If it doesn�t work for ME it shouldn�t work for ANYBODY except Amex fanboys/girls and suckers

Was wondering why someone that lives in a place so small that doesn't even have Ubereats and never travels would have this card.

I won't pay an annual fee for a credit card unless the benefits are at least equal to the annual fee.

Who here is not traveling, leaving the house and has no expenses?

Do we now need to keep this discussion going with hypotheticals?

Not really a hypothetical, there are hundreds of posts in this thread with people complaining that they can't use the free/coupon benefits of the card.

Yes, there are people who are coming to the conclusion that they don’t get sufficient value out of the Plat card with a $695 fee and reduced lounge benefits despite the coupon book bundled with it.

This is a discussion forum. They are voicing their opinion. I see no need to make condescending comments about them such as “maybe it's possible that the card just isn't for some people if they live in remote areas, don't travel or even leave the house, and have no expenses”.

I received a modest retention bonus the other day. Without it, I would likely have cancelled the card, because it is hard to justify the expense even though I live in an Uber market, do travel significantly more than the average American, and, yes, have expenses.

If the card benefits are sufficiently useful and valuable to you, by all means keep and use it.

For sure there are some who can't use the benefits. But for others like me it's more the hassle and value factor as extensively discussed.

Of course it's not a hassle to bill XM radio and NYT to a Plat card. Nor is it a hassle to buy $200 UA credits that I don't really want or need. But it is a hassle to track and use credits, I'm betting most people would prefer just to buy airfare by charging to one credit card (often stored) - perhaps one like Amex Plat that offers insurance. And as discussed it's a hassle for many of us to redeem monthly Uber credits across multiple cards to buy lunch, not to mention the inflated prices.

Agreed 100%. As extensively discussed, many people find the benefit useful and more power to you! But for some reason it seems difficult for the Amex fanboys to acknowledge the reverse.

The irony of the coupon book approach is that it does nothing to incentivize anyone to whip out the card for everyday spend. They simply jump through whatever Amex hoops are needed to collect the prize. I suppose that brings a sense of satisfaction to some (plus a few hundred net of AF), but I don't see it creating the type of frequent engagement Amex wants. The better play is to incentivize people to carry the card in their wallets with dining & grocery bonus (hello Gold card) or travel expenses (hello CSR). But what do I know, I'm just a cynical customer.

Aside from the vigorously discussed benefits from the card, when my wife said she wanted to get a credit card (and I've always been a 'hell no' type of person when dealing with credit since I always save up and buy), she pitched it to me as how much of a benefit the points are considering the spend she has on business trips for work. When her travel is extensive (almost half the year), this makes a lot of sense, but I wonder now if there's a better way to skin this cat. We also have the chase 'metal' card as well for the same purpose. Any thoughts on this strategy?

i used to travel 40+ weeks for work but airfare is usually directly billed so not paid by me. So only time I can use the 5x benefit is for family travel. But if I book award tickets with points and miles then thats also not being used. The point earning for PLt is mainly from sign up bonuses, special limited time MR bonuses, pay over time and AU bonuses. The regular earnings are not great Chase is a totally different game. With CSR for travel, CFF for bonus categories, CFU for the rest and 5% groceeies in first year. Most family expenses can be earning 5%. For freelancers they can get Ink cards for even more. In tems of standard earnings Chase is better. Also more redemption options.
Amex has more ons time bonuses that are YMMV. and more coupons

Yes, this is true. There is no one *single* Amex card that will maximize the rewards, and yes, I'm sure that is by design.

I have a pretty decent no-fee card, an "Amex" from USAA, which is 3% on dining and 2% on groceries and gas. (They also have a points portal, but these aren't MR points and can be redeemed for cash back at 1 CPP.) It's good enough that I can't justify the $250 fee for the Gold card, especially since I can't easily use the credits on it. And I have a 1.5% cash back Visa on everything -- I know 2% is out there, just haven't grabbed it yet. Again, good enough that I'm not going to create some seat-of-the-pants, half-assed business for few months to get a BBP and pay the fee.

Part of the reason for a SUB is to allow someone to see, for a year, if a card is worth carrying long term. That's what I'm doing here. Maybe 10 months in, I'll go back and honestly "value" the credits I used for my own personal situation and make a decision on whether to keep it. The SUB makes it worth trying. Mine is the Schwab version, so worst case, if the value isn't there I cash out the 100K SUB for $1100 plus whatever spend I put on the card, and cancel.

I'm sure a lot of folks don't like couponing or doing a lot of work to figure out if a card is right for them or not. For them, get the best cash back you can and keep it simple.

With Uber, Walmart Plus, whatever, it seems like worrying about tipping, inflated prices, etc makes things too complicated. If you used the service before Amex introduced the credit, value the credit at full value. If you have to start using a service in order to take advantage of the credit, then you already lose utility; you lose even more if you do things like worrying about tipping / not tipping, get frustrating on pricing, start comparing prices across services, etc. For example, Walmart Plus appears to be a useful service, but I don't have a need for it, so I have not signed up for it since Amex introduced the benefit. I may get around to looking at it but it has no bearing on how I value the card. However, Saks, Uber, Equinox, Streaming, etc were all stuff we were using anyway, so the credits work.

I really don't like the coupon book approach and high AF myself. However I can see why Amex would keep doing it.
They are very innovative in making money from targeted marketing for merchants through Amex Offers. And clearly some of the targeted Amex Offers are only available to PLT card members (who are most likely big spenders.)
Majority of the Amex offers are funded by the merchants instead of Amex's own pocket.
Then they started to offer "200" Uber credits by getting Uber to fund at least part if not all of the 15/month. That expanded to other relatively less successful services. Guess Netflix doesn't think it needs this marketing so it's not one of the options.
Those merchant funded credits are so successful that now even Citi and Chase are offering copycat offers. Citi correctly named it "Citi Merchant Offers".
I think Amex makes more money from those offers than from every day spending....that's a smart strategy than competing with Chase and Citi on cashbacks which can really hurt profits.
Also the higher the AF, the more likely the card can be used as a status symbol for bragging rights. I suppose the AF can only go higher going forward, maybe with some additional coupons.

It was almost funny - when I chatted with the retention rep last week, he insisted on walking me through all the benefits I had supposedly used. When he listed the CLEAR benefit “worth” $189, I felt like I was back in this thread and responded that I didn’t value this benefit anywhere near $189 since I just it exactly twice last year due to limited airport availability.

Thank you for the detailed answer. My wife can have her airfare and stay also direct billed, but she has the option to pay them and get it reimbursed which racks up a lot of points. Then we'll use the points for a flight worth 2-3x of the annual fee, and it doesn't count the times I use the centurion lounge and priority pass on my trips. The wife has me almost always use the Chase for food and groceries so I see why she does that now. It's good to see the comparison as I was just wondering if this was as good as it gets.

Don't for one second think that these credit card companies don't make the bulk of their money from the merchant fees they charge companies--that's a really, really, REALLY huge number. I still remember how many thousands a month we paid in fees in the hotel industry.

Actually I can understand the arguments from both sides.
For me I kept it until this year really due to a big retention offer.
I was 100% ready to close this account in early 2022 but was convineced to keep the card due to a retention bonus. Of course Amex cannot afford to give big retention bonuses every year.
Once the retention bonuses are reduced or dried up people who do not feel the card being useful by itself would start to cancel.
I suspect people who are complaining, or at least some of them, wished they could keep this relationship if Amex would offer something more useful to them, or offer an option to only pay for what they need/desire instead of a higher AF with benefits they do not need/desire.