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| If you can get a free meal, are restaurant gift cards truly worth buying? We decided to find out ... |
Here is how our evil scheme unfolded. We had scrimped and saved for a special holiday meal, just for the two of us, at our favorite "foreign" restaurant. I don't want to name names but it's an American restaurant with a famous name from far across the world. And so we were seated at the table and the server politely informed us we could buy a $20 gift card and get a $5 gift card for free. Or we could buy two $20 gift cards and get two $5 gift cards for free.
I admit I thought nothing of the offer at first and sat there browsing my menu. Of course I already knew I was going to order the steak but I read the menu in case I feel a last-minute craving for some other dish. But my wife's thoughts were stuck on those gift cards. "We could save $10 if we buy $40 worth of gift cards," she said.
"Well, if you like fattening desserts I guess we could," I replied. I wasn't thinking clearly because I was hungry.
"These are not dessert cards," she said smugly.
At this point I folded my menu and began listening in earnest. For $40 we could eat $50' worth of food. Sounds like a deal, but even with my full steak on the menu we knew we weren't going to spend $50. And you cannot use the gift cards for tips.
"It's a shame we can't sell these cards," I said. And that is when her eyes lit up. "But honey, we can sell them. Tom and Shirley were looking for a gift to send their son in college. He would love to eat at this restaurant." David, their son, lives in another state but it's a chain. And so I saw where the discussion was going. We'd sell the $20 gift cards to our friends, maybe for $18 apiece, and we'd keep the two $5 gift cards.
That would pay for a lunch.
"How many friends do we have with kids in college?" I asked innocently.
Restaurants make free food offers all the time. If they aren't handing out gift cards they are doubling your points on rewards programs. Ours was not a moral dilemma where we had to choose between corrupting the system and doing what was right. We only needed to decide if we wanted to buy $120' worth of gift cards so we could get $30 worth of free food. The restaurant (chain) was still getting $120 out of the deal. Somebody was going to eat a lot of burgers and fries even if it wasn't us.
Spending that much money on restaurant food cards amounts to speculative investing. Fortunately the restaurant had good free Wi-Fi so we texted our friends and asked if they wanted us to pick up some gift cards for their friends. 2 out of 3 went for the scheme and we pocketed $20 in free gift cards.
This is No Way to Make a Living
This idea doesn't even amount to picking up pocket change. But if all you need to do to get a free meal is send a couple of text messages and lend a couple of friends $80, why not take the plunge? We were already sitting in the restaurant.
Here is how dreams turn into legal nightmares. As we sat there enjoying our meal we talked about how many of these gift card packs we could afford to buy. If we purchased $2000' worth of cards we could make $500, maybe less if we had to mail cards to other buyers. But we didn't know 100 people or even 50 people who would buy the cards. After all, everyone knows how to find one of these restaurants. So this absurd daydream made us smile and finish our side salads.
There is also the question of the legality of such a scheme. We never tested that choice as we only purchased the cards for our two sets of friends. But as we left the restaurant my wife mentioned she could think of three other restaurants with similar offers. She decided she would check with her friends the next day to see who would be happy for us to pick up some gift cards.
And that is how we spent our modest savings account in December. Oh, we bought a few gifts for the kids, but we became the Mom and Dad of the restaurant gift card underground. In the end we cleared about $60 in free food. I still think it was more trouble than it was worth but my wife had fun taking advantage of the free offers. The emotional payoff was well worthwhile.
What They Don't Tell You When You Buy the Cards ...
I eventually realized there were two flaws in this evil plan.
First, we had to visit several restaurants. I made the mistake of buying a meal at the second restaurant. I didn't realize at first that you can just walk in the door, ask to buy gift cards, and walk out without sitting down for a meal. So we paid for an extra meal we hadn't included in our budget.
It's not as if we don't overshoot the budget every month, but I was disappointed in myself for not seeing how the plan is supposed to work.
The second failure point in this scheme is that we had to wait for January before we could use the free cards. Oh, we understood that from the first night. But we got caught up in the excitement of the chase and found ourselves collecting $5 gift cards like monsters in a playing card game.
It's fun for a few minutes but when it becomes work it's really not worthwhile.
We Just Used the Last of the Free Gift Cards
I did pay for some lunch menu specials with the gift cards. It was nice to only have to cover the tip a few times. Maybe the evil plan was worthwhile after all. We spread the cost among our friends and a variety of sons, daughters, and aging parents and grandparents benefited from the generosity of their families.
I'm satisfied that it turned out well in the end. My only regret is that I used the last card to buy a piece of pie. It was good pie but now I'll be thinking about that pie for a week.
And this is what the marketing people wanted all along. I keep going back to these restaurants even though we've sworn off frequent, regular restaurant dining while we build up our savings. I'm fighting hard to hold the line. I have to admit I have lost the battle more than once. But at least I can say I got free pie without having to buy the whole meal.
I will take the victory lap. I need to if I'm going to work off these extra calories.
