $50 in cash (value of two cards) to them instead.

When I spoke to one of the organizers, they told me that they get deals directly from specific vendors, and sometimes special discount coupons from some vendors to use at the grocery stores (coupons which I cannot redeem myself) so they can actually save more money than me just donating the food itself... or the cards.

[dyalect]

must be one per household or something. i applied, told my wife about it and she got her card first. i am still waiting. what an s... show. just send digital codes through email. this physical card stuff is nonsense and probably quite costly. oh loblaws. stealing for years is easy, but a minor reimbursement is quite hard. (apparently)

[bhlombardy]

Can you buy other GC's with this GC ( I am guessing not ). Like the ones available on their store racks like Home Depot, Cineplex etc ?
Didn't go through T & C .

Can confirm.



I was with a friend today who bought a $25 Subway gift card using his Loblaws bread card.

Also, as a goof, we used the self-serve checkout, and it works there too.... you have to select CREDIT CARD though, not GIFT CARD.
Seems that these are cleverly disguised pre-paid Mastercards (check the image attached). When we selected Gift Card as the method of payment, it wanted to scan a barcode... which these dont have, so we tried Credit Card since there's only a mag stripe, and it worked.



On the photo, I've indicated that it's a self-serve checkout... that it was a Subway card that was purchased... and the Loblaws card's last 4 digits shown (as well as the note that it's a Mastercard)

I hope this answers some more of our questions:

Attachment 339552

[bhlombardy]

an addendum to the above post...

The pre-paid Mastercard (under masquerade) would explain the reason why you have to declare a split-payment -- or risk being declined.

That being said, just like any pre-paid Visa/Mastercard, if you try to charge more than the balance, it will be declined. SO... if you have to split the payment, you need to ALSO know the balance on the card. If you only just received the card, then it's easy... it's $25. But if you have used a portion of this card previously, then you better know what's left before you try and use it again. It's not a conventional PC gift card.

Now... will it work as a prepaid MC outside of Loblaws???
Anyone willing to try?

EDIT AFTER CONFIRMING: The card ONLY works at the stores listed. While it's issued by a bank, it only works with certain vendor IDs (rea: Loblaws owned stores), and thus only works at the stores listed on the enclosed letter.

[Natalka]

must be one per household or something. i applied, told my wife about it and she got her card first. i am still waiting. what an s... show. just send digital codes through email. this physical card stuff is nonsense and probably quite costly. oh loblaws. stealing for years is easy, but a minor reimbursement is quite hard. (apparently)

No it's not one per household. Read the terms and conditions or Q and A on their site.

[Anna Michele]

No it's not one per household. Read the terms and conditions or Q and A on their site.

We have 3 adults and received 3 cards
Quoted wrong post
Sent from my SM-J320W8 using Tapatalk

[tjthemanto]

Yes almost ALL the various gift cards are generally disguised pre-paid Mastercards, Visa or American Express cards.

Sometimes the GC's like Tim Hortons, Starbucks also mention on the back of the card or on their website ( Under T & C ) administered by American Express or something like that.

Can confirm.



I was with a friend today who bought a $25 Subway gift card using his Loblaws bread card.

Also, as a goof, we used the self-serve checkout, and it works there too.... you have to select CREDIT CARD though, not GIFT CARD.
Seems that these are cleverly disguised pre-paid Mastercards (check the image attached). When we selected Gift Card as the method of payment, it wanted to scan a barcode... which these dont have, so we tried Credit Card since there's only a mag stripe, and it worked.



On the photo, I've indicated that it's a self-serve checkout... that it was a Subway card that was purchased... and the Loblaws card's last 4 digits shown (as well as the note that it's a Mastercard)

I hope this answers some more of our questions:

Attachment 339552

[tjthemanto]

Funny how the card just predominantly mentions only Loblaws on it ( Parent company ) and " Redeem at Loblaw grocery stores "

Lot of people will interpret it as spending only at Loblaws stores ( which are quite expensive ), without realizing that you can also use it at No Frills, RCSS, etc their cheaper stores.