Amex ED-What am I missing?

[wasCB14]

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@Kevinception wrote:

You're not missing anything. AMEX sponsors NBA on TNT. Watch one game on it. Every AMEX commercial is for the BCE. I think AMEX gave up on ED as well. They pushed it hard when it first came out, but now I feel like they realize it won't be a flagship card.

Personally, I just bought a house. With traveling for work and buying groceries weekly, it made complete sense to get the BCE. Very happy with the limit they gave me as a new customer.

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Maybe the average NBA TV audience member doesn't want to get heavily into the miles game, but ED can offer more value if a person is both willing to learn about MRs and able to redeem them well.

ED is a bit in no-man's-land, though. I used to have EDP as my primary card and earn lots of MRs, but ED earns points much more slowly. My ED has been mostly in the SD since PCing down.

People who really like MRs tend to fly a lot. Amex customers who fly a lot are reasonably likely to have a Platinum. Once you have a Platinum, the marginal earning power of adding ED is fairly low. I guess that limits the demand for ED.

[Anonymous]

If ED gave 3 or 2X for gas and/or restaurants I would maybe jump..... but only Supermakets isn't good enough. I rarely go to a supermarket.

I see the PRG as a much better card for MR. You get much more bonus points and more categories.

Just realized I missed Gas stations for BCE as well. So BCE gets 3X at Suoermarkets, 2X at Gas stations, 2X at Department Stores, and 1 everywhere else.

ED gets 2X at Supermarkets and 1 everywhere else.

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:
If ED gave 3 or 2X for gas and/or restaurants I would maybe jump..... but only Supermakets isn't good enough. I rarely go to a supermarket.

I see the PRG as a much better card for MR. You get much more bonus points and more categories.

Just realized I missed Gas stations for BCE as well. So BCE gets 3X at Suoermarkets, 2X at Gas stations, 2X at Department Stores, and 1 everywhere else.

ED gets 2X at Supermarkets and 1 everywhere else.

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It all depends on your spending and travel redemptions, as well as the number of cards you're willing to use. I liked having EDP, but I was shopping at Costco and traditional grocery stores a lot. Earning 1.5X and 4.5X MRs on a lot of my spend was nice. I got about 1.8 cpp last time I flew Delta, so that's like 2.7% and 8.1% in travel value.

Sometimes it's better for a card to offer higher rewards in a smaller number of categories. BCE would only offer 1% more than a 2% card on groceries. If you maxed out the $6k grocery cap, that would only give you an extra $60 per year. PRG has a similar flaw; it's good for a lot of things but great for nothing.

You also insist on valuing MRs at 1 cpp. Maybe that's the case for you, but if someone can get 2 cpp, then it's like ED offers a base 2.4% in travel value (after the 20% bonus). Groceries would earn 4.8%. That's a lot better than BCE!