Office Depot and Staples May No Longer Be Earning 5% with Amex SimplyCash – Data Points Needed

A few reports are trickling in about Office Depot/Max no longer earning 5% with the Amex SimplyCash card.

A friend reports that Staples is no longer earning 5% either for the past few months.

All data points we’ve heard thus far are for gift card purchases so it might have to do with Level 3 Data rather than a coding change for these stores. If it is a store coding change, it might vary by store location.

Please contribute your own data points in the comments. Just be aware that rewards on Amex cards come with a statement delay, i.e. if you make a purchase on March 10th and your statement closes on the 20th, rewards for the March 10th purchase won’t show until April 20th.

Update: These reports seems to be anomalous – it’s still working for most without an issue.

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63 Comments
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MSer
MSer (@guest_694005)
December 20, 2018 06:36

None of my OM/OD 5% has posted for VGC purchases for the last few months. Just noticed merchant category as Merchandise and Supplies – Wholesale stores and I’m only getting 1%. Staples is still listed as Office Supply and all purchases there still earn 5% CB.

OFFICEMAX
View Details on Merchant Website
Additional Information: 12300502737800463
8004633768
VISA,KEVLAR,$20-200
INCOMM FEES 1
Reference: 32018328056920
Category: Merchandise & Supplies – Wholesale Stores

GW
GW (@guest_634956)
August 27, 2018 16:18

VGC purchase for June got 1% and starting in August all VGC orders using SCP have been cancelled.

Lily
Lily (@guest_635786)
August 28, 2018 07:53
  GW

What does SCP stand for? Thanks

Vic
Vic (@guest_591096)
May 6, 2018 16:51

OD OM deal started again today. I’ll give it a shot and report back in a month or so.

Vic
Vic (@guest_615261)
July 10, 2018 14:49

 Chuck
Finally, results in!

From 5/4/18 – 6/3/18, I spent $8755.67 in Office Max and Staples and a few dollars in other categories.
On 7/5/18 I received cash back of -$437.93 for that statement.

There doesn’t seem to be any problem.

shipitkthx83
shipitkthx83 (@guest_585290)
April 23, 2018 12:04

SCP+ is paying 5% on my OD purchases in April, latest being 4/14. (The VGC promo)

If only someone could have predicted that this was nonsense…..oh wait…I did

Peter
Peter (@guest_583058)
April 17, 2018 19:06

My statement just closed and I got 5% from my VGCs that were purchased in April.

MickeyMouse
MickeyMouse (@guest_582896)
April 17, 2018 12:34

4 out of 5 purchases coded as Office Supplies for March the 5th coded as “Business Services”. All were for VGC’s

Nick
Nick (@guest_581514)
April 13, 2018 23:41

Ok my statement posted 5% cashback for my transaction from Sunday at Officemax. I did throw in a $2 marker my wife wanted. Doubt that made a difference. I bought gift cards from Allstate the first of April’ and it didn’t post any rewards so I assume that was a waste of MS. Guess I will run in to OM tomorrow for another couple VGC.

Nick
Nick (@guest_583459)
April 18, 2018 17:23

Both of mine coded as 5%. Second purchase with biz VGC was only item purchased and coded without problem. Would have had three but showed up without my biz card and used delta skymiles.

Dan
Dan (@guest_580872)
April 12, 2018 15:22

MS and organic spend both don’t show any category bonus in the beta preview feature. It’s only been 3 days or so…. I think there is a delay for all transaction.

MickeyMouse
MickeyMouse (@guest_587702)
April 29, 2018 01:40

Usually you can see it in the app under the Membership Section YTD

Trifectaguy
Trifectaguy (@guest_579770)
April 9, 2018 23:07

Any idea if the rat team has hit gift card purchases at grocery stores using blue cash preferred? I bought a $500 amazon and will report back on the results but the suspense is killing me!

William Charles
Admin
William Charles(@will)
April 10, 2018 00:18

Haven’t seen anything

Ted
Ted (@guest_579393)
April 9, 2018 11:37

Maybe a delay in posting? Everything up to April 2nd says 5% reward. I have 2 posted charges April 4th that don’t say anything.

TomJ
TomJ (@guest_579470)
April 9, 2018 13:42

My last charge at Staples for a VGC was April 2 and it is showing the 5%. I went to OM today and bought VGC’s and they are currently pending.