9 Kroger Habits That Cost Kentuckians More Than They Realize
Thanksgiving is two weeks away, and many of us are already building our Kroger grocery lists.
But how you order those groceries can add charges that have nothing to do with the food in your cart.
These are the Kroger habits that cost Kentuckians more than they realize.
Note: This is general information, not financial advice. Kroger program terms, fees and dollar amounts are subject to change.
1. Skipping Your Rewards Number
When you shop with your Rewards Number at Kroger, you can earn 1 Point for every $1 spent on most groceries.
On a $100 grocery trip, skipping it passes up about 100 Points, which are worth $1 off groceries.
Pharmacy fills carry Points too: 25 for a non-federally funded prescription and 75 for each 90-day script.
At 100 Points to the dollar, that is 25 cents and 75 cents toward groceries.
At participating fuel locations, Rewards members also get 3 cents off each gallon, even without Points.
On a 20-gallon fill-up, that’s 60 cents.
2. Letting Points Expire
Every 100 Kroger Points you let lapse is $1 off groceries you won’t get back.
Points expire on the last day of the month after you earn them.
Points you earn any time in March expire on April 30.
A 750-Point balance that lapses takes $7.50 in groceries with it.
The $10-a-Day Points Cap
Kroger caps dollars off groceries at 1,000 Points, or $10, per household each day.
A balance of 2,500 Points is worth $25, so it takes three separate days to spend.
A balance that big needs its three days early enough in the month before it expires.
3. Spending Points on Groceries
Kroger has 100 gas stations across 55 cities in Kentucky.
At participating Kroger Family Fuel Centers, Points can take money off a fill-up instead of groceries.
Every 100 Points takes 10 cents off each gallon, up to $1 per gallon on up to 35 gallons.
On groceries, every 100 Points takes $1 off.
That makes 1,000 Points worth $20 on a 20-gallon fill-up and $10 on groceries, so choosing groceries costs you $10.
Maximum fuel discount and gallon limits may vary by location.
On a fill-up under 10 gallons, groceries come out ahead.
4. Small Pickup Orders
A $30 Kroger Pickup order costs $34.95 before tax.
Pickup is free on orders of $35 or more.
Below that, there’s a $4.95 service fee, and restrictions may apply.
Add a $5 item you’d use anyway, and the fee disappears while your total rises only five cents.
Five cents buys $5.
5. Delivery Instead of Pickup
A $40 Kroger order costs $9.95 more delivered than picked up, at the standard fee.
Delivery fees vary with the day and time slot you pick.
Boost members get free delivery on orders of $35 or more.
Psst! How much do you know about Kroger’s savings programs? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Kroger Savings Quiz
Answer these questions on Kroger’s Points, coupons and delivery perks. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
Most gift cards at Kroger earn how many Points for every $1 spent?
6. Choosing Express Delivery
When you pick Express Delivery on a Kroger order, you pay a $4.95 surcharge on top of the standard delivery fee.
At the standard $9.95 fee, that's $14.90 before groceries.
Boost members still pay the $4.95 surcharge.
Instacart fulfills express orders, and it refunds the surcharge if yours arrives more than 15 minutes late.
7. EBT and Online Fees
Kroger accepts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits on an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card for Pickup and Delivery orders.
The card can't pay delivery fees, ordering fees, convenience fees or tips, so you cover those with a credit or debit card.
That puts any fee, such as the $9.95 standard delivery fee, on the other card.
Kroger also charges that backup card if your final total at fulfillment is higher than the total shown at checkout.
Items you add at curbside can push your total past the original, and so can a price change between your order and fulfillment.
Weighted items are listed at average prices online, so their final price can land above what you saw.
8. Joining Boost Without Counting Deliveries
Kroger's Boost Essential costs $69 a year or $8.99 a month, plus tax, and it comes with free Next Day delivery.
At the standard delivery fee of $9.95, that $69 equals about seven delivered orders.
Boost, with delivery in as little as two hours, costs $99 a year or $12.99 a month.
That takes about ten orders at the same fee to break even.
Orders under $35 don't get free delivery.
You still pay $4.95 for express time slots as a Boost member.
Your Boost membership doesn't work on fuel or pharmacy prescriptions, either.
9. Forgetting the Boost Trial
Kroger's Boost free trial lasts 30 days, and it asks for your payment information up front.
When the trial expires, Kroger charges your card for an annual membership unless you cancel before the 30 days end.
Kroger's Boost terms say you won't get a separate notice that your trial is about to end.
When the trial ends, the plan you picked at sign-up becomes your paid plan, billed at that plan's price.
Kroger's Boost FAQ says there are no refunds for Boost fees paid, so treat the charge as spent once it posts.
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