# Amazon Visa card will earn 5% at Whole Foods...



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

If you are an Amazon Prime member, according to the linked article. I've usually stuck to Wally World for groceries but might try the more high-class store now.

https://thepointsguy.com/2018/02/chase-amazon-prime-card-will-now-earn-5-back-at-whole-foods/


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Interesting. I think I been to the Whole Foods twice in my life. Its not horribly out of my way, but it was years ago and I just remember how expensive everything was. I am fairly lucky that I have a decent grocer here, HEB that has pretty good prices. Although I wish there was more competition. I been actually going to Trader Joe's  a lot to buy my basics, which lots of I assume is the kind of food they also sell at Whole Foods. I might check them out. 

Not sure though if even getting 5% back is going to make up for the prices overall to pay. 

I am just overall not a big store type of person. I hate shopping as it is and having to go to a super store, or just large grocery, makes my skin crawl. Its why I like Trader Joe's. In and out. I wish we had some Aldi's here, but they just won't come to our Texas city. HEB just has a strangle hold on everything. And I don't like their large stores either. Ugh, so busy and cramped and just stressful. 

What they need to do here is have a actual grocery delivery using Whole Foods. HEB and Walmart are now doing something like that, although its mostly pickup service. We have prime now, but the fresh produce section is pretty sad. We don't have a FreshGrocery thingie, or whatever amazon calls that on other city. Considering how large we are, I am surprised how long these things have been taking here. I think if they just expand PrimeNow and add an actual grocery shopping to that for home delivery, lots of folks here would use it. 

I just want some small stores. I don't need a selection of 50 of the same thing. I guess I grew up with stores like Aldi, Lidl, Norma, etc. All operating the same way. 

I guess I can check it out next week maybe. Since its been so many years I been there, maybe Amazon has brought the prices down a tad at WF. I can't afford to pay 3 times as much for an item just because its organic, or grass fed. I can get maybe less selection, but much better prices at TJ and HEB if I want.


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

Perfect! I already have Amazon Prime, I already have an Amazon Visa card, and I already shop at Whole Foods. I hadn’t yet heard about this, so thanks for posting the news. I haven't always used the Amazon card when shopping at Whole Foods, but I will now!

As I mentioned in a previous thread, in my NYC neighborhood, many of the prices at Whole Foods are actually lower than at the regular grocery stores. The regular stores here are very small, and the Whole Foods stores are larger and have a better selection. The best prices here are at Trader Joe's, but the store is fairly small. Selection is much more limited than at Whole Foods, especially in the fresh produce section. I'll continue to shop at all of these stores depending on what I need, but it might make sense to shift certain purchases to Whole Foods with the additional 5% benefit.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

gdae23 said:


> Perfect! I already have Amazon Prime, I already have an Amazon Visa card, and I already shop at Whole Foods. I hadn't yet heard about this, so thanks for posting the news. I haven't always used the Amazon card when shopping at Whole Foods, but I will now!
> 
> As I mentioned in a previous thread, in my NYC neighborhood, many of the prices at Whole Foods are actually lower than at the regular grocery stores. The regular stores here are very small, and the Whole Foods stores are larger and have a better selection. The best prices here are at Trader Joe's, but the store is fairly small. Selection is much more limited than at Whole Foods, especially in the fresh produce section. I'll continue to shop at all of these stores depending on what I need, but it might make sense to shift certain purchases to Whole Foods with the additional 5% benefit.


I am guessing that there are huge difference in grocery prices, depending on state, city, area. I only ever lived in Oklahoma and Texas since moving to the US, so that is all I have to compare it to. We don't pay any taxes here on food, just household items and I think prepared stuff. I know it cost more in Oklahoma a bit, even another place in Texas I lived before. Here now its so different from store to store, sometimes a huge difference. 
My husband travels a lot at times and a few times he stayed in NYC and got one of those hotels you have a kitchen with, to cook your own food. I remember him saying how some groceries were much more expensive than what we pay here, but he said it also depended on what store he went to.

I am glad thought that overall some of the prices on "better" food is coming down. I now only buy grass fed ground beef, I can't quite afford grass fed roasts yet. I can pay 5.99 at Trader Joe's for that, HEB also has it for that. Haven't seen it cheaper, only much higher at other places. Buying the steaks and roasts is still not affordable on my budget. Ouch those prices. So I just use more ground beef. 
Wonder what the meat stuff costs at WF, I'll have to check it out and compare with Natural Grocer, another one of those organic stores I never been too and they just opened one near me. Its also smaller so I might like it better.


