The method that cost me a $500 gift card

Introduction

I hate summer.  Not because of the heat and the fact that most Seattle homes don’t have A/C.  Nor is it because of the 5AM sun-in-your-eyes.  No, it’s because I can’t wear a jacket.  Sure, I could still wear a jacket, but a) people would look at me funny and b) I’d sweat everywhere I go.  I think B is more important than A here.  So why do I like to wear jackets?  It’s because I NEED THE EXTRA POCKETS FOR MS PURPOSES!!!

Current Process

This is my process when I head to the armpit of America aka Walmart.  Before I leave my house, I will stack (like a deck of cards) in order:

• Serve card #1
• $500 VGC
• $500 VGC
• Serve card #2
• $500 VGC
• $500 VGC
• Serve card #3 (in case I get lucky with my favorite cashier)
• $500 VGC
• $500 VGC

I then rubber-band all 9 cards together.  In my 4 pockets:

• Note 4 phone (that takes up an entire pocket)
• Wallet (not Costanza-sized, but it’s getting there)
• Keys
• EMPTY POCKET

I like to leave the EMPTY POCKET for the Serve and VGCs cards that I’ve redeemed already at Walmart.  Now the question is – where do I put my stack of 9 cards?  If it was winter, I’d put it in my jacket pocket.  And clearly the obvious answer here is I either put it with my keys or in the empty pocket.  It’s too bad I wasn’t English or I could do this:

At the store

So now that I’ve driven myself to the armpit of America with my stack of 9 cards, when I am walking into the Walmart, I then like to remove the rubberband from the 9 cards and split the triplets up (each ‘triplet’ is a Serve and 2 VGC).  The reason for that is because I don’t want the cashier to see me with my stack of 9 cards.  I want to show her 1 Serve card while I am palming my 2 VGC’s.  So, while walking in, I will then put 1 triplet in my keys pocket, 1 triplet into my empty pocket, and 1 triplet in my hand.  I’ll then go up to the cashier, flash my Serve, and swipe my 2 VGC’s.  As the receipt is printing, I’ll then put the ‘used’ triplet into my “empty pocket” and take out the ‘unused’ triplet from there and then ask to load the second triplet.  When the second load is done, I’ll put that set into my ’empty pocket’ with the other used triplet.  Then I’ll ask to load the third triplet if I have a nice cashier.   Then when I’m outside the store, I’ll bundle all the used cards together with the same rubber-band.   If I only get to use 1 triplet, I’ll then rubber-band the 2 unused triplets for another day.  This method had been working for me for years now!

Where did things go wrong?

Well, when I went on Monday, I could only load 1 triplet and walked out with 2 unused triplets.  I then took the rubber band and bundled those 6 cards together (or so I thought).  When I went back on Tuesday, I noticed I only had 5 cards instead of 6 cards in the rubber band.  How did this happen?  I looked everywhere when I got home and couldn’t find it.  Looking back, I remembered I had put 1 triplet in my hand, 1 triplet in my keys pocket, and 1 triplet in my phone pocket!  After the 1st load, I put the used triplets in my EMPTY POCKET.  Then when I took out all 6 cards to re-bundle (from keys and phone pockets), a card must have dropped on the ground without me noticing or hearing!  It’s what I get for not following my routine!  That and I had gotten so complacent and careless that I forgot to count all 6 cards when I bundled them back.

What did I do?

Anyway, I went home, called USB, told them I lost the card, and they told me to fax in the receipt.  I asked them, “What if someone used the card?”  Them – “Well, we can dispute it.”  I’m not sure how you can dispute a prepaid gift card, but whatever.  Let’s see what happens; I’ll keep you posted.

Lessons Learned

Besides counting all 6 cards at the end, I don’t know what else I can do to optimize this issue besides wearing a fanny pack.  I did think of using 3 rubber-bands and just keeping the triplets separate, but like I said, I don’t want to show the cashier that I have a rubberband with a stack of cards.  But then again, they already know what I’m doing, so what difference will a rubberband do?  I’ve tested out this rubberband method lately with my Redcards.  For the past couple of days, I’ve rubberbanded each ‘triplet’ and put them all in my keys pocket.  When I take the triplet out of my pocket, I’ll remove the rubberband and put it on my wrist.  Then when the triplets are done, I’ll put them in my empty pocket.

Anyone have a better method?  I realize this post was like a Seinfeld episode, but I think it’s these minor tweaks in our process that’ll help you and me reduce ‘leakage’ in this game.