Yesterday I took a small handful of coupons to my local mom/pop-type grocery store to buy a few things. Once inside, I head to the condiment aisle, where A1 Steak Sauce, 10-oz bottles, is priced at $2.99. There was a paper slip-on Use Now coupon on the bottles of A1 Sauce for .55-cents off each bottle. That would bring the price down to $2.44 per bottle. I also had four coupons each good for one FREE bottle of Kraft BBQ Sauce, if I purchase any A1 Steak Sauce. Okay, so I toss four bottles of A1 Sauce into my cart.
Next to the steak sauces were the bbq sauces. I picked up four FREE bottles of Kraft BBQ Sauce (each bottle was regularly priced at .99-cents each). And...on top of each bottle of Kraft BBQ Sauce was a sticky coupon for .25-cents off any Kraft BBQ Sauce (to be used in the future). I also purchased other items as well.
Anyhow, one I got to the cashier, I noticed right away that she was just a young blonde thing in high school and with a major attitude. I handed her my coupons before she began ringing up the items in my cart. She handed them back to me and told me to hang onto them until she was done ringing up all the grocery items. Why? Because she was afraid she would forget the coupons if she held them at the register (OMG!). Okay....
After ringing up all the items in my cart, I gave her the coupons again and she began scanning them into the register. It just so happened that the four coupons for the free BBQ Sauce w/purchase looked just like the four coupons I removed from the A1 Steak Sauce bottles earlier. Of course Blondie didn't notice this (she was bored with being at work). The FREE bbq sauce coupons had to be manually entered into the register...so Blondie punched in .55-cents off the bbq sauce, just as she had done with the steak sauce.
I stopped her and told her that that was wrong; that the bbq should be free...not .55-cents off. Blondie looked blankly at me, not understanding. I explained to her that the coupons were different and she needed to read the writing on the coupons to determine what to do. She told me she wasn't going to worry about re-ringing the items correctly, and said I would get .55-cents of the bbq sauce. I told her "No", that would not work and that the bbq sauce was free. She asked me why bother, since I was getting money off the bbq sauce (AACK!). She couldn't understand that the bbq sauce was free. Idiot girl. She called over a Supervisor, who eventually corrected everything. When Blondie was told to re-ring all the grocery items over again, and input the coupons in the correct manner, she began rolling her eyes, and letting out a big sigh of annoyance. Stupid girl held up the line for 10 minutes, making me look bad and her to look stupid.
I like to have never gotten out of that store. Evidently there is no emphasis on having new hires learn how to ring up coupons and such. These vacant-staring high-school kids are like annoying robots who do the same thing over and over again without expending one brain cell on thinking about what they are doing.
Anyhow...I now step off my soap box. 1|1|That's|zombietoo|littlejadensmom@juno.com|09:30:01|05/13/2010|
.
2|2|Its stories like these that is turning me more and more away from couponing, even though I luv to do it.|jen_ron|bugsmamma@earthlink.net|09:41:27|05/13/2010|
When the last batch of $3 Snuggle q's came out I went to our local Family Dollar store and used just 1 coupon on a box of dryer sheets that were $3. I was told that they couldnt accept the q because after the q was used there would be no value and they just couldnt do that anymore, I asked when did this change since I had recently had problems and had spoken with corporate, she said very recently, made me think its something the store did and not corporate. I havent been back since and let most of my snuggle q's expire cause I just couldnt find the correct size at a decent price anywhere else (like most of them were $5-6 a pc).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comin to you from 36401.
Always ISO NBPR/NWPR/NAPR mail in rebates or winetags.
My feedback link: http://www.refundsweepers.com/dcforum/feedback/288.html
Jen ~ Proud wife of Operation Iraqi Freedom Vet ~ Ron ** Now counting down to Tour #2 (01/07/10)
My Ebay Auctions ~ http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZjenayn 3|1|OMG I have such a time with my coupons..so I totally understand|shellysmsmo|jpksms@sbcglobal.net|10:41:19|05/13/2010|
They look at me...they look at the coupons..they look back at me....look at my stuff.. I find myself looking around like
I've done something wrong. I always make sure I match everything correctly..usually set the coupon on the actual item that
i'm using and then they just take them off and put to the side.. AND then we have to go thru the same scenario again..sometimes,
i like how they just hand some coupons back to me...and say, these didn't work.. then I hand them back..and I"ll say, read and you'll
see this should work...oh..it's never ending trying to save money.. tsk tsk tsk.
4|1|occasionally store policy is no coupon if it makes the item free...|mfrs|mfrs.sv.ca@gmail.com|11:23:32|05/13/2010|
as I found out when I tried to use $1.00/1 coupons on Oikos when the price went down to $1.00. The cashier pointed to a 'no internet coupons sign' which of course didn't apply to SS coupons, then summoned the manager who told me that 'store policy is to only accept on non-sale items because not all are valid and we lose more that way.' (I told him that it's the same dollar amount and the coupons go to CMS; he was not convinced.) If the clerk had just tried to scan the coupons they would have gone through. That branch of Key Food won't be seeing me any time soon. (I also complained to corporate, asking for written clarification, and they haven't written back). Elsewhere in greater Rego Park, NY I find that the Russian-speaking cashiers know all about coupons and when possible choose accordingly. In Sunnyvale, CA (the other place I live, yes, my life is hectic) no one knows anything about coupons and cashiers have to be assisted: 'try scanning it," I say, helpfully. 5|1|Geez!|sunriver|lithiasalt@cheerful.com|11:37:06|05/13/2010|
Not a very bright bulb in that one Cary! Makes you wonder how they manage to count change back correctly and function.
I'm at the point where I expect there may be an issue when I shop, but I am always ready and willing to defend common sense (someone needs to rally for common sense!) About once a week or so I wind up holding up a line.
I think it comes with the territory. I know I have thicker skin than I used to have all because of coupons. 6|2|They dont have to know how to count back change anymore....the register tells them how much to give as change.....but one time I was owed some dollars and 52cents in change (the register said so, lol), and the young guy at the register gave me back 5 dimes and two pennies...now, I could understand if he was running low on quarters, but there was plenty in there, I saw them.....I just dont think he knew that 2 quarters equals 50cents! :O|saint6811|waylan@comcast.net|15:43:03|05/13/2010|
" You'll get what's coming to you ... Unless it was mailed."