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

Atunah said:


> I am guessing that there are huge difference in grocery prices, depending on state, city, area. I only ever lived in Oklahoma and Texas since moving to the US, so that is all I have to compare it to. We don't pay any taxes here on food, just household items and I think prepared stuff. I know it cost more in Oklahoma a bit, even another place in Texas I lived before. Here now its so different from store to store, sometimes a huge difference.
> My husband travels a lot at times and a few times he stayed in NYC and got one of those hotels you have a kitchen with, to cook your own food. I remember him saying how some groceries were much more expensive than what we pay here, but he said it also depended on what store he went to.
> 
> I am glad thought that overall some of the prices on "better" food is coming down. I now only buy grass fed ground beef, I can't quite afford grass fed roasts yet. I can pay 5.99 at Trader Joe's for that, HEB also has it for that. Haven't seen it cheaper, only much higher at other places. Buying the steaks and roasts is still not affordable on my budget. Ouch those prices. So I just use more ground beef.
> Wonder what the meat stuff costs at WF, I'll have to check it out and compare with Natural Grocer, another one of those organic stores I never been too and they just opened one near me. Its also smaller so I might like it better.


I've definitely noticed a difference in prices when traveling to other parts of the country. There are also big variations from store to store just locally. I've found big price differences, for example, with the cereal that I like. In my local supermarket, a box is now $6.59. The same box of cereal is $3.69 at Whole Foods, and $2.99 at Trader Joe's. On a trip to Georgia about a year ago, I bought a box in Kroger for $2.50. The same is true of buying a quart of milk, with TJ's having the best price. I eat some meat, but not a lot, and I don't prepare it at home (just eat some meat dishes in restaurants), so I'm not familiar with how the prices would compare on that. I hope you're able to find some good prices for meat near you when you compare the stores.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I wish that more stores did what my grocer HEB does. They have an app, or website, you can see every single item that is in each store, with price and if its on sale. And when you add it to a shopping list, it sorts it by isle, all specific to whatever store you set it too. And you can search across stores, sort by your store, etc. I always know if my nearest HEB carries something and how much it is. I can compare something while sitting on the couch. If I could do that compare with other grocery store, I could make a list for each store and buy more efficiently.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I got an email from Amazon confirming this, so I guess it is official!


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

I've never used a credit card for groceries.  Don't plan to.  Cash.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Sandpiper said:


> I've never used a credit card for groceries. Don't plan to. Cash.


This seems to be a hot button for many people, I've had total strangers in line next to me make negative comments when I pull out a credit card to pay for groceries. Since I pay my credit card bills in full each month, I never pay the horrid credit card interest rates, and I get the benefit of airline miles or rebates like the one we are discussing here from the credit card.

Still, I have to support their determination to do as I do, and live on a cash basis with no loans or credit card balances (which bizarrely isn't good for your credit score!).


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

No way am I going to walk around with cash on me like that. Pulling it out at the register. Just asking to be hit over the head on the way to the car. The only folks I see around here paying cash is when they come up from Mexico shopping for the weekend. The guys pull out the rolls of paper and pay. 

Since I pay every bill anyway with plastic, no difference if I pay groceries also the same way. Have one bill once a month and get points I can turn into kindle books.  

But yeah, I don't feel save as it is half the time walking to my car from the stores, I don't need to add more temptation to that.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

So . . . I was raised to never 'borrow' to put food on the table. Figure out how to budget so you can pay with ready cash. 

That said, what that means now is that I don't generally put it on a credit card but, rather, use my debit so it's paid for right away -- and I'm not carrying around a couple hundred dollars just to go to the grocery store.

If I was inclined to shop at Whole Foods, I would consider using My Amazon card to get the Amazon credit. I do pay all our cards off every month so, whether or not I used it, would depend on how 'full' it already is. If I know it's at my monthly spending limit, I'll have to consider closely. If we've had a slow month, I probably will. Just gotta look at the whole picture.


