Items I WILL buy at Costco: Gift Cards

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So we told you a while back that we are new again members at Costco.  We took a year off to see if we could “live without” our Costco membership and needless to say we are now back in the saddle. JUST this afternoon my husband returned our 2nd or 3rd malfunctioning GPS over the past 2-3 years without question.  That alone is priceless.

You can read more about Why We Bought a Costco Membership and the Items I would NEVER buy at Costco.  You can also read my first post about Items I WILL buy at Costco.  Today we’re going to talk about their gift cards.

I love getting gift cards at a discount whenever I can because they ARE like cash and CAN becombined with a coupon or sale!  That is the biggest tip I want you to take away from this, your gift card does not fall under the “not valid with any other offer” stipulation that you will see on a lot of restaurant or store sales and coupons.  Your gift card is just like cash and in the state of CA it never expires.

Here are a 2 examples of gift card deals I saw at my local Costco yesterday and ways you could maximize the savings.

Jamba Juice: I’m sure you’re well aware of the multitude of coupons that Jamba Juice releases.  I’ve posted many if not all of them here.  With the gift card deal pictured above at Costco, you are automatically saving 20%.  It is a $50 gift card (or 2 $25 gift cards) for $39.99.  Here is a deal scenario using a recent Jamba Juice coupon.

Buy (2) Jamba Juice 16 oz Smoothies – $3.95 ea (ouch!)
Use Gift Card and SAVE 20% – $0.80 Savings
Use BOGO Coupon and SAVE – $3.95
Final Price: $3.15 for 2 smoothies VS. $7.90 for 2!

Celia’s Mexican Restaurant: This is local Mexican Food restuarant that we’ve yet to try but have heard raving reviews for!  This is a GREAT deal, it’s a $100 gift card(s) that sells at Costco for $75.  Once again, you automatically saving 25% off your bill.  NOW with this restaurant specifically they are a part of the Restaurant.com program.  Here is a deal scenario using a recent Restaurant.com certificate purchased at 80% off:

Fine Print from the Restaurant.com certificate reads:

• Minimum purchase of $45
• Valid Sun-Thur.
• 18% Gratuity added prior to discount.
• Valid for Dinner, Dine In ONLY.
• Present prior to ordering.

Spend $45 on food and drinks at Celia’s
Use Gift Card and SAVE 25% – $11.25
Use Restaurant.com certificate and SAVE $23 (minus the $2 certificate cost)
Final Price: $10.75 for $45 worth of food and drinks, that’s incredible!

*PLEASE remember to tip your server based on the PRE-Discounted Total which in this case at a 20% tip rate would be $9.

Tagged as: Costco