Friday, April 22, 2011

Rules of the Road

Probably the most confusing thing about using coupons are all the rules involved. Every store has their own policy in place and changes can occur anytime. Walgreens, Target and Dollar General are all pretty generous. They allow stacking (using more than 1 coupon per item). While Dillons and Walmart have much stricter policies, making it advantageous to pay close attention to the way you use your coupons there. On the other hand, Dillons does double up to a total of $1 off on manufacturer coupons. So, you can see how this can quickly become confusing! If you are not a big coupon user, the digital coupons are great! Very little work involved, and you don't have to worry about misplacing or forgetting the coupon. If, however, you are trying to save as much as possible, you will need to pay very close attention to what is loaded on your card. I will use an example with Kleenex tissues at Dillons, they had a digital 25 cent coupon and I have a 50 cent manufacturer coupon.
I go to Dillons to buy Kleenex. I bring my 50 cent coupon to use. Dillons doubles manufacturers coupons, so I am anticipating a $1 savings. Yay me! When I get to the register and hand over my coupon, it is not accepted. Why? Because according to Dillons Policy, digital coupons have priority at checkout. And, to make matters worse, they do not double digital coupons. So instead of saving $1 on my tissues, I saved 25 cents. Bummer.
Now you can get around this by taking the digital 25 cent coupon off your card, but I find it easier to only load my card right before I go to the store and only with the coupons I intend to use on that trip.
So, with all this in mind, I have added a page dedicated to different store policies. If you are really interested in saving with coupons you absolutely need to read these.
Have a great day! ~Marla

1 comment:

  1. Whoa... that's much more complicated than I thought. I'm impressed with your planning!

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