AARP Carnival Gift Cards

[Saint Greg]

2,500th post in this thread!

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Saint Greg

[Eli_6]

9 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

I saw this morning they posted they were getting a lot of new members so somehow people are joining.

596518187163174

I went and joined, but I am not sharing info from here. 😆 Just found a 10k point code on there that I posted above. 

 

I slightly fear Allstate figuring out what is going on and putting a kabosh on the codes they send out. I have insurance through them and the promotional codes I get in emails are ones I have already applied. I think the "3year10k" is a promotional code you get for having had insurance with them for 3 years. 

[bobandsherry]

6 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

I went and joined, but I am not sharing info from here. 😆 Just found a 10k point code on there that I posted above. 

I see references to the FB Group, but I've not seen any.  

[Saint Greg]

5 minutes ago, bobandsherry said:

I see references to the FB Group, but I've not seen any.  

 

They don't have anything we don't already have from what I can see. They just posted the group of codes that were posted here on Sunday. They haven't yet posted the groups of codes that were posted here last week.

[Petersonfcu]

36 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

This was mentioned earlier, but Chase Sapphire and some of the other airline miles rewards cards have offers if you sign up to get a bunch of miles as well. Sapphire has a fee but my husband has two cards that do not.  One is the United and I can't recall the other one.  

 

I am now mad at myself for going ahead and buying my airline tickets for my Norway cruise this summer because I have already managed to get 200k miles in a month between three cards.  I could have paid for a premium economy roundtrip ticket to London.

My wife and I churn credit cards for the signup bonuses in associated airline and hotel points/ miles and convertible points like Chase UR.  This year, however, we are focused on simple cash back, as our travel will be somewhat less and we have a huge stash of existing points/miles.

Edited February 6, 2020 by Petersonfcu

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

41 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

I went and joined, but I am not sharing info from here. 😆 Just found a 10k point code on there that I posted above. 

 

I slightly fear Allstate figuring out what is going on and putting a kabosh on the codes they send out. I have insurance through them and the promotional codes I get in emails are ones I have already applied. I think the "3year10k" is a promotional code you get for having had insurance with them for 3 years. 

I'm not sure why Allstate would care.  Don't they want people to buy as many things as they possible, and spend more money?  The more codes, the more people spend.  

 

I'm sure they know how often each code is used.  My guess is they use the various codes as a way to measure marketing effectiveness.  

 

 

[Petersonfcu]

2 hours ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

I'm not sure why Allstate would care.  Don't they want people to buy as many things as they possible, and spend more money?  The more codes, the more people spend.  

 

I'm sure they know how often each code is used.  My guess is they use the various codes as a way to measure marketing effectiveness.  

 

 

I am hoping that increasing  gift card volume is a win-win for both Allstate and Carnival Corporation.   As with all gift card sales, there is a certain amount of "breakage," that is, gift cards that are never used for whatever reason (lost, or forgotten, or small amounts remaining on card that are not used, etc.).   Carnival obviously benefits from this breakage.   Also, Carnival benefits when folks recieve gift cards as gifts and book a cruise using them that they otherwise wouldn't have booked.   And perhaps there are folks that use them to support an onboard gambling habbit who maybe gamble more when they use gift cards.  Or maybe who buy a pricey Cheers alcohol package with a gift card who otherwise wouldn't.  Who knows??   In any event, I am trying to thing positive about the continued availability of these discount cards.

Edited February 6, 2020 by Petersonfcu

[vacationpam]

7 hours ago, oldjetdriver said:

Found these on Facebook along with some others that were already known

20startearly

 

2020startearly

 

startearly20

 

Startearly2020

 

20sunglasses

 

2020sunglasses

 

Sunglasses20

 

Sunglasses2020

 

thank you so much 

[Organized Chaos]

6 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

On the NULL issue, I think it does have something to do with middle name. I have not had the null problem, but I have also ordered everything under my husband's name because I use his rewards card and we have different last names.  I always spell out my husband's entire name (including middle name) and include it because he actually goes by his middle name (even professionally) and we have had issues before with this causing a problem. Example: John Joe Smith.  

