Standing My Ground

Free Shopping ain't always easy, but I learned to stand my ground last night.

I started off the evening at CVS. That trip was actually pretty fine. Other than me being a doofus and misplacing a crucial coupon. I sat out in the car until I located it. Naturally, it wasn't raining when I parked. By the time I found the coupon, it was pouring. So I'll take responsibility for that one.

Rite Aid and Walgreens, not so much.

I headed to a new (to me) Rite Aid since I'm just starting to learn their system to finish purchasing enough Proctor and Gamble items to earn a $35 gift card. I had the perfect scenario planned out.

4 Nyquil - 15.96
2 Puffs - 4.98
Total - 20.94

Minus
$5 off $20
$8 Nyquil mq
$4.98 Puff mq
$2 Wellness Q

= $.96 oop.

Get back the Nyquil $1 SCR and the $20 purchase puts me over the top for the $35 P&G rebate.


Then the State of California had to go and screw up this perfect shopping trip. It would seem that in the War on Drugs, they have limited the quantities of over the counter medication a customer can buy at one time. In this case, the limit was 3 small bottles of Nyquil.

Okay, I understand that some folks are out there making what have you with the ingredients found in cold medicine. However, my coupon stated that I needed buy 2 of them to get my Puffs for free. And darn it! I want my Puffs!!

Now that I'm an inch from panicking because not only does it screw the Puffs deal, I didn't want to burn a $2 coupon on a 3rd Nyquil if I'd need it later to get my Puffs, so I had them take off the 3rd Nyquil completely which left me with a new problem. My total was now $9. It needed to be $20 before I could use the $5 off $20 coupon.

So back into the store I went. I had $11 dollars to fill with items that I had other coupons for so I could keep my out of pocket low. Since I've changed my organization method a bit, it meant that most of my current coupons were in the car and it was still pretty rainy out.

Deals were pretty hard to spot. Mostly because there weren't many. Even the clearance makeup, my old standby, was gone. I had coupons for Hefty bags, but the didn't even sell Hefty. What is that about? I thought about getting some Tide, but my coupons were in the car.

Then I remembered that I still had my $3 off 2 Pantene coupons with me that I hadn't used yet. Granted, I have tons of shampoo already, but I will eventually use it. And it was part of the P&G deal, so I went for it. Four more bottles brought my total up enough to use the $5 off $20.

After all was said and done, the replacement transaction only cost me 2 pennies more than the original so overall that was fine. It also pushed me over the top for my $35 gift card. I was a happy camper.

For two seconds.

Currently, Rite Aid has a sweepstakes going called the Game of Life. You earn game pieces with every purchase. Unless you are purchasing certain items. Then you get bonus game pieces.

After that final transaction, the cashier only handed me 1 game piece when I was supposed to get 5. She pointed to the receipt that indicated only 1 piece had been earned. I pointed to the ad that clearly indicated bonus pieces would be earned for the shampoo and that I had 4 bottles.

We stood there and went round and round about it until another manager came over. I showed him the ad and he agreed with me. And she still wouldn't give me the pieces. He explained it to her then went to check out another customer. Finally she understood that she was supposed to give me more, but not how many. He held up four fingers and she handed them over.

A totally simple shopping trip went completely awry. And the evening was not yet finished.


After Rite Aid, I went to Walgreens to do the Pepsi deal one more time. The 12 packs were on sale 5 for $15 and the 2 liters were 4 for $5. When you buy $20, you get $10 back in register rewards. Pretty good deal. Especially when combined with diabetic meters that were free after a manufacturer coupon and giving a $5 overage when stacked with a store coupon.

Even though it sounds complicated, it was a pretty simple transaction. Unfortunately, this store didn't have the meters on the floor. They were in the pharmacy. So that's where I checked out.

Neither pharmacist realized that the manufacturer coupon needed to be adjusted from $10 to $9.99 because that was the sales price of the meter. The store coupon came off fine. So did the other register rewards. The problem came at the end.

