One of the local restaurants in my hometown runs a promotion every Black Friday where it offers customers a free $US5 ($7) gift card if they purchase a $US20 ($30) one. The idea is that you’re buying that $US20 ($30) one as a gift and you’re getting a little something in the process. I looked at it for a few years and thought about how it would be a nice promotion if it made sense to give the gift card to anyone on my list. Then one day I realised I could actually give the entire $US25 ($37) to myself.
In the case of this restaurant, it was somewhere I went to lunch at least once a week. By purchasing the promotion I was essentially giving myself a 20% discount on future lunches. It’s obvious that I could purchase it for myself, but it wasn’t something I ever considered. After that realisation, I started buying other gift cards for myself on occasion, and today, Black Friday, I suggest you do the same.
For instance, right now Amazon is offering a $US50 ($74) Fandango gift card for $US39.50 ($58) (21% off), and an $US100 ($148) App Store gift card for $US80 ($118). Full disclosure: these are rotating deals, so by the time you click on these they may be gone (or maybe not) and new ones will be in their place. You can check out the current options here.
Walmart is also offering 10% off a ton of gift cards as well, including one from DoorDash. I’m sure there are a zillion other similar promotions out there, these are just the largest I found offering gift cards to a number of different places.
You can bet there will be even more of these come Cyber Monday as well.
I’m not suggesting you buy gift cards to somewhere you won’t shop, that’s kind of pointless. However, if somewhere you shop regularly is running a discount on gift cards buying one is kind of a no-brainer. Gift cards work like cash most places, and by buying one for that local restaurant or delivery service at a discount you’re essentially giving yourself a discount on your future purchase.
Even better, you can use gift cards to purchase items that are discounted in the future, increasing your savings. Or you can even use those gift cards to buy holiday gifts for this year at a small discount, depending on where you’re getting the card for.
Look out for deals on gift cards places you shop regularly over the next few days, you might get lucky.
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