“2026/3” The new 4x fuel points promotion runs from 3/13-3/15. But note that this time it does not include gas station gift cards or Amazon gift cards; those only earn 2x fuel points.

Introduction

Kroger is one of the largest supermarket chains in the US. Shopping at Kroger earns fuel points. If used well, these points can provide extra savings, effectively giving you an additional 4%+ discount when buying third-party gift cards sold in store (such as Amazon, Best Buy, Apple, Home Depot, Lowe's, Nike, Kohl's, etc.). If you also use a high-earning credit card for the grocery category, such as the AMEX Gold earning 4x Membership Rewards, the total savings can be quite substantial.

Kroger Family of Stores

Kroger operates many supermarket chains under different names, but they share the same fuel points system. In this article, we will refer to them collectively as Kroger.

  • Baker's (states: Nebraska)
  • City Market (states: Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico)
  • Dillons (states: Kansas & Nebraska)
  • Food 4 Less (states: California, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska & Ohio)
  • Foods Co (states: California)
  • Fred Meyer (states: Oregon, Washington, Idaho & Alaska)
  • Fry’s (states: Arizona)
  • Gerbes (states: Missouri)
  • Harris Teeter (this one is a bit special; see the “Earning Fuel Points” section) (states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Delaware, Maryland & District of Columbia)
  • Jay C Food Store (states: Indiana)
  • King Soopers (states: Colorado & Wyoming)
  • Kroger
  • Mariano’s (states: Illinois)
  • Metro Market (states: WI)
  • Pay-Less Super Markets (states: Indiana)
  • Pick’n Save (states: WI)
  • QFC (states: Washington & Oregon)
  • Ralphs (states: California)
  • Ruler (states: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee)
  • Smith’s Food and Drug (states: Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Idaho & Wyoming)

Kroger Account Registration

A Kroger account can be created online very easily, and no phone number is required. When creating the account, just leave the “Plus Card or Alt ID Number” field blank. After registration, go to Profile in your account and set up your Alternate ID. The Alternate ID is a 10-digit number that you can choose yourself. At checkout in store, entering your Alternate ID will let you earn fuel points on your account. At the gas station, you only need the Alternate ID to redeem fuel points; you do not need a physical Kroger membership card.

Earning Fuel Points (4x Fuel Points)

Regular Kroger purchases earn 1 fuel point per $1 spent. Gift card purchases earn 2 fuel points per $1 spent. However, Kroger frequently offers 4x fuel points on all third-party gift cards. You only need to activate the corresponding digital coupon in your online account before purchasing the gift card. During a 4x promotion, you can accumulate points very quickly; for example, buying a $500 Amazon gift card would earn 2000 fuel points.

Accounts are shared across Kroger family stores. For example, if you add a 4x digital coupon to your Kroger account, you can use it to buy gift cards and earn 4x fuel points at any Kroger family store without separately registering an account for each chain. One exception is Harris Teeter: digital coupons in a Harris Teeter account are not shared with the other chains, so Harris Teeter will only recognize a 4x digital coupon added within a Harris Teeter account. That said, this limitation only affects digital coupon recognition. If you use a Kroger account to buy gift cards at Harris Teeter, you can still earn 2x fuel points.

Fuel Points Value

Fuel points can be used to reduce gas prices. Every 100 fuel points reduces the price by $0.1/gallon at participating gas stations. You can use up to 1000 fuel points in a single redemption, which means up to $1/gallon off. The maximum fill size is 35 gallon. If you can somehow pump 35 gallon at once, then 1000 fuel points would be worth $35, but most people will not be able to pump that much. Suppose your car has a 10 Gallon tank; filling up 10 Gallon means 1000 fuel points are worth $10. During a 4x promotion, buying one $500 Amazon gift card earns 2000 fuel points, which is worth about $20, already equivalent to 4% back. If you also add the rewards from a high-earning grocery credit card, the overall deal becomes very attractive. Currently, the two best credit cards for grocery rewards are the following (if a link appears invalid, try clicking a few more times):

  • AMEX Gold (4x MR at supermarkets, annual cap $25,000; 4x MR at restaurants, no cap; annual fee $250): Application link
  • AMEX Blue Cash Preferred (6% at supermarkets, annual cap $6,000; 3% on transit, no cap; annual fee $95): Application link
  • Quarterly cashback card Discover it ($100 welcome bonus; 5% back at supermarkets during one quarter of the year; no annual fee): Application link
  • Quarterly cashback card Chase Freedom Flex ($200 welcome bonus + 5x UR on gas, 5% back at supermarkets during one quarter of the year; no annual fee): Application link

Personally, I think the first two cards are worth keeping long term for people with high grocery spending. If you can fully use the $25,000 cap, the first card is arguably a powerhouse. Overall, fuel points plus credit card rewards can make it possible to buy any third-party gift card at an effective 8% or 9% discount, depending on how you value MR points.

