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Cash Back Rating:
2.9 rating
2.9 rating
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2.9 / 5 |
| Rewards Value: | 3.0 |
| Annual Percentage Rate: | 3.0 |
| Rewards Flexibility: | 3.0 |
| Features: | 2.0 |
With the exception of ample cash back at Sam’s Club gas stations, the Sam’s Club Mastercard is best reserved for making gas and dining purchases outside the warehouse club.
All information about the Sam’s Club Mastercard has been collected independently by CreditCards.com and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
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Account opening offer statement credit if you spend in Sam’s Club purchases within 30 days of opening the account |
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Other Notable Features: No foreign transaction fees, special financing deals (beware deferred interest),
A new stress map that reveals the forces acting on the planet’s crust will contribute to safer energy exploration, updated seismic hazard maps and improved knowledge about the Earth.
How do mountains form? What forces are needed to carve out a basin? Why does the Earth tremble and quake?
Earth scientists pursue these fundamental questions to gain a better understanding of our planet’s deep past and present workings. Their discoveries also help us plan for the future by preparing us for earthquakes, determining where to drill for oil and gas, and more. Now, in a new, expanded map of the tectonic stresses acting on North America, Stanford researchers present the most comprehensive view yet of the forces at play beneath the Earth’s surface.
The findings, published in Nature Communications on April 23, have implications for understanding and mitigating problems associated with induced seismicity – human-caused earthquakes – from unconventional oil and gas recovery, especially in Oklahoma, Texas and other areas targeted for energy exploration. But they also pose a whole new set of questions that the researchers hope will stimulate a wide range of modeling studies.
“Understanding the forces in the Earth’s crust is fundamental science,” said study co-author Mark Zoback, the Benjamin M. Page Professor of Geophysics in Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth). “In some cases, it has immediate application, in others, it may be applied decades later to practical questions that do not exist today.”
The new research provides the first quantitative synthesis of faulting across the entire continent, as well as hundreds of measurements of compressive stress directions – the direction from which the greatest pressure occurs in the Earth’s crust. The map was produced by compiling new and previously published measurements from boreholes as well as inferences about kinds or “styles” of faults based on earthquakes that have occurred in the past.
The three possible styles of faulting include extensional, or normal faulting, in which the crust extends horizontally; strike-slip faulting, in which the Earth slides past itself, like in the San Andreas fault; and reverse, or thrust, faulting in which the Earth moves over itself. Each one causes very different shaking from a hazard point of view.
“In our hazards maps right now, in most places, we don’t have direct evidence of what kind of earthquake mechanisms could occur,” said Jack Baker, a professor of civil and environmental engineering who was not involved with the study. “It’s exciting that we have switched from this blind assumption of anything is possible to having some location-specific inferences about what types of earthquakes we might expect.”
In addition to presenting a continent-level view of the processes governing the North American plate, the data – which incorporates nearly 2,000 stress orientations, 300 of which are new to this study – offer regional clues about the behavior of the subsurface.
“If you know an orientation of any fault and the state of stress nearby, you know how likely it is to fail and whether you should be concerned about it in both naturally-triggered and industry-triggered earthquake scenarios,” said lead author Jens-Erik Lund Snee, PhD ’20, now a postdoctoral fellow with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Lakewood, Colorado. “We’ve detailed a few places where previously published geodynamic models agree very well with the new data, and others where the models don’t agree well at all.”
In the Eastern U.S., for example, the style of faulting revealed by the study is exactly the opposite of what would be expected as the surface slowly “rebounds” following the melting of the ice sheets that covered most of Canada and the northern U.S. some 20,000 years ago, according to Lund Snee. The discovery that the rebound stresses are much less than those already stored in the crust from plate tectonics will advance scientists’ understanding of the earthquake potential in that area.
In the Western U.S., the researchers were surprised to see changes in stress types and orientations over short distances, with major rotations occurring over only tens of miles – a feature that current models of Earth dynamics do not reveal.
“It’s just much clearer now how stress can systematically vary on the scale of a sedimentary basin in some areas,” Zoback said. “We see things we’ve never seen before that require geologic explanation. This will teach us new things about how the Earth works.”
Zoback is also a senior fellow at the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy, co-director of the Stanford Center for Induced and Triggered Seismicity (SCITS) and director of the Stanford Natural Gas Initiative. Baker is also an affiliate at the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy.
The study was supported by SCITS, an industrial affiliates program that studies scientific and operational issues associated with triggered and induced earthquakes.
Danielle T. Tucker
School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences
, 650-497-9541
Mark Zoback
School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences
, (650) 725-9295
Jens-Erik Lund Snee
School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences
, (720) 289-8972
The Guardian: Discusses research by Jeremy Goldbogen, associate professor of Oceans, and his colleagues finding that whales are the largest consumers of plastic waste on the planet.
The realities of subsistence living in a region of Senegal hard hit by schistosomiasis make reinfection likely, despite mass drug administration. Stanford researchers find that engaging communities in the design of disease control programs could help.
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The Sam’s Club Mastercard, issued by Synchrony Bank, should be at the top of your list if you’re a frequent Sam’s Club shopper or you’re someone who commutes to work. This card offers an exemplary rewards rate on gas and dining, and it even doubles as your membership card for ultimate convenience.
However, there are several earning caps to be aware of that limit this card’s overall value. Plus, you’ll only earn a great rate on Sam’s Club purchases if you’re a Sam’s Club Plus member.
Read on to learn how the Sam’s Club Mastercard doles out rewards, where its weaknesses are and who it’s best for.
