7 Kroger Secrets Employees Wish Virginians Knew
Two shoppers can fill the same Kroger cart and walk out with different deals.
The difference often comes down to a few store rules that are easy to miss.
Here are the Kroger secrets Virginians can put to use on their next trip.
1. Double Points on Gift Cards
Kroger’s points page says you earn 2 Fuel Points for every $1 you spend on most gift cards, twice the 1 point it pays on most groceries.
Spend $100 on qualifying gift cards, and you earn 200 points, which comes to 20 cents off per gallon at a participating Kroger fuel center.
Kroger Family of Companies gift cards and certain prepaid cards are excluded, so check the card type before you load up.
If you already buy gift cards for birthdays and holidays, you can earn points on that spending.
2. Prescription Points
Kroger’s Fuel Points reach the pharmacy counter too, according to the company’s points page.
You get 25 points for each non-federally funded prescription and 75 points for each 90-day script.
If you fill a 90-day script, your 75 points equal what you’d earn spending $75 at the 1-point grocery rate.
For federally funded prescriptions, you earn 1 point for every $1 you pay out of pocket.
When Kroger Fuel Points Expire
Kroger’s points program page says Fuel Points expire at the end of the month after you earn them.
Points you earn in March, for example, expire at the end of April.
Active Kroger Rewards World Elite Mastercard cardholders are the exception because their points never expire.
At the pump, every 100 points takes 10 cents off per gallon, up to $1 per gallon on up to 35 gallons.
In the store, every 100 points takes $1 off groceries, with a daily limit of 1,000 points, or $10.
3. Your 150-Offer Coupon Ceiling
Kroger’s Cash Back FAQ says your household can have only 150 Cash Back Offers and digital coupons loaded at one time.
If you load every coupon you see, you could hit that ceiling.
A digital coupon and a Cash Back Offer can’t be combined on one item.
Paper coupons can’t be combined with a Cash Back Offer on a single item either.
Kroger’s coupons FAQ adds that most offers can be loaded one time per household, so a second Shopper’s Card in your home can’t load the same coupon again.
The Cash Back FAQ also says you can cash out only once in a 24-hour period, for up to $99.99 a day.
4. Weekly Ad at Midnight
Kroger’s Weekly Ad FAQ says the new Weekly Ad is available at midnight Eastern on Wednesday.
Once you have a digital account and a preferred store selected, you can open it from the Weekly Ad link in the website’s quick links bar.
Stores in Indiana (except southeast Indiana and Evansville), Illinois and eastern Missouri get theirs at midnight Eastern on Thursday instead.
Set a Wednesday reminder.
5. The No-Tip Delivery Rule
Kroger Delivery asks you not to tip, according to the company’s delivery FAQ.
Instacart is the exception, since tips are accepted there and 100% of any tip goes directly to the driver.
Delivery fees depend on the day, the time slot and whether your order goes through Kroger Delivery or a third-party service.
Express Delivery adds a $4.95 surcharge on top of the $9.95 standard fee, and Instacart will refund that surcharge on any express order it delivers more than 15 minutes late.
6. SNAP EBT Backup-Card Charges
Kroger accepts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, loaded on Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, for pickup and delivery.
Kroger’s SNAP EBT page says those cards can’t pay for tips, delivery fees, ordering fees or convenience fees.
Kroger charges your backup card if the final total at fulfillment is higher than the total shown at checkout.
It names a more expensive substitute, a weighted item that differs from its estimate, a promotion that changes before pickup and an item added during fulfillment as causes.
The address on your order also decides which state’s rules and restrictions apply.
7. Freshness Guarantee Exclusions
Kroger’s Freshness Guarantee page says the guarantee covers produce with a freshness problem, plus any Kroger Brand, Simple Truth or Private Selection item that didn’t meet your expectations.
Alcohol, gift cards, taxes and fees are non-refundable, and refunds on online orders paid by EBT aren’t available.
Once Kroger confirms your refund, it takes 5 to 7 business days to reach your payment method.
For a pickup or delivery order, you open Purchase History in the Kroger app, find the order and select Request a Refund on the item.
Community Rewards Rules
Kroger’s Community Rewards FAQ says the program donates to local organizations based on the shopping you do.
You pick the organization by signing in to your digital account and searching by name or nonprofit organization (NPO) number.
Your purchases count toward it only when you present your Shopper’s Card or give your Alternate ID at the register.
Psst! How much do you know about supermarket history? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Grocery Aisle History
Answer these questions on how the American supermarket came together, from the first carts to the first frozen peas. Think you can ace them all?
When shoppers shunned the first shopping carts, inventor Sylvan Goldman tried what to win them over?
Virginia Store Locations
Kroger's Virginia store directory lists 66 grocery stores across 35 cities.
Your nearest store might be in Roanoke, Richmond, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg or Virginia Beach, all of which are on the list.
You can scan the full list before your next trip.
Employees at those 66 stores are part of a workforce that Kroger's annual report counts at more than 403,000 full- and part-time people.
Kroger operates supermarkets under a variety of local banner names in 35 states and the District of Columbia.
Of its 2,697 supermarkets, 1,731 had fuel centers.
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