a rebate voucher. Customers who use the MasterCard version of Rewards earn double points at Fred Meyer (2 points per dollar spent), and single points everywhere else where MasterCard is accepted (1 point per dollar spent). In 2011, the company switched from MasterCard to Visa, which uses the same points format as the MasterCard program. In addition to reward points, Visa rewards cardholders receive 15 cents off fuel per 100 fuel points. In August 2020, Fred Meyer revised the program to match other Kroger divisions. The card is now required to purchase items in the store at sale prices. Plastic bag ban In July 2010, Fred Meyer announced that effective August 1, it would no longer offer plastic bags at any of its 10 Portland stores, due to their negative environmental impacts. Until the City of Portland banned the use of plastic bags in grocery and certain big box stores in October 2011, Fred Meyer was the largest retail chain in the Portland metropolitan area to adopt such a policy. A spokesperson indicated that an increasing number of the chain's customers have been choosing to use reusable bags, noting that Fred Meyer's own sales of such bags at its check stands had increased 30 percent from 2008 to 2009. During the COVID-19 pandemic, baggers were still able to bag with paper bags, but customers with reusable bags were advised they would have to bag on their own. Gun and ammunition policy In March 2018, Fred Meyer announced it would cease the sale of all firearms and ammunition to people under the age of 21, as a response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Later that month, it was announced that the ban would be extended to sales of firearms in general. Additionally, the company will stop selling magazines that feature "assault rifles," although the company did not specify how it would screen publications. References External links Fred Meyer Stores Companies based in Portland, Oregon Retail companies established in 1922 Economy of the Northwestern United States Hypermarkets of the United States Kohlberg Kravis Roberts companies Kroger Supermarkets of the United States 1931 establishments in Oregon 1981 mergers and acquisitions 1998 mergers and acquisitions Culture of the Pacific Northwest