Groceries: Amex 3% or Chase Freedom 10/10

[FrugalRican]

I'm trying to work out the math here, but the lack of coffee has me scatterbrained.

For the next quarter, there are no grocery categories, so it looks like I'm going through AMEX BCE for groceries, but I want to make sure this absolutely makes sense. I'm not a huge grocery spender, at most $20 - $30 a week.

So it makes sense to use the AMEX BCE, or does it? Here's the reward structure for the Chase Freedom.

Assuming I spend about $120 a month ($30 on 4 trips to the store), is it still that much better to use the BCE than the Freedom??
Sorry for the complex math problems this early on a Saturday!

+ 1% (1 pt)/ $1 earned on all purchases	-
+ 10% Bonus points per $1 you spend	-
+ Bonus 10 points on every purchase	-

[Kendro]

I wouldn't get too hung up on the 10/10 even though it sounds fancy.  What it boils down to, you're basically getting an extra 10% on 1 point (so instead of $1 cashback per $100 you spend, you get a whopping $1.10).

So rather than getting 1% cashback, you get 1.1% cashback.  Even if you stack that with the extra 10 points, it still doesn't come anywhere near 3%.

[FrugalRican]

Yeah, it almost seemed like a 1.2% vs 3% scenario to me, but I didn't know if the number of transactions matter.

Seems like an effort in futility unless I actually wanted to do about 50 separate transactions just to get enough cashback.

Looks like it's BCE for grocery shopping for Q3.

[Revelate]

What's the conversion rate on points?

Eh, sloppy math nevermind.

[FrugalRican]

100 points = $1 dollar

[Revelate]

$3.6 from the Amex, $1.72 on the Freedom.

Non-sloppy math I think .

[FrugalRican]

That seems to be a lot closer to what I was getting.

In order to catch up to the AMEX, I'd have to do that shopping in about 25 different transactions, more or less. Definitely not worth the hassle, although I'm sure Chase would love the retail fee, Shoprite, not so much.

[Revelate]

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@FrugalRican wrote:

That seems to be a lot closer to what I was getting.

In order to catch up to the AMEX, I'd have to do that shopping in about 25 different transactions, more or less. Definitely not worth the hassle, although I'm sure Chase would love the retail fee, Shoprite, not so much.

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Yeah, probably not so much on that one .

Assuming I did it right, Chase = 1.1% effectively + 10 / swipe.  So $120*0.011 = $1.32 + 40 points ($0.40) = $1.72.  Hrm that's actually kinda useful for me to know, never did figure that one out before on the $0.10/swipe.  Thinking I want this program for my random little one off charges (batteries, emergency chicken sandwich, referee snacks, whatever)

[Kendro]

I don't know about you but the sheer thought of breaking $100 worth of groceries into 20 transactions is not worth the time or hassle.

Is it really worth spending that time to make 10 cents per transaction?  It would probably equate to $1/hour in terms of hourly wage for the time spent.

BTW the above question isn't directed to you directly OP, it is purely rhetorical.

[FrugalRican]

Thanks for the breakdown, Revelate.

Kendro, yeah, definitely not worth the time.

But these are the things I do in my free time when new quarters begin and categories switch around. Gotta maximize that cashback!!!

Thanks for the help