“Stick with the card that rewards you well!”
Slice of life
In 2011, I was living in the suburbs of Pennsylvania. I drove my car a lot to work and to meet friends in Philly. I love cooking and so I did a lot of grocery shopping at the ACME supermarket close to my apt. After rent and car payments, groceries and gas were the next heavy hitters. The card that I carried gave me just 1% cash back on all purchases which was not enough. I wanted a card that gave me more returns for my gas and grocery expenses.
The research
I looked up and compared different cards online in the grocery and gas rewards category. There were two cards that stood out – Amex Blue Cash Everyday (no annual fee but lower rewards) and Amex Blue Cash Preferred (annual fee but higher rewards). I fired up Excel, put in my expenses and calculated the cash back that I would receive with each of these cards. Even with the annual fee, I was making more cash back with Amex Preferred and so I went with it. For others with less expenses, the Cash Everyday will serve just fine.
Rewards
6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases. After that it’s 1%
6% cash back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions
3% cash back at U.S. gas stations
3% cash back on transit (ex: taxis, rideshare, trains, buses, parking, tolls)
1% cash back on other purchases
For more details on rewards please visit: Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
How I use Amex Blue Preferred
Supermarkets (6% back): Every time I shop at Aldi, Stop & Shop and ShopRite which are the closest supermarkets where I live in NJ. If I need to make a big purchase at Lowes or Home Depot, I first buy a gift card of say $100 which will then return 6% ($6) cash back. If I plan to dine at Olive Garden, I first get a gift card and then use it at the restaurant thereby saving 6%. Same thing with the rest of the gift cards. This way I can extend the 6% reward category to other categories that normally return much less % in rewards. Note: The 6% supermarket category does not include superstores like Walmart and Target as well as wholesale stores like BJs and Costco.
Streaming (6% back): My Netflix and Prime memberships cost me 6% less thanks to Blue Preferred.
Gas Stations (3% back): When I’m refueling at any gas station. Also, if I buy anything at the gas station store ex: coffee, soda or a hoagie at Wawa, I still get back 3% back.
Transit (3% back): When I use Uber, Lyft, taxi, bus, metro, garage parking, EZPass
Who can benefit?
The American Express Blue Cash Preferred card is a great for families making significant expenses in the categories that I listed above. It carries an annual fee of $95 but that can be recovered very easily if you’re just making approx. $32 in supermarket purchases every week. This card has been in my wallet since 2011 and it’ll continue to live there for years to come!
I use the Blue Cash Everyday which does not have the annual fee. Love the cash back.
Yup, that’s a great card as well but the cash back % is lower than the Blue Preferred. You might want to do some quick math to see how much you spend in each of the categories – grocery, online streaming, gas, transit per year and see how much cash back you will get with each of these cards. If you make more cash back even after you deduct the annual fee (95$) then Blue Preferred is the card for you.
I wish they would include stores like Walmart and Target as well for the 6% cash back.
I wish so too! I do a lot of shopping at Walmart and so 6% cash back would have returned a lot of money.
This card rocks! Haven’t seen any other card return 6% for supermarkets.
I’ve had this card for many yrs. They initially they offered 3% on select department stores but a few yrs ago they closed that and instead offered the 3% on transit.
Yes, I really love the 3% back on transit – bus, train, taxi, ride share (Uber, Lyft), ferry, parking, EZ pass etc which I use throughout the year. I don’t do much shopping at dept stores and so I wasn’t getting cash back from that category.
The 6% return is a killer!
My go to card for grocery, gas and transit.