Fast food and coffee: the biggest category on the wall

Seventeen brands, more than any other category, and all of them from $5. That is not an accident of what our supplier happens to carry — it is the part of the wall that matches how people actually earn here.

Every brand in the category

• Burgers and chicken — Burger King, Five Guys, Shake Shack, Sonic
• Pizza — Domino's, Papa John's, Pizza Hut
• Mexican and Asian — Taco Bell, Chipotle, Panda Express
• Sandwiches — Subway, Jersey Mike's, Panera Bread
• Coffee and sweet — Dunkin', Krispy Kreme, Baskin Robbins, Cold Stone Creamery

Why $5 goes further here than anywhere else

A five dollar card is a whole coffee and a pastry. It is most of a sandwich. Against a $200 television it is a rounding error, but against a $7 lunch it is most of the bill — and that ratio is the only thing that decides whether a payout feels worth the effort.

It is also the fastest loop on the site. Earn on Tuesday, cash out, spend it Thursday. Categories with higher minimums ask you to save, and saving is where people lose interest.

Where the cards are actually accepted

In store and, for most of these brands, in their own app. That matters more than it sounds: adding the card to the app once means you are not carrying a code around, and app ordering is usually where the chain puts its own discounts.

Which to pick

Pick the one you already go to. It sounds obvious and it is the mistake people make: a Chipotle card is worth nothing if the nearest one is forty minutes away, and a Dunkin' card you use twice a week is effectively a standing discount.

If you are undecided, coffee brands are the safest choice. They are the cheapest per visit, so a $5 card covers more separate occasions than any other card on the wall.

Getting there

500 Rebux is $5.00. Most members reach that inside a week of casual use, and considerably faster if you take one of the app or sign-up offers rather than only doing surveys.