Uber Gift Cards
As I’ve previously described, I’m into earning and redeeming many types of rewards, not just the travel form. And traditional travel rewards currencies, like airline miles and hotel points, don’t as easily help with other costs which come along, like local transportation and dining. Uber gift cards can help with both of those things. Today, I’m describing the greatness of these cards and my preferred method for obtaining deep discounts on them.
Why I Like Uber Gift Cards
I enjoy buying and using Uber gift cards for a few different reasons. First, they’re tremendously diverse. Instead of buying one gift card to a specific restaurant, I’m buying one Uber gift card which works at countless restaurants. Bigger picture, I’m buying a gift card to dine in my home region and beyond during travel. Obviously, it’s not just a restaurant gift card – I can use the balance for local rides wherever I travel.
Using the gift card balance has become even easier, too. In my experience, airports have steadily improved their signage and support for rideshare programs. Rideshare’s a cinch to use these days. Lastly, and perhaps a self-fulfilling prophecy, I like Uber gift cards because I know I’ll use them. Picking one up won’t lead to breakage. Uber balance helped us escape a sticky situation recently. My DoorDash balance helped out in a tough moment last winter, and I imagine Uber Eats will similarly save our family again in the future.
But hold on, why do I bother with these cards? Why not just use my Amex credits and spend on the optimal credit card for any overage?
Behold, The Discount
One can buy discounted Uber gift cards just like many others. By thoughtfully earning and redeeming fuel points in grocery stores’ programs, combined with using the optimal credit card for those purchases, individuals can easily save at least 10-20% on Uber gift cards.
But my favorite option for picking up discounted Uber gift cards is with Amazon’s pay with points offers. I just used an Amex version to obtain 40% off a $150 Uber gift card delivered via email. And that’s not including the savings from credit card spend and fuel points I earned by buying an Amazon gift card to cover all but a penny of the purchase. Only using one Membership Reward point to activate that 40% off is the cherry on top.
Of course, you can obtain discounted or free Uber gift cards in many other ways. But before doing so, ensure you aren’t giving up a more optimal redemption that better addresses your goals.
Conclusion
Like most anything, this method isn’t perfect. I generally opt for public transportation when practical, and that’s cheaper and often environmentally-friendlier than the Uber option. The restaurant markup via Uber Eats cannot be ignored, so ensure to incorporate that when crunching the numbers. Also know that restaurants aren’t making as much on Uber Eats orders in comparison to direct ones. For this reason, we generally focus our Uber Eats orders on chains rather than smaller outlets. We’ll happily go direct and pay out of pocket for those unique dining experiences, whether during travel or in our home region.
How do you discount your “other” travel expenses?
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