After I paid, the register reward didn't print. The pharmacist who'd helped me was already walking off. I stopped him and told him the problem. He gave me this look and said, "just for that?" Uh. Yeah. There's no reason for me to shop here otherwise. He tried to tell me the standard lie that it didn't print because I'd used register rewards to pay for the purchase.

Except, I didn't use the RR I'd gotten from the Pepsi deal when I'd done it on Sunday. That would have stopped a second from printing. He called the manager over. He tried to tell me the same thing. I pointed out the other RR that I'd gotten from doing the deal in the exact same way and he tried to ring it up again. Nothing printed.

Still, I wasn't leaving without my RR. That was the whole purpose of the trip. The manager switched to another register and rerang the transaction without the meter and the coupons. The reward printed fine. I wanted him to do everything so they could see that the coupons didn't effect the printing.

The paper actually came out a little bit from the first machine. It was just blank. Then they had to change the paper. Seriously? And you guys still think it was because of the coupons?

The manager just handed over the RR that finally printed and I left. I still have the feeling that my out of pocket was too high. I'm going to try to let it go, though. After all, I'm going to be selling all this stuff to earn money for my trip to Sweden this summer. Time to move forward with the plans and quit looking back.

"Do You Need That Many Mustards?"

Since I've been learning how to shop for free, I've been having a blast. The last two days, however, I've hit a couple of snags. Yesterday, Target refused to adjust a coupon amount down to the purchase price of seven items I wanted to buy - per their own corporate policy - so I ended up only buying one of the nine total items I'd planned to purchase for a grand total of $.95. Then today, I get into an annoying discussion with the cashier at Pavilions when I tried to purchase 4 bottles of French's mustard.

Perhaps it's because the Pavilions thing happened on the tail end the Target fiasco that it has really stuck in my head. Here's the background:

Safeway (Vons, Pavilions, etc.) has a double coupon policy where they will double coupons up to $1. Not as good as it has been in the past, but that's still something. I ran into an issue at Ralphs where they only double one like coupon per transaction and I wanted to know if Pavilions had the same policy.

Instead of a simple 'yes' or 'no,' the cashier asks, "Do you need that many mustards?"

Huh? Really? Why is the number of mustards I wish to purchase your business? I don't have much of a poker face so I'm sure my expression immediately conveyed my annoyance and the woman got super nice. Turns out the answer to my original question is, 'yes.' They will only double one like coupon per transaction.

I'd been prepared for that answer and had already separated everything out on the conveyor belt into transaction groups so things went pretty smoothly from there, but I still can't get this woman's initial reaction out of my head.

Given the state of our economy, it always amazes me when people turn down money. Not that I'm in a position to do any major economic stimulation by myself right now, but every little bit helps. Under that theory, it's really bad business for stores to turn away sales like this.

Yesterday, Target had the opportunity to earn an additional $7.56 from me. Instead, they only got $.87. Granted, my out of pocket expense after coupons would've been less than $.50, but Target would've gotten the value of the coupon plus $.08 additional per coupon used from the manufacturer. Instead, they settled for $.87. If this is the corporate business model, it's no wonder sales are down.

Today, Pavilions got everything I'd planned to spend and more because the mustard hadn't been on my original list. I happened to walk down that aisle and see the bottles on sale at 2 for $3 making them $1.50 each. I had about six $.50 off coupons when doubled would make the mustard $.50 each. Of course I'm going to stock up at that price. It's silly not to. That's if you can consider four bottles stocking up.

So, yes. I do need that many mustards. Given that the purpose of a grocery store is to make money by selling products to customers, don't you think it's a pretty bad idea to try to talk those customers out of buying the products that cause the stores to make money?

Granted, $2 is not a very large drop in Pavilions profit bucket, but it is a drop. If you are trying to talk me out of a sale, you can bet there are cashiers all over the country trying to talk other customers out of a sale. It doesn't take very long for that same $2 to snowball into hundreds of thousands of dollars in missed sales.

Before long, the store will cut costs by cutting jobs if they don't have to go out of business altogether. And then where will you be?

