If you can be thrifty and get your BTC for cheaper than paying for them with cash, more power to you. If not just go to BitInstant and pick MoneyGram. Fees really aren't that bad. One stop at the drug store to buy my bitcoins sounds better to me than running around buying giftcards for people.
When you go onto bitinstant and choose cash deposit, what's the difference between choosing moneygram vs cvs? I thought you just went to cvs to use monegram..
Nothing as far as i can tell. I've done it both ways. I think the different store options are for on the order page where zipzap shows you the nearest locations.
Just went today to fund my btc-e account in fact. You walk over to the red phone (usually by the photo lab), pick it up, follow the prompts. It will ask you to enter in the receive code and some other info. Someone will pickup and talk to you, verifying the amount, receive code, and the name you used on the bitinstant form. You then bring it over to the cashier and pay. It's usually in my account before i get out to my car. I've never had any employee ask for my ID, and the Moneygram people just care about having a name attached to it, they don't care who's it is.