There’s a Cabela’s down the road from me. They are grossly overpriced on most things but once in a while something gets in there that catches my eye. On a whim, I picked up their Cabela’s credit card. It returns 2% of the purchase price of anything you buy there as ‘points’ that can be redeemed on future purchases. In other words, buy $100 worth of gear and you get $2 in points. On your next trip you use that $2 against the price of whatever your next purchase is. Follow?
Here’s where it gets… interesting.
Cabelas is having a ‘Cabelas Club’ event this Sunday. That means that theres a few things on sale but, more importantly, people who have the Cabelas card get some bonuses: a 10% off coupon for their purchase, and ‘triple points’..meaning that if you normally got 2% back in points you will get that 2% and another 6%, meaning you really get 8%. Annnnd…Cabela’s gift cards are 10% off this weekend.
And thats when my brain kicked in.
For the sake of argument let’s say a gun is $1000. You’re going to buy that gun using your 10% discount coupon. That means you need to fork over $900, right? (Because $1000 x .10 = $100 and $1000-$100=$900) Okay, so the gun will now cost you $900. BUT…gift cards are 10% off, right? So you go to the customer service counter and buy a $900 gift card. With a 10% discount on the gift card, that card will cost you $810. So far so good. You’re buying a $1000 rifle for $810. But wait, there’s more! You use your Cabela’s card to pay for the gift card. So you get 8% in points….and $810 x 8% = $64.80.
So you head to the checkout with your $1000 rifle. The gal says “$1000 please”. You hand her the coupon for 10% off. She says “Ok, that’ll be $900 please”. You give her the $900 gift card that you paid $810 for. Then you say “Id like to use my Cabelas points” and hand her your Cabelas card. She discounts you another $64.80 for the points you earned paying for the card.
Your final cost on that rifle is $1000 (orignal cost) – $100 (10% coupon) – $90 (10% for gift card) – $64.80 (points you earned paying for gift card) = $745.20, and you’ll still have some money left on the gift card. Or put another way, you’re looking at a 25% discount.
It’s also worth pointing out that Cabela’s price matches on non-internet competitors. So if your local gun shop has a gun in stock and at a cheaper price that Cabela’s can verify, they’ll match it. So..match the price first, and then hit ’em with the discounts. I did this a couple weeks back when Sportsmans Warehouse had Ruger 10/22 rifles in the $180~ range.
Gonna try this over the weekend since they have a rifle I’m kinda desirous of. (Although its not a $1000 rifle, but the math should still stand up.)
Nice… Commander, I like the way your mind works. If it saves a few bucks, I’m all for it. As for me, I refuse to shop at Cabela’s for anything firearms related but I will shop the sales after carefully shopping around and finding no alternative.
While Cabela’s up here in the Great White North is no bargain at the best of times, what really bothers me is their ultra politicly correct firearms policy. Cabela’s Canada is an organization run by a bunch of quislings.
Long before it was government-legislated, the upper management at Cabela’s Canada decreed that any firearms purchases had to include the recording of names, addresses, firearms license numbers etc of anyone purchasing any type of firearm. This practice was started well before legislation requiring this information to be kept on file at the store was enacted.
Math can be a wonder full thing. Lol
Best regards,
Roadie
Oh man, that just makes my head hurt…. My preferred way is when I find something I need, over just want (and never at cabala’s) is to say yup, that’s what I want, here’s da cash, now gimme da damn gun, shut up, go away, and leave me alone…….
And it should still be that simple, as stated in our Constitution, even though TPTB would have you (and have brainwashed you) to believe otherwise…..
A lot of store coupons exclude gift cards for exactly this reason. Will be curious to know if Cabellas will allow it.
Zero
You should verify that 10% can be used on a firearm purchase. Because in WI they alway say not good on guns. So make sure your deal is good. Before Cabelas was bought out by Bass Pro they ad and even better deal for guns that was buy a firearm over 499.00and that was 12 months interest free on your Cabelas card. That always got me to buy and expensive gun because I had 12 months to pay off with no interest. But now that Bass Pro bought no deals such as that have been advertised.
God bless you Commander! What happened to all the GOOD QUALITY STUFF Cabela’s used to carry? They used to have some really nice exclusive clothing. I’m not seeing the same quality stuff anymore.
They were bought by Bass Pro Shops… I’ve used their house brand stuff for years without complaint. Not comfortable touching the stuff now.
Steelheart
Sorry to burst your bubble, but you wouldn’t get your hypothetical $64.80 in points until AFTER the purchase was made. You earn them for the purchase, but it always take a day or so for the points to accrue on your account.