Frugal Flop: New Market Coupon Policy Print-Out

New Markets are running their triple coupon sale this week.  I just went today and I was in a slight hurry.  Never plan on couponing in a hurry.  I quickly scanned through the store looking for items that would match up with coupons and get a better deal than Aldi's.  I only found a few items that were worth picking up because I believe they might have raised their prices even higher now that it is getting close to the start of "laker season" (lots of vacationers will be arriving to go to their lake homes).

I went through the checkout and noticed that the cashier was manually putting in every single coupon.  There were no "bonus coupons" popping up.  In fact on two occasions it said "bonus coupon suppressed".  I was a bit upset, but I tried to stay calm as I let the cashier know that it did not double or triple my coupons.  She says that "it will only double or triple $0.50 coupons."  That doesn't make sense.  Either it doubles at $0.50 or it triples, not both.  I repeat that I was sure that they double to $1 and triple to $0.50, so she then asks the other cashier who says that my cashier is correct.  Well, at that point I just decided that I just wasn't in the mood to be the "pushy customer", so I paid and left.

Now that I am home and can look through my receipt I can tell that none of my coupons doubled or tripled.  I also looked through my past emails and pulled up the email sent to me by the manager of the Syracuse store which states:

Syracuse Coupon Policy:

•  Valid vendor coupons will double up to $.50, with a maximum value of $1.00. 
• During the specified triple coupon period, valid vendor coupons will triple up to $.50, with a maximum value of $1.50. 
• During the specified triple coupon period, valid vendor coupons with face value between $.51 and $1.00 will double, with a maximum value of $2.00. 
• One additional vendor coupon may be used per item that meets the purchase requirements and has a valid date. These additional coupons will be redeemed at face value. 
• In-store coupons and any vendor coupon that states “Not To Be Doubled” will be redeemed at face value. 
• Vendor coupons for beer, wine, or tobacco products will be redeemed at face value. 
• Catalina coupons may not be used until the next transaction. 
• Catalina coupons will be redeemed for face value only. 
• Catalina coupons may not be used with a vendor coupon or any other checkout coupon for the same item. 
• We will gladly accept internet or computer generated coupons.

Therefore, I have now printed this policy and will carry it with me any time I go to that store.  I lost over $5 from not getting the doubles and triples today, and I am also trying to decide whether to go back and ask for a refund.  I am not sure whether that is worth my time though. 

Moral of the story: Have a printed copy of the store's coupon policy at all times.  It can save you lots of time, $$, and mainly stress from dealing with uncooperative cashiers.

Have you ever had difficulty at the register with double/triple coupons at grocery stores?  Tell us about it in the comments section.

Frugal Flop: $5 off Bennigan's Cards

This afternoon my husband and I had to go to Warsaw for some things, so I decided that we could use these $5 off cards at Bennigan's for lunch (they expire 3/31/2010 and I'm afraid I'll forget about them).  We had received these cards when we bought a gift certificate to the theatre as a gift for some family members. 

We never go to Bennigan's much, but decided that it would be alright if we could use these cards.  We headed in and before we even get our drinks I asked our waitress whether we could use both of the cards, if we split the check (because the gift cards said "One $5 certificate per party, per visit.").  She said we could, so I got really excited.

We ordered off of the $5.99 lunch menu, and I was so excited that we were getting such a deal.  After enjoying the meal, my husband and I were discussing which credit cards to use when the waitress came over and said that her manager just now told her that those cards can not be used on the lunch special.  I asked whether we could use just one, and she insisted that we couldn't use either of them.

I couldn't believe it.  For once I actually remembered to read through all of the small print, unlike last time, and we still couldn't use them.  She offered to let us talk to the manager, but I just didn't want to be "those" people.  However, I still believe that if she told us that we could use them, that we should have been able to use them no matter what. 

Had we known that we couldn't use them on the lunch special, we would have bought regular entrees and still paid less than what we did with a lunch special.  Oh well.  If I feel up to it, I might send Bennigan's an email about it, because for once it wasn't me just being an airhead.  I'll let you know if I hear anything back from them.

Frugal Flops: Not so cheap peas!

I'm writing this post as an encouragement for all of you new-to-coupons people, that even those of us who think we have couponing down pat make mistakes.  Last week at New Market (I guess they have taken Lance's out of their name), I was finishing up my trip and was finishing in the frozen veggie section.  They had a stand in the aisle with all kinds of Bird's Eye Frozen Vegetable coupons.  I looked at that and then the fairly barren freezer and rushed to grab some of the coupons and bags of peas.  I read the coupon and saw $1 off... and got so excited when I looked at the price of the peas, $2 a bag.  That would make them free after doubling!  Oh, I have never been able to get free veggies, only the pro-couponers seem to be able to do that.  So I quickly loaded up my cart with 9 bags of frozen veggies and was so excited I could barely stand it.

I got to the cashier and there were problems with the coupons.  They were only taking off half of what I thought they would.  A line started  building up behind me as we tried to figure out what the problem was, the cashier ended up bringing over someone else to figure it out, who quickly looked at the coupon and saw what I always look for except this time...... It was $1 of two bags of veggies.  I felt so silly; I didn't want the veggies if they were $1 a bag.  That's Aldi's price, nothing special.  However, the scanner was having difficulty taking them off, so I was so embarassed at my mistake that I just said that I would take them (minus one). 

So in conclusion, I have learned to triple check all coupons for the small print, or else you'll end up with eight bags of Aldi priced peas.

***Side note: At Lance's they are running a sale on Freshlike Frozen Veggies now for $1.34 a bag (the on sale veggies were farther down the freezer than the ones that I bought), which after using the $1/2 coupon doubled would make them $.34 a bag, which is a great deal.

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Have you had any frugal flops?  Share them with us.  We'd love to here from you!