Golden Corral’s free buffet for veterans opens at 4 p.m. today, and the chain’s website doesn’t mention any proof-of-service requirement. Home Depot’s year-round 10% military discount is far stricter. In its stores, a cashier has to scan a QR code live from the Home Depot app, and a screenshot or a printout of that code won’t work. Both count as military discounts. They just run on very different ideas of proof.
Veterans Day falls on a Wednesday this year, Nov. 11, 2026. Most of the free meals are good only today, at participating locations, and usually only at the table. The store discounts are a different animal: they depend on a verification you do once, through ID.me or SheerID, and on fine print that decides whether the discount touches a sale price at all. With Black Friday on Nov. 27, that fine print matters more than usual.
Free today, and the offers that run past it
These offers are confirmed for today by the VA’s own Veterans Day list or by 2026 news roundups. Almost every one says “participating locations,” which means franchise owners can opt out, so a short phone call beats a wasted drive.
- Applebee’s: a free entrée from a Veterans Day menu, dine-in only, with proof of service.
- Chili’s: a free entrée from a set Veterans Day menu, dine-in only, ID required.
- Golden Corral: free buffet and a beverage from 4 p.m. to close, dine-in only. Family members pay for their own plates.
- In-N-Out: a burger, fries and a drink, with Reserve and National Guard members included.
- Red Robin: a free Red’s Big Tavern Burger with bottomless fries, dine-in only, ID required.
- Shake Shack: a single ShackBurger with a military ID or proof of service, no purchase needed.
- Starbucks: a free tall (12-ounce) hot or iced brewed coffee, and military spouses qualify too.
- Wendy’s: a free Dave’s Single, inside or at the drive-thru.
Unless noted, these are for veterans and active-duty members. A few offers outlast the day, and those are the ones people forget about. Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers hands out a free combo meal card today that’s good through Nov. 25. Applebee’s adds a $5 Bounce Back card you can use through Nov. 29, and Aspen Creek Grill’s $15 voucher, given out today from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., stays redeemable until Dec. 24.
One request on the free meals: tip on what the food would have cost. Applebee’s and Chili’s both note that gratuity isn’t included, and the server running your section today is carrying a lot of tables that ring up close to zero.
What to carry instead of your DD-214
“Proof of service” sounds vague, but the VA spells out the usual options. Its Veteran ID Card page names four documents that work for the same discounts: the Veteran ID Card (VIC), the Veteran Health Identification Card (VHIC), a DoD ID card, and a state driver’s license or ID with a veteran designation.
The DD-214 isn’t on that list, and there’s a good reason to leave it at home even where it’s accepted (Denny’s, for one, takes it). The form shows your Social Security number, so a copy in your wallet turns a lost wallet into an identity-theft problem. The VIC is the easier habit. It’s digital, you apply online with a scanned DD-214 or similar separation document, a photo ID and a plain-background photo, and it requires an honorable or general (under honorable conditions) discharge. It won’t get you onto a base, though.
Home Depot, Lowe’s and Target do it three different ways
The headline percentage is the least interesting part of a retail military discount. What matters is how you prove eligibility and what the discount refuses to touch.
| Store | Discount | How you verify | Sale items |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Depot | 10% every day, up to $400 in savings per calendar year | SheerID, then a QR code in the app | Full-priced items only; clearance and already discounted goods are excluded |
| Lowe’s | 10% every day | ID.me, linked to a MyLowe’s Rewards personal account | Not on sale items, and not with any other offer |
| Target | 20% off one purchase, Nov. 5 to 11 only | SheerID, inside Target Circle | Exclusions are listed in the offer itself |
Home Depot covers active-duty, Guard and Reserve members, veterans and spouses, but not unmarried dependents or veterans with a dishonorable discharge. In the store, you show the “Scan Virtual ID” code from your app profile. Online, the 10% applies on its own when you’re logged in. Most appliances, lumber, gift cards, installation and tool rentals are excluded.
Lowe’s ties its discount to a personal MyLowe’s Rewards account verified through ID.me. Pro accounts don’t qualify, a spouse needs a separate account, and verified members get free Silver status in the rewards program. Major appliances, lumber, services and gift cards are excluded, and The Military Wallet’s 2026 guide says there’s no annual cap on the savings.
