We’re big fans of cash-back programs here at Krazy Coupon Lady, especially when we’re able to earn money on things we buy every day. If you’re a Kroger grocery shopper, I need to fill you in on the Kroger cash back program. This little baby is your ticket to racking up big savings on your grocery bill each month, as long as you remember to clip the offers before you shop.
Here’s everything you need to know to get started with Kroger cash back so you never let that free money go to waste.
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1. Kroger cash back works just like Ibotta — you clip digital offers before you make a purchase.
So how does Kroger cash back work? If you’re at all familiar with the Ibotta rebate app, Kroger’s cash-back program works in a similar way.
Once you have a Kroger account, you’ll “clip” digital cash-back offers online or in the Kroger app (iOS / Android) to load them to your account. Then when you buy those items (whether it’s in-store or ordered for pickup or Kroger delivery), the cash back will automatically get credited to your Kroger account. You can save your earnings for later, or choose to cash out immediately to use them on another Kroger purchase.
TIP: If you have a physical Kroger Shopper’s Card, you can link that card to your online account using the number on the back.
2. The Kroger cash back offers range from $0.25 for snack bars to $10 for allergy meds.
To give you an idea of the cash back offers you can expect, I looked at 130 recent offers and found a wide range of savings. The average cash back amount was around $2, but the offers ranged from $0.25 cash back (on a 12-count of Nature Valley Granola Bars) all the way up to $10 cash back on Allegra 24-Hour Allergy Relief (60 count).
Adult beverages seemed to be the category with the most cash-back offers available, followed by beauty, produce, and international items.
All in all, if I had clipped the 130 offers and made all qualifying purchases, my total cash back amount would be about $266. Not too bad if I had been planning on making those purchases anyway!
3. Load Kroger cash back offers to your account in just a few steps.
To load your available cash back offers to your digital account or Shopper’s Card, here’s what you do:
- Sign in to your Kroger account online.
- Select Save (looks like three stacked lines) from the menu.
- Tap “Savings Center.”
- Select “Cash Back.”
- Sort offers by value, expiration date, or most recently added.
- Select “Load to Card” to load them to your account.
How many cash-back offers can I load to my Shopper’s Card?
You can load a maximum of 150 Kroger cash-back offers and digital coupons to your account at any one time. This is also the limit per household, so if you share an account with someone else, they cap the total number you can clip at 150.
4. Don’t wait too long — Kroger cash back offers can expire in as little as two weeks.
The bad news is that Kroger cash back offers do expire. But the good news is that the expiration dates vary, and can sometimes be as far as three months in the future.
When I looked at a bunch of sample Kroger cash back offers in my account, I found that the grocery offers all tended to expire within two weeks. Adult beverages had the longest expiration dates. For example, I found an offer for Menage a Trois red blend wine with an expiration date three months out.
Related: It might be time to price-check your cellphone plan once you see these Kroger Wireless deals.
5. You can’t stack Kroger cash back offers with coupons for the same item.
One drawback of the Kroger cash back program is that it doesn’t let you stack coupons with the offers. Once you clip a cash back offer for any particular item, it excludes you from applying any other coupons (paper or digital) to that item. And the cash back offers themselves aren’t stackable, so you’re limited to one offer per item.
Another stipulation: If you see a cash back offer that applies to your entire order, you can’t use it on fuel, gift cards, tobacco products, lottery, pharmacy purchases, money services, or fees.
TIP: This is sorta how Walmart Cash rewards works. You have to choose either the reward offer or the coupon — you can’t have both.
6. If you cash out your earnings to your Shopper’s Card, there’s no minimum threshold.
Any time you’re in the Cash Back section of your Kroger account, you can view and cash out your Kroger cash back earnings. But in some cases, it may take up to seven days after you buy a qualifying item before you can cash out those earnings.
Once you tap the “Cash Out” button, you’ll have two options for where to send the earnings:
- PayPal account: Requires a $20 minimum, and has a maximum of $99.99 per day
- Kroger Shopper’s Card: No minimum, and the earnings automatically apply to your future Kroger purchases (in-store, pickup, or delivery)
TIP: You can only cash out your earnings once a day, and they can’t be applied to the purchase of fuel, gift cards, alcohol, pharmacy purchases, tobacco products, lottery, money services, or fees.
7. You can earn and redeem Kroger cash back offers at their whole family of stores.
Outside of just Kroger stores, you can earn and redeem cash back offers at the entire family of grocery stores Kroger owns. But with non-Kroger stores, you may follow slightly different steps to cash out. Here are some of the stores Kroger owns:
- Baker’s
- City Market
- Dillons
- Fred Meyer
- Fry’s
- Gerbes
- Jay C Food Store
- King Soopers
- Metro Market
- Pay-Less Super Markets
- Pick’n Save
- QFC
- Marianos
- Ralphs
- Smith’s Food and Drug
Note: The number and type of cash back offers can vary between shoppers and stores. For example, we found 164 cash-back offers at QFC but only 15 at Marianos.
8. Reach out to Kroger customer service for help with any cash-back issues.
If you’re having issues with the Kroger cash back program while at the register, ask the cashier for assistance. Otherwise, you can contact their customer service team at (800) 576-4377, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET. You can also fill out a comment form online.
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