 

That's what I'm thinking too. When they updated their website, I feel like there's a bug in there somewhere that reads the middle name, but if there isn't one associated with the account, it automatically adds "Null." Just a wild guess. When I place orders, I'll double check that I entered the right name and, like one of their CSR's told me, look at the transaction history after the order is placed. If it says Null, call them. They can cancel orders that were placed same day, then re-order with the correct info.

 

6 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

I slightly fear Allstate figuring out what is going on and putting a kabosh on the codes they send out. I have insurance through them and the promotional codes I get in emails are ones I have already applied. I think the "3year10k" is a promotional code you get for having had insurance with them for 3 years. 

 

It's something I think about, too. I can see where PrinessArlena'sDad is coming from as well. They want people to make purchases. But on the other hand, I don't think they intend for these codes to be shared like this.

 

By the way, the 3year code is for being a member of Rewards for 3 years. There's codes for 1 year and 2 year anniversaries floating around this thread, too. My 3 year anniversary is coming up in May (I'm not a customer), but I already used the code, so now when I actually get that email, it won't be a surprise. 😕

[Organized Chaos]

6 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

2,500th post in this thread!

 

Hate to break it to you, but you're 2501. Eli_6 beat you by 1 minute. Probably a matter of seconds, typing at the same time.

 

[Saint Greg]

22 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Hate to break it to you, but you're 2501. Eli_6 beat you by 1 minute. Probably a matter of seconds, typing at the same time.

 

 

Interesting. The board can't count one way or the other because after I posted out on the main board it showed the thread at 2,500 with my post being the last one...maybe that shows replies.

 

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Saint Greg

[Eli_6]

7 hours ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

I'm not sure why Allstate would care.  Don't they want people to buy as many things as they possible, and spend more money?  The more codes, the more people spend.  

 

I'm sure they know how often each code is used.  My guess is they use the various codes as a way to measure marketing effectiveness.  

 

 

My thought process was that someone is paying for the ten percent difference in cash on card versus purchase price that is "earned" by points.  For example, if my husband and I actually used all 260k (between the two of us) points to buy gift cards, that would equate to $2600.  (You can also obviously use them to get cards to other places like eateries or Walmart or whatever.)  But like someone else suggested, I am guessing they (or Carnival) is counting on the fact that not all cards get used or, at least, the full amount doesn't get used.  They probably have it down to a science on what percentage of card money doesn't get used and that is how they are able to "discount" them.  

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

4 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

My thought process was that someone is paying for the ten percent difference in cash on card versus purchase price that is "earned" by points.  For example, if my husband and I actually used all 260k (between the two of us) points to buy gift cards, that would equate to $2600.  (You can also obviously use them to get cards to other places like eateries or Walmart or whatever.)  But like someone else suggested, I am guessing they (or Carnival) is counting on the fact that not all cards get used or, at least, the full amount doesn't get used.  They probably have it down to a science on what percentage of card money doesn't get used and that is how they are able to "discount" them.  

Actually, all gift cards sold by retailers (like supermarkets, big box stores, etc.) are purchased by them below face value, so they can make a profit off them by selling them at face value.

 

Places that sell discounted gift cards (Costco, BJs, Target, as well as Allstate) are essentially sharing their profit with their customers.  That's how they can discount them.  Allstate rewards isn't taking a loss; they're just making a lot less profit than retailers that charge face value.  What I don't know is the cost allstate rewards (or others) actually pays for the cards.

 

Even if you buy the cards directly from carnival, they still aren't getting full value.  Carnival subcontracts out the gift card distribution.  So, if you buy a $100 "directly from Carnival," the third party distributor takes a cut, and passes the rest on back to Carnival.

 

Carnival (and essentially all businesses that chose to sell gift cards through third parties) decided that the transaction costs associated with this sales model are worth it to them. Keep in mind, virtually all methods of payment to Carnival has transaction costs that result in Carnival not getting 100% of the money you pay, including credit card transaction fees and TA commission.  These transaction costs are built into the price.  So, they know that xx% of their revenue will be coming via gift cards, with their associated transaction costs.  Whether the gift cards are sold by allstate, or target, it's all the same to Carnival (assuming they sell the cards to the various retailers at the same bulk rate, but even if they don't, that would still be part of the calculus).