Buying and Selling Fuel Points

If you spend a lot at merchants like Amazon or Best Buy, buying large amounts of gift cards during a 4x fuel points promotion and then using them can be very profitable. Or, buying large amounts of gift cards such as Best Buy gift cards for resale can also be profitable. So what should you do if you accumulate a large number of fuel points and cannot use them all yourself?

Kroger’s policy says fuel points are not allowed to be bought or sold. In practice, however, there has long been a market for Kroger fuel points, with prices around $9=1,000 fuel points to $12.5=1,000 fuel points, which is roughly comparable to the value of using them to fill a 10-gallon car. Sometimes the price can be even higher. If you need to buy a large amount of third-party gift cards, whether for personal use or to shop for someone else, and you are interested in selling Kroger fuel points, such as 3,000 points or more, you can contact the author cloud in the reader WeChat group, or email [email protected].

Fuel Points Expiration

One important thing to note is that fuel points expire at the end of the month after the month in which they were earned. For example, if you earn 2,000 fuel points in January, they will expire at the end of February. So if you plan to sell Kroger fuel points, earlier is generally better. Usually people sell them right after a 4x fuel points promotion ends, or at the end of the month in which the points were earned.

Redeeming Fuel Points “5/18 Update: Kroger recently updated its system, so the steps below may no longer apply”

One important detail is that fuel points from different months cannot be combined in a single redemption. For example, if you have fuel points from both February and March, you must redeem either the February points or the March points; you cannot combine February and March points in one redemption.

The detailed steps at the gas station are as follows:

  • On the screen, choose Yes for “Are you a Kroger Plus Customer”
  • Enter your membership number or Alternative ID, or scan the QR code in the mobile app
  • Insert the credit card you are using to pay
  • Choose how to use fuel points: Press 1 to use the currently available fuel points amount that gives the largest discount. If you have more than 1,000 points in a given month, only 1,000 points will be used. There is an important detail here. If the current month’s available points are higher than the prior month’s available points, pressing 1 will use the current month’s points. For example, if you still have 450 points left from February and have already earned 930 points in March, the screen will show up to $0.9 off per gallon. If you press 1, it will use 900 points from March, and the 450 February points may go to waste because they expire sooner. Pressing 2 lets you manually enter how many points to use. Continuing the same example, you could press 2 and manually enter 400 points, and the system would automatically use 400 points from February. Pressing 3 means you do not use fuel points, but all Kroger members still get $0.03/gallon off, which is better than nothing.
  • Select the fuel grade, remove the nozzle, and begin fueling.

Special Reminder

The 4x fuel points promotion includes third-party gift cards. There is usually also a separate digital coupon for earning 4x fuel points on fixed-denomination Visa/Mastercard gift cards. It does not include the variable-load Visa/Mastercard gift cards that can be loaded up to $500.

Summary

Buying gift cards during a Kroger 4x fuel points promotion can easily produce an 8% or 9% discount. If you have a way to sell Kroger fuel points, that is effectively the same as buying third-party gift cards such as Amazon, Best Buy, Apple, Home Depot, Lowe's, Nike, and Kohl's at an 8% or 9% discount in large quantities.

Past 4x Fuel Points Promotions

2024

  • 8/30-9/2
  • 6/26-7/9
  • 6/21
  • 6/5-6/18
  • 5/31
  • 5/24-5/27
  • 5/17
  • 5/1-5/14
  • 4/10-4/23
  • 3/20-4/2
  • 3/15-3/17
  • 1/31-2/20

2023

  • 8/25-8/27
  • 8/18-8/20
  • 8/11-8/13
  • 7/26-8/8
  •   7/21-7/23
  • 6/28-7/11
  • 6/23-6/25
  • 6/7-6/20
  • 6/2-4
  • 5/26-29
  • 5/19
  • 5/3-5/16
  • 4/28
  • 4/21
  • 3/29-4/11
  • 3/8-3/21
  • 2/1-2/14
  • 1/11-1/24
  • 1/6-1/8

2022

  • 11/16-12/06
  • 10/26-11/1
  • 9/7-9/20
  • 9/2-9/5
  • 8/26-8/28
  • 8/19-8/21
  • 8/12-8/14
  • 7/27-8/9
  • 7/22-7/24
  • 7/15-7/17
  • 6/29-7/12
  • 6/24-6/26
  • 6/8-6/21
  • 6/3-6/5
  • 5/27-5/30
  • 5/20-5/22
  • 5/4-5/17
  • 4/6-4/19
  • 3/9-3/22
  • 2/2-2/15
  • 1/7-1/9