Not really, but it felt like it.
When it comes to Safeway, I'm totally confident in my couponing. I know all the ins and outs of their coupon policy {ok, probably not. But I know enough for my own shopping purposes.}. Take me to Walgreens... yeeeeah. I'm kinda lost. I'm learning, I'm learning, but I bet they wish I would learn faster. Some things I learned yesterday from my disastrous shopping trip:
Walgreens does NOT let you use more than one coupon per type of item, per transaction {unlike Safeway that allows you 3 per transaction}. Meaning, you can't buy two bottles of body wash and use a coupon on each bottle. They will only accept one coupon {gay}.
If there is a buy one get one 1/2 off, you HAVE to actually pay for the first one, you can't use a coupon to get it free, even if you HAVE one that states you can get it for free. They will just give you the 1/2 off one for free. That one is probably common sense, but I was bummed. :O)
If you get a register reward for buying a certain item, you CAN turn around and use it on the same item in your next transaction. BUT if you do that, the computer won't print out another register reward. Even if you have multiple items in your transaction and "technically" use the register reward on something else, if that same item is in the second purchase it won't print it again {again, gay}.
And lastly, if after going home and cooling off about how you got totally ripped off at Walgreens {and deciding that all stores that start with "Wal" must be evil}, you go back and decide to return everything and just get your money back - they won't give you back your coupons. BUT, if you have Stephanie {for our Walgreens} help you, they will give you back the full retail value of the items you purchased since they can't give you the coupons back. So for me that meant that I returned some items that I was shocked to realize I had paid $65 for, and got back $92. Not too bad for a royal screw-up I thought.
Ok. What did I learn yesterday? A: I need to re-think my Walgreens shopping trips and put a little more planning into them so they don't hate me and ban me from the store. B: I love Safeway. And C: I don't need to use coupons just because they are going to expire THAT day.
For kicks and giggles, here are my stats for month one of couponing. I'm sitting at a total savings of $455.26, giving me a 45% savings rate, and have spent an average of $122 a week which {sadly enough} is actually already a savings compared to normal {that includes food, household goods, and extras}. I have about a 3 month supply of cereal and snacks and at least a 6 month supply of deodorant, toothpaste and soap. I'm learning to avoid impulse buys, and to really ponder my views on shopping. This has been a great learning experience so far, and I'm really excited to continue and make it a permanent part of my shopping routine.
6 comments:
Hey Tiffany. Sorry you had a bad experience at Walgreens. Whoever told you you can't buy multiples and use a coupon for each was WRONG. You CAN buy 2 tubes of toothpaste and use 2 coupons (one for each). I think the only time you may run into trouble is if one coupon was a $1/2 and one was a $1/1 and you tried to use those 2 different types on 2 items. Walgreens has a coupon policy here: http://www.walgreens.com/topic/help/generalhelp/coupon_policy_main.jsp?_requestid=37856
This part especially: When purchasing multiple items, Walgreens accepts multiple identical coupons for multiple qualifying items as long as there is sufficient stock to satisfy other customers, unless a limit is specified. Management reserves the right to limit the quantity of items purchased.
DITTO to Megan's comment. I don't know anything about Safeway, but I'm a Walgreens addict!! Especially when one of the ladies at the cosmetic counter checks me out. They are awesome! Maybe you should come with me sometime to Walgreens, and I'll go with you to Safeway and we can teach each other all of the tricks!
That's what I thought I remembered you saying, Megan! I was so surprised when they handed back my coupons {AFTER the purchase had gone through on my debit} and said the register wouldn't take them. I had two $1/1 coupons for the Olay body wash and had two of the body washes. I made sure that I had more items than I did coupons and they STILL didn't take them. When I pointed out that Safeway takes 3 coupons per type of item per transaction, the lady just said "they're a big store, that's why they can accept more coupons than we can." Hmmm... I'm glad I wasn't being coupon stupid! I KNEW I hadn't messed THAT part up! :O)
That's such a bummer, Tiffany! I'm sorry one of the cashiers made you doubt your coupon knowledge. You WERE right! Next time, whip out their coupon policy and shove it in their faces! hehe
Oh, and I never, ever run my debit card until I've watched them scan all my coupons. ;) Then they can't charge me until I made sure all my coupons went through.
I always have problems with one Walgreens cashier. She knows nothing about coupons, so whenever the register beeps, she can't tell me why it beeped. I'm usually telling HER why it beeped and then asking politely for her to get a manager to over-ride the beep (like if a coupon's value is higher than the price of the item, or something like that). Were you paying with a register reward? If you had already giver her the register reward, but forgot to get a filler item, that would have made it beep too. Not sure what happened, just trying to throw out senarios.
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