Day 131/365
If you need a gift for your Valentine (or want to stock up on Disney gift cards), Kroger has you covered with two new digital coupons for 4x fuel points. The first coupon is for “Dining and Entertainment” gift cards, while the other is the standard coupon for 4x on Visa and Mastercard gift cards. I’m thinking they’re going for the old “dinner and a movie” idea. While I would consider Disney gift cards as “Entertainment,” you might want to check the signage at the store before you purchase.
Calculate Your Savings
For us, the math works out like this. For each $250 we spend on gift cards, we get $1 per gallon off our next gas fill-up. Since our largest car’s tank holds about 17 gallons, we can save at least $17 over $250, or 6.8%.
Rewards Earning Credit Cards
Now, I don’t stop there, of course. We also have rewards-earning credit cards at the grocery store. Our grocery go-to is the American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card. It gets a whopping 6% cash back on up to $6000 in groceries, which works out to $15 cash back. Now instead of 6.8% back, my percentage is up to 12.8% savings on a 17 gallon tank. You could do even better if you have a larger tank to fill or are willing to coordinate a two-car fill-up.
Using Prepaid Cards
The above calculations are for gift cards without a fee, like restaurants or Disney. If you decide to clip the other coupon and get the Visa or Mastercard prepaid card, the activation fee will eat into your profit a bit. Plus, the ones I’ve purchased at Kroger are not as versatile as the MetaBank ones you’ll find at other stores. For example, one way I use prepaid cards is to purchase money orders at Walmart instead of writing checks in order to earn 5x or 6% rewards on all of my spending. Only the Visa cards issued through MetaBank are PIN-enabled and work at the Walmart register as a debit card. Kroger-branded cards as well as Mastercards have problems for some reason.
Participating Cards
The terms state that only dining and entertainment cards are participating in this sale. If you click on the coupon details, it specifies “Movie Theater” cards, but you can see below that Hulu and Netflix are included. I would guess “Entertainment” includes Disney, but you might want to check with an associate to make sure before you purchase.
Kroger Brands
Be sure to clip the coupon to your account and use your number or card at the register to get the rewards properly credited. If you’re not sure which stores are owned by Kroger in your area, take a look below. You can find this clickable image here if you scroll to the bottom of the page.