The Sam’s Club Mastercard comes with some very rewarding bonus categories that can apply to almost anyone. For example, cardholders earn 5% back on up to ,000 in gas purchases each year (then 1% back) anywhere Mastercard is accepted. If someone is able to max out this benefit with 0 in gas purchases each month, they would earn 0 in cash back in this category alone every year.
All cardholders also earn 3% back on dining purchases, including takeout.
Cardholders who are also Sam’s Club Plus Members earn 5% back total on Sam’s Club purchases (3% for paying with the card and another 2% as a Plus member), including items bought at SamsClub.com. If you’re a regular Sam’s Club member, however, you’ll only earn 1% back on Sam’s Club purchases and other items you buy. Considering this card is a co-branded card with Sam’s Club, the 1% earning rate on Sam’s Club purchases for regular members is definitely subpar.
Also note that some restrictions apply. In addition to the earning cap on gas purchases, the fine print for the Sam’s Club Mastercard also says your cash back rewards are capped at ,000 per year. That’s a huge threshold to meet, but it’s still worth noting if you spend a lot of money and have a high cash back potential as a result.
Let’s say you buy gas and groceries at Sam’s Club, and that you spend around what the average family spends. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average family spent approximately ,094 on gasoline per year at last count. Meanwhile, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that the average family of four on a moderate budget spends up to ,128.20 per month on groceries.
With these levels of spending, you would earn this much in rewards on gas and Sam’s Club purchases as a Sam’s Club Plus member:
If you’re a regular member, you would earn this much in rewards:
The Sam’s Club Mastercard comes with even more stipulations within its rewards program. For starters, you get your rewards from the prior year in February of each year, and your rewards are automatically added to your Sam’s Club account. From there, you can only redeem them for purchases or cash back at Sam’s Club locations.
While your rewards won’t expire as long as you’re a member and you use them before their expiration date, you won’t be able to redeem your rewards if you give up your Sam’s Club membership for any reason – for example, if you move and don’t even live near Sam’s Club anymore.
The fine print for this card goes on to say that, if your Sam’s Club membership ceases, “the rewards may not be redeemed until such membership is reactivated.”
How do rewards expiration dates work? Sam’s Club is pretty cryptic about this on their website.
Specifically, they say that “your unredeemed cash back rewards will expire as of the date listed on the reward notification you will receive when the cash back rewards are issued to your Sam’s Club membership. Any unredeemed cash back rewards will be forfeited upon the expiration date if unused.”
When you sign up for the Sam’s Club Mastercard, you get the chance to earn a statement credit of when you open an account and make a Sam’s Club purchase of within 30 days. We likely do not have to tell you that this “sign-up bonus” is pretty unimpressive and that most rewards cards offer much better bonus offers.
If you really want to earn a big bonus within the first few months of account opening, we suggest checking out our guide to the best credit card sign-up bonuses.
The Sam’s Club Mastercard doesn’t charge an annual fee, which is not that surprising. However, one benefit of this card is the fact that it doesn’t charge any foreign transaction fees.
Cardholders who carry a balance will pay a variable APR of 15.65% to 23.65% depending on their creditworthiness. Other fees to be aware of include a 4% balance transfer fee (minimum ), a 3% cash advance fee (minimum ) and a late fee of up to .
The Sam’s Club Mastercard is pretty light on perks, which is pretty normal considering it’s a credit card for groceries and gas at heart. With that being said, there are some benefits you may actually care about:
While the Sam’s Club Mastercard is co-branded with this bulk retail store, you can use any cash back credit card to shop here. To help you decide whether the Sam’s Club Mastercard is for you, we decided to compare it to other rewards credit cards for gas and groceries.
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As you compare these cards, it’s easy to see how the Chase Freedom Unlimited® stands out. There is a broader range of bonus categories including dining and drugstores, and all of your regular purchases will earn a flat 1.5% back. This card also offers a sign-up bonus, and there’s no annual fee to boot.
In addition to offering a breadth of insurance and travel protections, the Chase Freedom Unlimited also lets you redeem your rewards for cash back, statement credits, merchandise, gift cards and even travel.
If you don’t have a big box membership yet and you may give Costco a try, you should also check out the Costco Anywhere Visa. This card also offers an excellent cash back rate on gas and EV charging purchases, but you’ll probably notice that it gives you 2% back on Costco and Costco.com purchases, compared to the 1% back Sam’s Club regular members get with their co-branded card.
On the other hand, the Costco Anywhere Visa also comes with similar restrictions on their rewards. You only get your rewards once per year, and they are only good at Costco.
If you really want a flat-rate rewards card with fixed bonus categories and no earning caps, check out the Wells Fargo Active Cash Card. Not only do you get the chance to earn a 0 cash rewards bonus when you spend 0 in purchases within three months of account opening, but you earn a flat 2% cash rewards on purchases.
This card doesn’t charge an annual fee, and you get cellphone protection coverage when you pay your phone bill with your credit card.
Since the Sam’s Club Mastercard offers cash back rewards with no annual fee, it’s hard to complain too much about it. Then again, there are rewards caps and limits with this card, and you can only redeem your rewards for cash back or merchandise by visiting Sam’s Club.
That makes the Sam’s Club Mastercard pretty inconvenient when you compare it to other cards with flexible rewards and fewer limitations. While the Sam’s Club Mastercard could be the best fit for your needs, we suggest comparing it to other cash back credit cards that offer bonus rewards on groceries, gas or both.
All reviews are prepared by CreditCards.com staff. Opinions expressed therein are solely those of the reviewer and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, presented in the review is accurate as of the date of the review. Check the data at the top of this page and the bank’s website for the most current information.
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