Originally Posted by
bobfather
Chase doesn't care how much you spend at drug stores. That's why they have the $50,000 cap on 5x annual spend.
Also, you don't need a 5x card at drug stores to match the "deals" at Staples/OMax/OD.
Consider:
$34.75 to manufacture 5000 UR points. = $.695/point
$7.90-$11.90 to manufacture 5000 TYP/MR points. = $.158-$.238/point
Even if you're one of those people that "value" UR points at 2x or higher, generating points at grocery stores or drug stores is 3-4x cheaper than drug stores, for people that have cards that give 5x spend at grocery/drug stores.
I have a card that gives me uncapped 3% rewards at grocery stores all the time (PenFed). Anyone can get it, if they wanted to.
$11.90 to manufacture 3000 points = $.4/point, which is STILL cheaper than going the UR route with the Ink cards.
If I go to an office supply store with my Ink card, the math is thus:
25000 UR points = 5,000 in spend.
5,000/200 = 25 * 6.95 = 173.75
5,000/1000 = 5 * .75 = 3.75
total cost for 25,000 points/miles is 177.50 or 0.0071/pt or mile, or a r/t coach ticket on UA for $177.50 anywhere in the US (except HI).