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

I see very few people around here paying with cash. Many seem to be using debit cards. I've avoided getting a debit card because it seemed to have greater liability than a credit card if someone stole and used it. I don't know if that's still the case, but I'm managing fine without one. 

I used to only pay cash at grocery stores until my bank started giving extra rewards points one quarter of the year for using their card in the grocery. I got used to it, but if my purchases are under about $30, I still pay in cash. (And then I sometimes think about the rewards points I'm losing out on!) I pay off the credit cards in full each month, so it doesn't bother me to use them this way. 

In recent months, there  have been a few stories in the newspaper about some NYC stores that no longer accept cash at all.  The only place I’ve run into this myself was in a section of Newark airport a few months ago. It definitely felt strange to me, but I guess we'll be seeing more of that in the future.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The thing about accepting actual _cash_ cash is that the store owners are concerned with the risks of having it on hand. Still, I had the idea that it wasn't legal in the US to refuse to accept currency. Maybe that's not the case.


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> The thing about accepting actual _cash_ cash is that the store owners are concerned with the risks of having it on hand. Still, I had the idea that it wasn't legal in the US to refuse to accept currency. Maybe that's not the case.


That's a good point, Ann. I found one of the recent articles here. It somewhat addresses the issue of whether businesses can refuse cash, but not fully.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/nyregion/no-cash-money-cashless-credit-debit-card.html


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

Since Amazon bought Whole Foods I have noticed a big drop in their prices. My closest WF is not really close, about 30 minutes away, but I have enjoyed going there lately. Now I will carry my Amazon Prime card with me, which always sits in a drawer used just for Amazon purchases. I rarely pay CASH for anything! My Capitol One Venture card rewards points have paid for many airline trips in the last few years.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I guess I must not buy the right things. Today we decided to check out our Whole Foods. Not far away, but we only been there years ago once. All I remember from then is that it was expensive. 
So we go in, it was packed. I mean so bad you couldn't even get to the veggies. I hate shopping, I hate shopping at packed stores. So I went down a mental list and looked at items we would normally buy. Holy moly everything was high. Meat on average $2 per pound at least. Cauliflower rice was twice as much. 2 times the cost what I normal buy   . Steaks for my husbands, $2 more a pound. And I am not talking about the grass fed, those are out of our budget. Chicken was ok in price, about the same for the organic stuff. Fish was high. I don't eat a lot of fish outside of salmon so I didn't compare the other sea thingies. They have a huge selection of the prepared stuff like salads and such, which I don't really buy as that can really add up. 

We actually walked out buying nothing. We went to a mexican grocery/butcher store so husband can have his steaks. I don't eat those. 

Just looking at what I normally buy, Trader Joe's is much more affordable and I like the smaller store. I think husband said it was average about 20% more in price at Whole foods. He did the mental calculations. I just kept going     

The 5% from the Amazon card are not going to make up that difference. So for me its a no go. 

I really didn't like the vibe of the store either. It was just too cluttered for that many people. I don't think its one of their larger store, that might be the issue. Its a very very busy shopping center they are in. Just so many tables you can't get to the produce. 

If those are lower prices, I don't even want to know what it was like before.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Atunah, that’s not promising! I haven’t tried WF yet. I’d read suggestions that Amazon had had some prices lowered, but sounds like that may not be the case...


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> Atunah, that's not promising! I haven't tried WF yet. I'd read suggestions that Amazon had had some prices lowered, but sounds like that may not be the case...


It might just be on stuff I don't usually buy though. 
I am pretty basic when it comes to food. I have my staples and I don't need a selection of a bunch of each. It was those basics that were much more than what I normally pay. If its just a couple of things, I don't mind. Costs more gas to drive from place to place just for those, but if its consistently higher throughout, then I have to think about it.

I still have to try out Natural Grocer store. That is a family owned chain with all organic in the store. They are suppose to be less expensive and they are just as close to me. I just been going to TJ like clockwork once a week and fill in with HEB. I so wish we had Aldi here, but they are everywhere in Texas but San Antonio. I think we are getting LIDL though, which is another german chain store kind of like Aldi/trader Joe's. One of the Aldi brothers owns Trader Joe's.

We eat a lot of avocado, I get 6 of them at TJ for 2.99. Its hard to beat. They are the small ones, but still, the same size was 4.59 at Whole Foods. For 4 of them.


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