Day #4: So today is day #4 of my 365 days of blogging and I thought I would focus on my experience at Walmart today. Whenever I talk about coupon policies at stores, it never fails, our class will spend a big chunk of time on the subject of Wal-Mart. Many are frustrated about the differences in the coupon and price matching policy from store to store and today I experienced some of that frustration. But I must say, it ended on a positive note.
Today my daughter and I went to Walmart to price match some of the deals at local grocery stores. I was specifically looking for Nivea lip balm. It's on sale for $1 at Albertson's and I had 6 - buy 2 save $3 coupons! This is a great deal. I buy 2 for $2 and get $1 overage to use towards my other items. The Nivea coupon clearly states that you can use only 4 coupons in one transaction. I was prepared to follow and stay within this limit, as I strongly encourage other couponers to do. In addition to the Nivea items, I was also purchasing 2 free Speedstick deodorants, 2 free packs of gum and some price matched produce and laundry soap. So as you can see, not very much in my grocery cart, but according to my calculations, these strategic purchases would really pay off.
Once we got to the register, I let the cashier know about my price matched items. She would not price match my produce because I didn't have the ad with me, but thankfully the lady behind me had hers. The customers behind me also became nervous, because like me, they hadn't received all of the ads in the mail yet (due to the holiday mail run) and were using lists that they compiled from the internet ads. This is another confusing part of their policy - the commercials make it appear that they price match based on the information we give them with little to no hassle, however at some Walmarts and depending on the cashier, you may be required to show the ad in order to receive the matched price.
Once we got to the Nivea lip balm, the transaction went south. She would not price match those because I didn't have the ad. I asked if they had the ad in the store at one of the checkout lanes, which they normally do and she went to look but came back with last week's ad and told me they just didn't have the current ad and that was the end of that.
I was frustrated and asked to have my order canceled. I placed the items back in my basket and told her I would look for the ad at one of the checkout lanes. My teenage daughter was ready to go and leave these little purchases behind, but it was the principle of it all for me. I just couldn't leave without it resolved.
Three lanes down, there was a cashier with all of the current ads and there it was - a picture of the Nivea lip balm with a big $1 price advertised next to it. I had a total of 8 Nivea lip balms and 4 coupons. So at that point, I thought it was all gravy from there - clearly it was advertised and I was within the limits of my coupon...but it wasn't that smooth of a transaction. The cashier called her manager over before she would price match. The manager said she would only price match to a total of 2 of my coupons. So instead of 8 lip balms and my 4 coupons, I could only buy 4 and use 2 coupons. At this point, the frustration really mounted up, but of course, I had to keep my composure and be polite while getting my point across - that which I did.
I ended up purchasing only 4 Nivea Lip balms and using only 2 coupons as the manager allowed. However, I did talk with the manager for about 30 minutes about the confusion and frustration many of us couponers experience when shopping at Walmart. I expressed my concern about different rules at different stores and different registers for that matter, and I listened as she expressed her concerns and frustrations with different couponers. It was interesting.
Apparently there is much fraud going on and couponers abusing the system, so much so that store managers are using their right to limit couponers on the number of items they can price match and purchase using coupons. Unfortunately shows like Extreme Couponers make it appear as though we can buy hundreds of dollars of groceries for $.01 or so; but in reality there are many coupon rules that are broken in order to accomplish that feat.
I could only hope that Walmarts across the board clear up their coupon policy and create a standard that is applied at every register and every store across the country. This would definitely alleviate all of the confusion and much of the frustration!
I also encourage you to have your ads with you when you go to Walmart because you will probably have issues price matching if you don't.
I also encourage you to stay within the coupon limits. Don't go extreme. 3 or 4 coupons is an acceptable max. Unfortunately a few "extreme" couponers are ruining it for the rest of us. I miss the "old days" when a coupon was accepted and there weren't so many limits and so many managers having to get involved. Unfortunately "shelf clearers" have created a bad name for us couponers and have put the manager's eyes on us.
And another thing, fraudulent coupons are a crime. You can get arrested. So please be sure you are not duplicating coupons or trying to use fraudulent ones. This is also a big crime on the rise, creating obstacles for us trying to do things by the book.
My conversation with the store manager ended on a positive note. We were very supportive of one another and understand each other's frustrations. I'm glad it ended that way. Hopefully she'll be much more understanding when dealing with the next coupon shopper and I, well hopefully I'll experience less frustration while at Walmart. :-)
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