What's a grocery store?
 

Citi is giving me 5 for 1 miles at gas stations,drug stores and grocery stores.Are Super Walmart ,Costco,Sam' Club or Seven Eleven considered Grocery stores?If so can I buy anything?If Super Walmart is a grocery store can I buy a bar bq grill.

You did not mention which card you have, but typically these promotions are based on the merchant classification code which excludes Walmart and clubstores. Here is a definition from one Citi card...

Supermarkets are stand-alone merchants that primarily sell a complete line of food merchandise for home consumption.

Based on my recollection of earlier discussions on FT and elsewhere you will usually not get any bonus for Costco which the card companies classify as a not-grocery store.

We have a new style of Walmart which fits that definition.It is a stand alone building that only sells groceries.Seems like a gray area.I wonder if seven eleven is a gas station,and if I buy a 6pack is that gasoline.We really don't have gas stations anymore.We have convinence stores that sell gas.Texaco would be a gas ststion,however I havent seem any in years.

Store Classification
 

When I log in to my Citi account, the charges that posted on the previous statement are able to be selected with a double mouse click. This gives detailed information about the merchant including the classification. This will allow you to verify a grocery store transaction after the fact.

Also, I have found many merchants that I think are way off with their classification. For example, the doggie day care we frequent actually has the classification of some sort of real estate transaction.

Everything depends on the merchant classification, the physical appearance of the business is unimportant, and the merchandise you happen to buy is irrelevant.

There's no need to guess. Make test purchases. After the statement cycle closes logon to citicards.com, look at "Last Statement Activity", and expand the description of the transaction by clicking the [+]. You will see something like this...

Transaction Type: 2
Post Date: 07/18/2009
Reference Number: XXXXXXXX
Merchant Category: Health Care - DRUG STORES,PHARMACIES
Charge To: Standard Purch

It depends on the card you are using and the way the merchant is classified by Visa, MC, Amex, etc.

Visa has a number of different merchant categories:
http://www.da.usda.gov/procurement/card/card_x/mcc.pdf

MCCs are based on ISO standards:
http://www.iso.org/iso/search.htm?qt...published=true

Other than the merchants choosing their own classification codes when they submitted their transactions, different cards can have different classifications of the same merchant.

I found out one particular local grocer is classified as grocery store on one Citi card, but not another Citi card. It is bizzare but that has been the way on our cards.

I have not had success with any Costco or Walmart anything (whether super, sams club or regular) be considered a grocery store. Likewise Seven Eleven.

If you're looking for a BBQ grill, why not take your 5 miles per dollar card to a supermarket (i.e. Shoprite if you're in the Northeast, or Von's if you're on the west coast) and buy a few gift cards to Home Depot (up to the amount you need for the grill you want). Use the gift cards for your grill.

I would concur with thehawk: when we were doing some remodeling in the kitchen and needed a sink, I purchased $400 worth of Home Depot gift cards at Safeway, to get the 5 points per dollar on grocery store purchases. Also, works great for other all of the other stores, restaurants, etc., that have gift cards for sale at Safeway.^

Every Super Walmart I have shopped at shows up as Supermarket for my Citi Premier Pass Elite Mastercard, but none of them show up as Supermarket with the Citi Platinum AMEX. Regular Walmarts do not get the Supermarket bonus on either card. I am not sure about the neighborhood market Walmarts. I agree with the strategy to purchase gift cards at grocery stores.