Spending max reimbursement

I have been doing a lot of reimbursement shops and I'm wondering what the normal amount to spend on these shops is? Is it rude to spend the max reimbursement of $10 if the minimum you have to spend is $4? If they also pay a fee, should you spend as little as possible? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

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You are entirely free to spend up to or even above the maximum reimbursement. There will be no negative repercussions as long as you abide by other guidelines and do NOT expect to be reimbursed more than the maximum, of course.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Since a very real part of the value of a shop is the purchase reimbursement, I generally try to spend as close to that amount as possible. A $6 fee with a $10 reimbursement can indeed be worth $16 to you if you can use what you spend that $10 on. If a shop specifies that I am to purchase 1 item and there is a maximum reimbursement amount, I think whether the place is likely to have something I need or can use that will take close to or slightly more than the full purchase amount.

To me personally, an inside purchase at a gas station is wholly irrelevant because I would not normally buy snacks or drinks there. So if a shop offers me $8 fee + $3 at the pump + $3 inside purchase, the shop is only worth $11 to me. For you it may be a different situation. A shopper friend used to use her inside purchases to get chips and treats for her kids' bag lunches for school.
Flash, you could buy a roll of toilet paper, bottle of STP for the car, or a couple of cans of tuna - convenience stores sell them. I did a shop for a "Big" discounter yesterday and they offered a max $5 reimbursement. Just so happens I was out of paper towels and their house brand of paper towels, was 6 big rolls for $5. Perfect!
Yes, and when I first came back into shopping I used my reimbursements to buy some decent maps of the area because MapQuest and a Rand McNally maps were the only ones available on the internet and they were far from accurate. Now, of course, we have a variety of websites for mapping as well as GPS in a lot of different forms.

Of course there are other things you could purchase. In terms of grocery type items, they are cheaper at the grocery where I can do shops and use coupons. Automotive items can be bought on competitor shops at Walmart or at Big Lots when they have their weekends with 20% off everything in the store. We used to even have auto parts shops, though I haven't seen those in a while.

I have been known to schedule gas stations or grocery shops for Sunday mornings to purchase a few copies of the Sunday paper for the coupon inserts. There are always lots of ways to skin a cat and it comes down to efficiency in making the most of your reimbursements.
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