I was going to post this today, but you beat me to it.
The offer seems be be available on a wide variety of AmEx-issued cards. I added the offer to my Simply Cash Small Business card. Bringing non-category spend to a total of 2% CB would be a "who cares" except that I'm also in the middle an offer for $50 for spending $5,000 on this card. Since I would have spent $2,500 on this card during the spending period anyhow, that offer gave me $50 for putting an additional $2,500 on the card, so a total of 3% on non-category spending. With this small business offer, using this card at small businesses will goose my total earnings just a little more to a total of 4% for those purchases.
It's not bad, but nothing compared to the gravy days of AmEx Small Business shopping offers. For a number of years there (starting in 2009), they celebrated Small Business Saturday (the day after Black Friday) by offering $25 off a $25 or more purchase at any small business (one offer per card). With 3-4 AmEx cards enrolled, I racked up free tools at the local Ace Hardware, free gas at independent gas stations, free booze at the liquor store, and lots and lots of free $25 gift cards for local restaurants! Then one year they changed the offer to $10 off, then the next year started to offer smaller discounts like $10 off $100 for specific customers. Last year I got zip on all four AmEx cards. This year's extra 1% will get me to crank out the AmEx a bit more, but is only going to shift spending, and earn me maybe $10 extra overall. But hey, better than nothin.
Funny thing is, these small business offers really do prompt me to change behavior. I actually specifically *avoid* using AmEx at small businesses, under the impression that AmEx charges larger swipe fees, and thus cost the small merchant more to process. But I guess if they choose to accept AmEx, and AmEx is going to specifically encourage me to use the card at small businesses, I'll take the bait.
Chris.
