Grocery & drug stores

[jesuschick01]

Hello all,

I'm new to the Upromise community/site. 

I don't know if anyone will be able to help me or not, but I was under the impression that if I used my debit card at say Wal-mart, that I would earn contributions, is that not the case? 

Thanks!!

[RammsteinNicCag]

You can use your debit card (but you have to run it like a credit card [no PIN]) and it only works if you order from walmart.com through the UPromise site. I believe walmart.com does have an "order online, pick up in store" feature.

[jesuschick01]

Thank you for letting me know that.  That kind of stinks that I can't shop at BJ's Wholesale and Walmart and earn contributions.  Oh well.  I might have to start shopping at Farm Fresh online or in the store.  Anyway, thanks again. 

[RammsteinNicCag]

Yeah, those are two places that I purchase at frequently, so it's unfortunate that I can't get contributions from them. However, those are two places that I won't change for a UPromise company because the contributions wouldn't make up for the money I wouldn't be saving by going to those B&M stores.

[jesuschick01]

Okay, so let me make sure I have it right (again, sorry!).  The only way I earn is if I go to Farm Fresh, Food Lion, and buy the items from the approved list.  I can't buy things from the approved list at other stores, right? 

I'm sorry to be so bothersome, but I just want to make sure I get things right before I go and buy stuff on payday. 

Thanks!

[RammsteinNicCag]

Correct, you have to buy the approved items at the grocery approved stores. The only way you can earn contributions when going to non-approved stores is if you have the UPromise credit card through Bank of America - then you'll earn 1% of your entire purchase (and 10% for participating items at participating grocers).

[jesuschick01]

Well that stinks.  So how do you (personally) earn your contributions if you shop at BJ's and such places as that?  You had said you shop at Walmart and stuff too.  I'm just trying to learn how to earn the most for the least amount of increase in my budget. 

If you shop at Amazon, and stuff like that, is that a certain percentage of your entire order or is there some stipulation on what you have to purchase from them too? 

Thanks!

[RammsteinNicCag]

I generally do not get any contributions from my grocery shopping - the list of eligible items has apparently gotten pretty small over time and most of that stuff I never buy. The important thing to remember is, if you usually buy Brand X for $2, but Brand Y is an eligible item and costs $3, the contribution that you get probably will not make up for spending that extra $1, so continue buying Brand X.

I have gotten only one grocery contribution so far and that was because I used an eCoupon. More often than not, most of those products I don't use either, but they had one for a cereal that I liked, so I activated the coupon and then went to an eligible store and swiped my card when I bought the item and got an extra $1 in savings (the cereal was even on sale, too). I think the eCoupons are updated every month.

Most of my savings comes from my online shopping. Unfortunately, amazon.com is NOT a Upromise partner, but they are in the list of online stores for comparison shopping purposes - I have mentioned that I would like to see it removed from the list because it's too confusing.

However, when you do shop at any of the participating online retailers, your entire order will be eligible for contributions (there might be an exception on things like warranties, shipping, tax, etc?). Just make sure that you start at Upromise and click on one of the links to that online store (or use the TurboSaver toolbar for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox).

There are a couple of other "quick" ways to get contributions. Signing up for E-Rewards will give you $2, and then you can earn additional money for filling out online surveys. If you're in an eligible state, you can get contributions for doing auto insurance quotes and you don't even have to buy anything (I live in NY and it is not an eligible state).

Anyway, to sum it all up - I have not changed my shopping habits very much at all for UPromise and I have earned about $45 (that's over roughly 6 months) and now that I have the UPromise credit card, I expect to earn probably ~$20/month buying what I would normally buy anyway. If only I could find a way to pay my mortgage with a credit card....

[jesuschick01]

Thank you so much for clearing this up for me.  I am going to order a safety gate from one of the approved sites and earn like 3.50 or something, I was going to try to order some more things from the same place and see if it increases what I earn. 

I have a 6 month old, so a lot of the items like Beechnut food and stuff is a way I could really earn a lot, however, I wish I could just go to Walmart or BJ's and earn the credit, but like my husband said, it is just a way to get you to shop at those certain stores.  Maybe I'll voice that concern to someone and they will do something about it, maybe not. 

My husband and I completed Financial Peace University last year at our church and we are firm believer's in Dave Ramsey's policy of no credit cards.  I was considering getting it just to earn points, but then God said "do you really want to do that, you know you will end up using it when you don't need to..."  So I thought better of it.  It would be easier to get it to earn points on anything though.  Oh well, maybe in the end this won't be a good investment for our daughter.  I mean if it's more trouble than it's worth to get the contributions. 

Thanks again! 

[RammsteinNicCag]

Well, when it comes to using the upromise credit card, it's ONLY worth it if you pay off your balance in full every month. So, normally when you buy things right now, you're probably either writing checks, using a debit card, or going to the ATM a lot. If you use the credit card for those every day purchases and pay it in full each month, it's the same thing really. If it makes it easier for you, right down in your check book ledger each purchase you make and subtract it from your bank account balance to make sure you're not overspending. Or, for each purchase you make, move the money from your checking account to your savings account so it kind of "disappears" as if you already spent it and when payment time comes up, move it back into your checking account.

I really made that seem more complicated than it was.