It was expected and it was the most likely outcome, but we were still holding out hope of the whole thing just being a system glitch. Well, there’s no more hope. It is not a glitch and Redbird is dead.
FrequentMiler posted yesterday a corporate memo regarding tender accepted for Reloadable Prepaid Cards. Per the memo, effective October 13th (it actually started on the 12th), cash is the only tender guests can use to reload prepaid cards. Here’s the text of the memo.
Tender Accepted Select Reloadable Prepaid Cards
Effective Oct 13 cash is the only tender guests can use to reload select prepaid cards (listed below) in store.
Key Details
- Prepaid cards falling under this restriction include: REDcard, American Express for Target, Green Dot MasterCard, Green Dot Visa, NetSpend Visa and MyVanilla Visa
- POS will prompt if a payment type cannot be used.
- If applicable, credit or debit cards can be used to pay the card fee.
Cashier Direction
- Follow POS prompts. If POS displays a message that the tender can only be used for a certain amount or not at all, ask the guest for another form of payment.
- If the guest inquires about the tender restriction, advise: “Target has made the decision to only allow cash reloads for this card. This decision aligns with other retailers who also only accept cash for reloadable prepaid cards.”
Guest Questions
- Target policy: refer guests to Target Guest Relations at 1-800-440-0680
- Reloadable prepaid card questions: Refer guest to the card issuer contact information on the back of the card.
The RedCard increased my spending at Target dramatically, which was almost nothing before. But I guess me and fellow hobbyists didn’t do enough shopping do make up for the increased costs brought by the prepaid RedCard program.
It’s time to move on!
