Businesses too far away for gift cards - or maybe not

[Brightpool]

I've seen several comments on here about gift cards for businesses that are too far away. I agree that we seem to have too many of those being offered on AARP Rewards instant wins and daily deals, and that makes the odds better for those who do live close to those businesses, as pointed out by J896552 this morning.

With the mention of UNO Pizza being one of the useless-to-some offerings, my memory was taken to an unrelated, but similar thought I'd like to share that didn't involve AARP or gift cards, but did involve geographic proximity.

If you like to read, please continue:

For years, I saw the Cici's Pizza commercials on our DISH TV stations.

As many of you might know, Cici's is a pizza buffet. A customer pays one price and can choose from salads and slices of various pizzas laid out on the long counter. At their advertised price of $5.95 at the time, if memory serves, I couldn't wait to go to a Cici's for lunch sometime.

A search of the Internet for a local Cici's only showed me one that had been in place about 13 miles from us, but was no longer in business. Although Cici's has hundreds of stores across the country, the only Cici's restaurants were out of state.

A few years ago, my wife and I decided to have our vacation in Greensboro, North Carolina, partly because her sister lived there with her new husband. They had invited us to stay with them and have them help us see the sights of the area.

After getting settled in at their house, while doing my own Internet map searches of the area during our down time, I came across a Cici's just a few miles away. My wife, her sister, and I decided to go there for lunch one of the days when my brother-in-law had to work.

At Cici's, all three of us had our fill of pizza slices and sides and probably spent only about $20. I finally had a sampling of Cici's and I liked it. We all did.

To tie this back to AARP Rewards: Many of the offerings might not be local to you, but if it's worth the bother to get something you can use on an upcoming vacation or even if someone in your family can use it, such as a BP gas card for my brother and sister-in-law in NC, go ahead and go for it.

Good luck!

Enjoy!