How Chase saved me $110 on my monthly groceries
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Who doesn't like to save money, especially on groceries?
Chase recently introduced a new partnership with Gopuff, a delivery service that brings essential household items to your doorstep – quickly.
At first, I wasn't too excited about a $10 monthly statement credit. Then I realized it was per eligible Chase card, not per person. And that's when the wheels started turning and I plotted out a plan to save over $100 on my monthly grocery tab.
My wife and I have a total of 11 eligible Chase cards. That amounts to a potential $110 a month – or $1,320 a year – in savings. This is why we advise all couples to always be thinking about "two-player mode" when it comes to a rewards card strategy.
Between the two of us, my wife and I currently have the following eligible Chase cards:
- Chase Freedom (two cards, no longer available to new applicants)*
- Chase Freedom Unlimited
- Chase Freedom Flex
- Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- World of Hyatt Credit Card (two cards)
- IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card (two cards, no longer available to new applicants)*
- IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
(*The information for these cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.)
So, one recent night I decided to place 11 consecutive Gopuff orders to see just how much savings I could glean.
Before placing any of my orders, I added all the eligible cards into an existing spreadsheet I have to track various monthly credit card perks. I then preloaded all my cards into my new Gopuff account. It was then that I realized that Gopuff limited me to nine cards. After placing my ninth order of the night – yes, I realize that I'm typing these words and it isn't normal – I had to remove two cards and then add in the tenth and eleventh cards to complete my two final orders.
I guess they never anticipated a household like mine. Of course, in true TPG style, I had to see how I could maximize this promotion.
Gopuff does charge a delivery fee that's based on the order size. But the company has a service called "Fam" that waives the delivery fee. It cost $5.95 a month but there's a 14-day free trial. There were also a few savings for ordering specific products. For instance, there was a discount for buying two bottles of Diet Coke and another mix-and-match offer for buying two types of cheeses. Additionally, there are promos out there to save an extra $10 off each of your next three orders. While those aren't specifically tied to the Chase promo, I was able to stack them all together.
Finally, Gopuff has its own rewards program. I earned 16,480 points on my orders, which I can redeem for a selection of curated items. For instance, right now, I could get a free pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream for 18,000 points. A free 20 oz. soda is 5,000 points. 8,000 points would earn me 10% off every offer for a week.
During my trial, I tested buying a little bit of everything. There were cans of seltzer, a frozen pizza, a pint of ice cream, milk, cheese, pretzels, crackers, plastic cups, Ziploc freezer bags, some gum and even toothpaste. I even purchased an "Apple Certified iPhone Lightning USB Cable."
A 14-pack of gum was $1.99, the pint of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough was $5.99, a 5 oz bag of Terra chips was $2.09 and a half-gallon of organic milk was $5.49, which is at or below market price in Manhattan.
My one mistake was not reading the product descriptions close enough. No, I didn't order a 64-gallon jar of mayonnaise. But I did end up with a hot pizza, hours after I was done with my dinner.
Each order cost between $12.75-$15.50 so I only paid a little out of pocket above and beyond the $10 credit I expected to receive. However, doing it this way added to my cost since each order included a $2 tip for the delivery person because I wasn't sure if it would be the same person delivering all 11 orders, or if different items came from different fulfillment centers.
Despite those minor snafus, I was impressed with how fast the credits posted – to all 11 of my Chase accounts.
My Gopuff purchases all happened on a Friday night and all 11 credits had posted by Monday morning.
That's much faster than American Express dining credits or Amex Offers have been posting.
Bottom line
Now, the reality of doing 11 separate orders in a month and keeping track of your credit cards is a bit crazy. But here at TPG we have all done some pretty complicated things to save cash or earn frequent-flyer miles. While this was a fun (and money-saving, if time-intensive) exercise, if the delivery fees hadn't been waived, it would have gotten much more expensive. That's why I might not try to take advantage of it each month.
While Gopuff isn't a full grocery store, the prices were competitive and most staples were available. That said, it didn't have everything I would normally buy on a shopping run, so I wouldn't consider it a full replacement for my everyday grocery shopping. And, as my coworkers noted, Gopuff is just in urban centers right now. If you live in a rural or suburban area, you might be out of luck. Still, if you have some Chase cards and orders where Gopuff would come in handy, this is a good way to save a little money on your groceries each month.