Not that I’m ever wrong about anything, but it turns out I was wrong in my assessment that CVS’s cash-only policy would be regional only. The deadline of March 31 came and went, and I was still able to buy them at my local stores. Today, Daraius posted a memo sent to him by a reader, stating that the cash-only policy would be implemented on April 4, 2014. I figured this was yet another regional memo, but headed out to load up on cards anyway.
Well, I just got back from the store I visited last week, where the cashier had been seemingly clueless about any upcoming policy changes. I purchased $2,500 in Paypal Reload cards and when the cashier handed back my card and receipt, she threw in this little nugget: “By the way, starting tomorrow, these will be cash only.”
This is pretty disappointing, mainly because the rollout date on the latest memo is April 4. As I explained before, there are plenty of alternatives to Vanilla Reloads once this policy is implemented.
I can’t believe that possibly David Phillips, the pudding guy, could have been brilliant enough to do such a legendary ploy to earn miles, but he was stubborn enough to tell the CVS cashier about rumors of a new cash-only policy. I wonder if on April 4, the registers will be hard-coded or the cashiers will just be instructed about the new policy change. I also wonder if this will be just a change for that particular CVS, a regional change, or a nationwide change.
That’s speculation on my part – not sure it was the Pudding Guy, but the description fit. Lots of other reports coming in on Twitter from folks being told the same thing – that they’ve already gone cash-only or are going to by Friday.
False alarm! False alarm! LOL…
Confirmed in my area! Could not buy either the MV Debit, or the VR. Both attempts blocked by the register! Was able to purchase from this same location yesterday!
you are all wrong, not on 4/4/14, its already here today 4/3/14, all machines coded not to accept CC.
The memo circulated by MMS says 4/4 and so did one of the stores I visited. Some stores implemented it a day early.
went to my regular CVS store (Anaheim, California) today and was told Cash Only