Unemployment Discounts and Freebies

COVID-19 Recession deals

Pharmaceutical

Major pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer have programs which allows people who have become unemployed to get assistance for discounted, or free medications.

Various fast food delivery “deals”:

  • Auntie Anne’s – is offering $0 delivery fee via DoorDash on orders of $15 or more
  • Blaze Pizza – is offering free delivery on orders of $10 or more
  • Boston Market – is offering free delivery on any online or app order of $7 or more
  • Burger King – place an order through the BK mobile app and you’ll get two free kid meals. Plus, any order over $10 will get you free delivery. Through April 6
    Now through 3/29, Burger King is offering an Impossible Whopper for free when you order $15 or more via Uber Eats!
  • Denny’s –  has waived delivery fees through April 12
  • El Pollo Loco – is offering free delivery via Grubhub until April 7
  • KFC –  will delivery free with GrubHub from March 14 – April 26 on a minimum $12 order
  • Outback Steakhouse – is offering free delivery through April 30
  • Popeye’s offers free delivery through their app
  • Rubio’s is offering free delivery via the app
  • Wendy’s is offering free delivery via Grubhub & Postmates on orders of $10 or more
  • &Pizza Work in a hospital? Stop by your local &Pizza restaurant for a free pizza. All you have to do is present your valid ID. Can’t leave work? Text 200-03 #HERO to get your pie delivered.
  • Moe’s Southwest Grill free delivery on all app and website orders of $10 or more through April 10
  • Del Taco offering free delivery on Postmates through March 20 (use the code DELTACONOW) and free delivery on DoorDash for first-time customers.The brand is also offering sealed delivery packaging to minimize risk for customers.
  • Pollo Tropical get free delivery when you place your order through the MyPollo app or the chain’s website. Through April 3
  • Tijuana Flats you can get free delivery on any order of at least $25.Through March 31
  • Dickey’s Barbecue Pit locations across the country, you can get free contactless delivery right now. Through April 30
  • Buffalo Wild Wings chain’s ongoing BOGO wing deals on Tuesdays and Thursdays have been extended to delivery and takeout. Through March 30
  • Cousins Subs sub shop is offering free delivery for online orders placed through the website or the Cousins Subs app. Through March 31
  • Red Lobster you can grab free delivery on any order over $30 placed through RedLobster.com. Through March 29
  • Pieology Pizzeria enjoy free delivery until March 31, 2020. Any guests who would prefer to pick-up their orders can receive 10% off using code PICKUP10 on the Pie Life app. Order now at Pieology.com/locations.At participating locations. Subject to change within current local, state, and federal guidelines.
  • Littlecaesars Pizza – FREE DELIVERY OFFER FOR ONLINE ORDERS OF $10 OR MORE.Limit one free delivery offer per person, per day. Small order fee for orders less than $10.Taxes still apply. Delivery available from participating locations. Offer valid from 3/16 – 3/22/20.
  • Square Pizza Co. is offering curbside delivery to your car if you order by phone. This eatery also offers delivery options via GrubHub and UberEats.
  • Farmer’s Table La Mesa – and all of its locations in San Diego County – is offering 10% off all takeout orders now through March 31, with curbside pickup available by request.
  • Pop Pie Co. in University Heights (and sister eatery Stella Jean) are taking orders by phone, with curbside delivery available.
  • The Great Maple in Hillcrest is staying open for takeout and curbside pickup Monday through Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and dinner service from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
  • International Smoke in San Diego’s North County is offering a to-go/delivery menu daily from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. that includes meal packages that feed four to eight people.
  • Beacon Tap $5 off $25 or more-10 off $50 or more. Free Delivery and Free Toilet Paper. Remember you can order and pay online at Thebeacontap.com or 847-715-2772[/b]
    Buffalo Wild Wings is now offering their BOGO Free Boneless Thursdays available for delivery or takeout.

Great Recession Deals

This list was assembled during the Great Recession back in 2007-2010 era, so likely these programs are defunct.

I’ve assembled a handful of programs that have various impact on unemployed workers and low income households.  Of particular note for unemployed people without insurance for prescription coverage is potentially free medications.  I’m confident in telling you that it beats the list put out by John Dingell.

Health & Fitness

In Columbus Ohio Yoga On High is offering free classes for the unemployed as covered by the Associated Press.  You can check out the website here for details on the class.

Retail

Since a lot of people seem to forget about Kmart these days in favor of other big box retailers they have a pretty decent program for people who find themselves unemployed.  Kmart has been offering a program that it calls Kmart Smart Assist for a while now , that allows members to get a 20% discount on their white label (Kmart brand) products.  You can sign up for this program at their website, you’ll get a little paper card that you’ll print out to use when you purchase your products in store.

Also Kmart has had layaway at its stores for years.  Some other stores are hopping back on the bandwagon to help out customers with purchases.

Bonus for those you who have no shame and still need to pinch pennies there does not seem to be any verification need that you are actually unemployed.

Software

Give Away of the Day has a new promotion every day to give users free software that typically has a cost associated with it.  Your mileage will vary here, but it is good to check.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

Entertainment

Free full albums from indie style artists.  One of the more prominent ones is Girl Talk.

http://illegal-art.net/

Rockstar is offering free downloads of their popular Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2 video games in addition to Wild Metal 2.  Check out the details at their website.

Valve Software is offering Team Fortress 2 for free you will need to download Steam if you don’t have it already.  You don’t have to unemployed for this one, just have a PC, high speed internet, and time to burn.

Education

You can get free eBooks compliments of Kaplan until January 17th.  Details here.

You can borrow ebooks from the Open Library system find out more here.

Project Gutenberg has free ebooks in the public domain.

LibriVox has free public domain audio books that a group of volunteers have gladly taken time to read and proof listen to audio books for the public.

Communications

Virgin Mobile has a program that it calls Assurance which gives residents in Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia a free cellular phone with 200 minutes a month.

To qualify your household needs to be at or below 135-150%  (depending on your state) of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or if you qualify for various state assistance programs like:

  • Food stamps
  • Medicaid
  • Supplemental Security Income
  • Temporary Disability Assistance Program
  • Public Assistance to Adults
  • Energy assistance programs
  • Electric assistance programs
  • Federal Public Housing Assistance
  • Subsidized school lunches

Safelink Wireless is a similar program to the one above and is a program created by Tracfone Wireless.  Details can be found at their site https://www.safelinkwireless.com/

If you happen to come across any other unemployment discounts or programs that you know of that should be on this list please leave a comment or send us an email through our submit form, or at [email protected].  The goal is to keep this list as up to date as possible so please leave a comment or email us if this information is out of date.