[oldjetdriver]

Princess $500 & $100 cards are in stock

[TLC535]

43 minutes ago, oldjetdriver said:

Princess $500 & $100 cards are in stock

 

Thanks for the heads up 

[CarolSW]

FYI regarding delivery of the cards from Allstate Rewards......

I received them exactly the same way I had been receiving the cards from AARP.....through UPS, delivered to my local UPS pickup spot.  I was unsure about how it would go since these were the first cards I bought from the Allstate Rewards site.  It took 1 week to get four $500 cards.   I DO have a UPS account so when I remembered that, I was able to track the shipment.   Relieved now and ready to sail in a month!

[Petersonfcu]

3 hours ago, oldjetdriver said:

Princess $500 & $100 cards are in stock

And they appear to be gone already.  

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

34 minutes ago, Petersonfcu said:

And they appear to be gone already.  

 

And they're back again.  11:10 am eastern.

 

[Organized Chaos]

3 hours ago, CarolSW said:

FYI regarding delivery of the cards from Allstate Rewards......

I received them exactly the same way I had been receiving the cards from AARP.....through UPS, delivered to my local UPS pickup spot.  I was unsure about how it would go since these were the first cards I bought from the Allstate Rewards site.  It took 1 week to get four $500 cards.   I DO have a UPS account so when I remembered that, I was able to track the shipment.   Relieved now and ready to sail in a month!

 

The same company that used to run AARP's old Rewards for Good program, Deluxe Rewards, is the one that still runs Allstate Rewards. The reason AARP is so different (bad) now is because they switched fulfillment companies. Deluxe's website is so much more user friendly, no ridiculous monthly limits, no requirements to be an Allstate customer (like we have to be an AARP member for those cards now). It's just an all-around better experience than what AARP uses now.

[Organized Chaos]

Question: We don't have to deposit the entire amount on a gift card into our S&S account, do we? Can Guest Services deposit only a portion of it? After all of our purchases, we're going to end up with a card with about $230 left on it that I'd like to split between my wife and I. We already bought some Cruise Cash, but instead of buying more, I'm thinking I'll just take that card in case we need some more. If they can split it.

[lobster1313]

4 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

Question: We don't have to deposit the entire amount on a gift card into our S&S account, do we? Can Guest Services deposit only a portion of it? After all of our purchases, we're going to end up with a card with about $230 left on it that I'd like to split between my wife and I. We already bought some Cruise Cash, but instead of buying more, I'm thinking I'll just take that card in case we need some more. If they can split it.

No, you can choose the amount you want to add to the S&S. We did that on our last cruise.

[bury me at sea]

8 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

Question: We don't have to deposit the entire amount on a gift card into our S&S account, do we? Can Guest Services deposit only a portion of it? After all of our purchases, we're going to end up with a card with about $230 left on it that I'd like to split between my wife and I. We already bought some Cruise Cash, but instead of buying more, I'm thinking I'll just take that card in case we need some more. If they can split it.

 

Guest Services has done that for me.  They did it in separate transactions.  They will also apply a requested amount off a card leaving a balance on it.

[ULCajunCruiser]

If I deposit a full card to my S&S account and still have a balance remaining after the cruise, they will refund me that balance back on another gift card; is that correct?? ( I know not immediately, but within a few weeks)

 

[Petersonfcu]

1 hour ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

 

And they're back again.  11:10 am eastern.

nd 

I see them.  Its possible I checked too quickly earlier and missed them as they don't reside immediately next to the Carnival cards on the webpage.

[Organized Chaos]

2 minutes ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

If I deposit a full card to my S&S account and still have a balance remaining after the cruise, they will refund me that balance back on another gift card; is that correct?? ( I know not immediately, but within a few weeks)

 

That's correct.