12/13/05 | Jack In The Box Cash Card
[ Currently Eating: Some sort of pasta ]
I decided to sort of experiment with writing slightly (very slightly) shorter posts every so often for Cheap Eats… the reason being is that it’s easier to write more frequently if I don’t need to write a novel every time we review something. Well, this will probably please some readers who are tired of long winded paragraphs favored here, so anyhow…
What do we have here… hmm, looks like a Jack Cash Card from Jack In The Box. It’s a sort of fast food credit card that you can fill up with cash and then spend willy nilly on 99 cent tacos and chicken sandwiches. And interestingly enough, it actually Spends Like Real Money™. You’ve probably heard of the card, since they’ve been saturating the airwaves with commercials for it for the past couple months.
Regarding the commercials: interestingly, I feel somewhat in the same position as their clown faced president because I haven’t actually gotten a Jack Cash Card yet. I was hoping that they’d think I’m someone famous (perhaps Jet Li) and give me a free one. But we all know that doesn’t work. You saw how Mr. Jack himself wasn’t able to get away with it in the Jack In The Box commercial.
Well, I’ve been meaning to get one but have been staying away from. So why would you want one anyway for Cheap Eats? Well, it won’t get you into Spago’s, but for one it’s mighty convenient. Hunting for spare change in between the car seat cushions while at the drivethrough is something you do a lot for Cheap Eats… the card can eliminate that. Just keep the card in the car and pay with it. I think they’ll even fill it up for you at the drive through when the balance gets low.
I guess the kicker for me was that For A Limited Time (yes, it sound like a sales pitch) you can get Two Free Tacos when you get a card and fill it up with 10 bucks. These are the soggy but strangely satisfying, meat-toothpaste filled tacos that they sell for 99 cents a pair normally. That’s pretty good, since you’re probably going to fill it up with around that amount anyhow.
I think the Jack Cash Card is a pretty decent idea if you eat at JITB frequently, nearly as good an idea as their introduction of Snowman Ball and Reindeer Ball…
Price: $10.00 card gets 2 Free Tacos
Found at: Jack In The Box
Cheap Eats Score: 7/10
December 13th, 2005 at 8:55 pm
All of the big fast food chains are coming out with cash cards. McDonald’s has their Arch Cards, and if you order a Chicken Selects menu item, you can get a ONE DOLLAR Arch Card. I don’t know if I would really use these cards, since almost all fast food places accept credit and debit cards.
December 13th, 2005 at 9:36 pm
marvo - I JUST saw the Arch Card advertised the other day… yeah, i would probably just buy the Chicken Selects to get the free Dollar arch card. Weird, the other day I think my brother bought a Chicken Selects menu item and I don’t think he got a card… maybe they gyped him.
December 14th, 2005 at 11:51 pm
It was probably a “While supplies last” kind of thing.
December 16th, 2005 at 3:01 pm
ewww @ “meat-toothpaste filled tacos”!
December 24th, 2005 at 9:20 pm
pumpkin pie milkshakes rock, oh they are the best, i have been waiting for ever for the holiday season to start just for the pumpkin pie milkshake and that is saying something because i work in retail and the holiday season sucks!!!!!!!!! oh and the chipata breakfast samwhich is good as well
December 28th, 2005 at 10:58 am
I enjoy the advice and research you have on this blog.
But I gotta say, I personally can’t *stand* Jack’s Tacos. You’ve described them to a ‘T’; meaty toothpaste, soggy shells… and I’ve go to add this fact… halved American cheese *slices*? How un-authentic is that?? lol
…I’m in TX, and my favorite place for tacos here is Taco Cabana. I have on idea how wide-spread their food chain may be, but I’m sure their fast food has spoiled me (they Out-Rock Taco Bell by so many leaps and bouds it’s scary). I’ve also found a FF resaturant in San Antonio that’s very much like Taco Cabana (wherever the fajita meat can actaully be *chewed and swallowed* without choking or breaking teeth, *that’s* a good place for Mexican food).
I hope you get opportuntity to find a Rockin’ Mexican fast food restaurant near you. The moment you experience it, you’ll know… and you may *never* feel the same about Jack’s Tacos again!
;8^)
Take Care,
Aurura
December 28th, 2005 at 11:15 am
deborah - i’m not a big fan of pumpkin unless it is in pies but I’d be willing to give a pumpkin milkshake a shot…
aurura - generally, i agree. There are actually quite a few non-chain semi-FF mexican places around here that have potential. It’s just that i’m too lazy often to try them out. Never heard of Taco Cabana though. Also, I think Jack in the Balpha is sort of a guy thing (evidenced by all those FF commercials for jack’s, carl’s and BK that they show on Fox Sports and ESPN). Sometimes i just feel like eating meat toothpaste tacos while watching hockey, ey? =)
March 18th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
The big thing with those cards is that it’s an easy way for these companies, because you’re giving them money up front for nothing. After that, you can only get their product or (better yet, for them) lose the card. It’s the same deal with gift-cards.
The place I work at regularly sells $100 gift cards, out of which only about two-thirds get used. The rest is pure profit. And the ones that do get used? These are people who received the gift card, so there’s a fair chance they would never have patronized us if it weren’t for the card.