What's really sad is that we, as average Americans, don't seem to get that we're all connected. This applies equally to both the cashier who negatively impacts the bottom line by talking customers out of sales then wonders why when they get caught in a massive layoff and the CEO who cuts jobs at the company only to wonder why no one is buying his goods anymore.

So to answer the woman's question, "Yes. I do need that many mustards. You need me to need that many mustards. The people we've annoyed in the line behind me with this stupid conversation need me to need that many mustards."

Decoding a Couponer's Language

Learn the language of the couponers to find the best deals.

Chances are you've seen her on Oprah. Or you read about her amazing stockpiles in the local paper. Perhaps you've even heard her interviewed on the radio. You know who I mean. That savvy lady who can walk into a CVS, Kroger, Meijers Target or Walgreens and come out with hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise after only paying a few cents out of pocket.

She is a serious couponer. She's constantly on the lookout for great deals and broadcasts them even if she can't use them herself. She's also eager to teach couponing to anyone who is willing to learn. To take advantage of her tutelage, all you have to do is understand her. To do that you must learn her language. Here's a guide to get you started.

I Love Getting Free Toilet Paper From Ralphs!

Once in while your coupons and store sales will perfectly align and you'll end up with some really useful products for free or for mere pennies. This is exactly what happened for me (and anyone else in the Los Angeles area) this past week.

Ralphs offered 4 roll packages of Angel Soft toilet paper for $.99 each. The sale caught my attention because I remembered seeing $.50 off coupons for Angel Soft toilet paper in my coupon binder. This was perfect because Ralphs doubles coupons up to a dollar. I was all set to go to Ralphs on Friday after work and get my free toilet paper.

Unfortunately, I saw upon closer inspection that the coupon was for a 6 pack and higher of Angel Soft. Bummer. I went to Ralphs anyway because I had a coupons for free Ben & Jerry's and Vitamin Water and the 12 grain loaves of bread I like were on sale for $.99. Even though I couldn't get my toilet paper, I was still able to get the ice cream, water and bread for a grand total of $1.03.

The next day, I was trolling my coupon sites and found that the insert preview had finally been posted. Guess what was coming out in the Sunday insert? You got it! $.50 off Angel Soft 4 roll packs.

I bought four papers and a teammate gave me her inserts. Off to Ralphs I went. I learned the last time on the Cottonelle deal that Ralphs only doubles one like coupon per transaction. I got five packs of the Angel Soft and did five separate transactions. Each one cost a nickle in tax. I got 20 rolls of toilet paper for a quarter. How cool is that?

There's still time. If you have this coupon, you can hurry in to Ralphs today and get your Angel Soft toilet paper for a nickle, too. If they're out, don't worry. Get a rain check. The coupon doesn't expire until June 21st.

Happy Shopping!

A Tutorial for Free Shopping at Walgreens

In the last post, I showed the results of my rolling register rewards at Walgreens. Here is a step by step tutorial to help you get the most of out of your Walgreens experience: How To Roll Register Rewards at Walgreens.

Happy Shopping!

Shopping for Free is FUN!!

I have this new pastime... Okay... obsession. It's called shopping for free and I love it!

Who knew using coupons and store rewards programs could actually get you more merchandise than you can shake a stick at for a tiny amount out of pocket?

Here's what I did yesterday at Walgreens:

(12) Colgate Cavity Protection Toothpaste [$.99 each, $11.88 total]

(8) Colgate Toothbrushes [$3.29 each, $26.32 total]

(6) Skintimate Shaving Creme [$2.99 each, $17.94 total]

(4) Scunci Ponytail Holders [$2.00 each, $8.00 total]

(2) Packets of Baretts [$.40 each, $.80 total]

My total OOP was $15.20!!! (Our tax rate is closing in on 10%)

It would've been lower, but a couple of my Register Rewards didn't print. Still, I think I did pretty darn good!

Walgreens isn't the only place that allows you to shop for free. Here's an article to help you learn how to get the most out of your CVS experience:

How To Shop for Free at CVS

Happy Shopping!