Target’s version is a seasonal event, and today is its last day. Verified Target Circle members get 20% off one qualifying storewide purchase, in store or online, so put the bigger items from your list in a single cart. Target says active or veteran service members and one dependent can verify, and the offer can take up to an hour to appear after you pass.
How ID.me and SheerID decide you qualify
Two verification companies handle the checks at these three stores, and at plenty of others, and they work differently.
ID.me is an account you keep. You click the ID.me button on the store’s site, sign in or create an ID.me wallet, pick your military status and enter your service details and legal identity. A .mil email address can confirm you on the spot; otherwise you upload a document. Then you tap Allow to share the result with that store. ID.me says you verify once and reuse it wherever ID.me is accepted.
SheerID runs inside the retailer’s own form. Target’s version asks for your name, branch, current status and discharge date, and SheerID checks those against official records (it names the Department of Defense among its sources). When the instant check can’t find you, it asks for a document, and Target’s list for veterans includes a state license with a veteran endorsement, a VHIC or VIC, and a VA disability letter.
Most failed checks come down to the name: Target’s help page blames nicknames, typos and names that don’t match your documents. A few habits help:
- Type your legal name exactly as it appears on your service records, even if you’ve gone by something else for years.
- Have your exact discharge date in front of you, not a best guess.
- If you have to upload something, use your VIC or a veteran-designated license before reaching for the DD-214.
- At Home Depot, a spouse’s account asks for the service member’s name, birth date and email, so confirm those details first.
What the store gets to keep
Verification answers a yes-or-no question, but the information behind it says more about you. SheerID’s privacy page says what you submit goes to the company making the offer, which can use it for marketing under its own privacy policy; SheerID says it doesn’t sell your data to outside parties. With ID.me, the Allow screen is the moment a store receives your information, so read what it lists before you tap.
If a form wants a document, black out what it doesn’t need; SheerID’s military FAQ recommends that for sensitive information. Skip the store’s marketing opt-in if you don’t want the emails. And if a “Veterans Day giveaway” page you’ve never heard of asks for your Social Security number or a full DD-214, close the tab. None of the restaurant offers above needs more than proof of service at the table.
Military discount or holiday sale: you usually get one
This is where the calendar works against you. Home Depot describes its 10% as applying to “full-priced, non-appliance merchandise,” and Lowe’s says its discount can’t be used on sale items or combined with other offers. In the weeks around Black Friday, a lot of what’s on your list will be marked down and won’t take the 10% at all.
So compare across stores instead of within one. Take a hypothetical $200 cordless drill kit listed at that price at both home centers. One store puts it on sale for $185. At the other it stays at $200, where your 10% brings it to $180. The full-price store wins by $5, and you’d miss it if you only looked at sale tags. Swap in a $159 doorbuster and the sale wins easily, so run both numbers before you pick a store.
The cap changes the math on bigger projects. Home Depot stops discounting once you’ve saved $400 in a calendar year, which happens after $4,000 of eligible full-price purchases. The count resets each year, so if you’ve already hit $400 in 2026 and the new vanity and faucet can wait, buying them in January gets the 10% back.
The exchange benefit that started on Veterans Day 2017
The military exchanges opened their websites to veterans on Nov. 11, 2017. If your most recent discharge was honorable or general under honorable conditions, you can verify at VetVerify.org, which checks your Social Security number, date of birth and last name against government records. One verification covers all four exchanges (Army & Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard).
Home Depot is the useful tie-in this month. Since May 2025, it has sold nearly all of its online catalog through the exchange program tax-free, with free shipping on major appliances, the category its own 10% discount skips. If a washer or refrigerator is on your Black Friday list, price it through the exchange too. At a 7% sales tax rate, a $1,000 refrigerator carries $70 in tax.
Shopping on base in person is narrower. Beyond retirees and others who already hold a DoD ID, the VA says veterans with a Purple Heart, former POW status or a service-connected disability rating can shop commissaries and exchanges with a VHIC showing that status, and approved primary family caregivers use a VA letter. Each installation sets its own access procedures, so call ahead before you make the drive.
