Catalinas 101, 102, & 103

[heyaheather]

Catalinas 101: Who & What

Q: Who/What is a Catalina?
A: It’s the name of the company that makes the machine and helps run the Catalina promotions. It is also a coupon (or advertisement) that prints out at the register from the little machine next to the cash register. Sometimes it is just like any other coupon, but other times it can be for money off your next order, without most restrictions (depending on state law).

Q: What do I do if I have a problem and the store won’t fix it?
A: You can contact the Catalina company at (888) 322-3814.The reps @ Catalina can only see what you actually spent at the store, not what the shelf price was. So if you were hoping to get your cats this way, you may not get any further than you would at the store. If the promotion was for buying a certain # of products and nothing printed, then that would be easier for a rep to see on their end. You should have your store card and receipt nearby before you start dialing.

Q: What kind of questions can I ask the Catalina company?
A: When a big Catalina promotion is running, you can find out what products are included in the deal and what the start and end dates are. It doesn’t hurt to ask questions. You can also have them check a specific transaction to see if you qualified for a promotion, even if the cats didn’t print.

Q: What is a Catalina promotion?
A: There are at least two types of Catalina promotions.

1. One is a Buy $x of certain products, Get $y back on your next order (OYNO). This type of promotion is normally based on shelf prices.
2. The second is Buy x# of products, get $y back OYNO. This type of promotion has a few variations. It could be a straight shot, like buy 5 or more apple bars, get $4 OYNO. Or it could be a step promo, where the more you buy, the more you would get back OYNO. For example: Buy 3 snack attacks, get $1 OYNO; Buy 4, get $2 OYNO; Buy 5 or more, get $4 OYNO.

Q: Can I use coupons with a Catalina deal?
A: Yes! If your store allows you to use both a store coupon and a manufacturer’s coupon together, then you could use both with a Catalina deal for an even better deal.

Q: If I use coupons to do a Catalina deal, with I still get the cats?
A: Yes! The coupons that you use are a form of tender, just like cash or a debit card. The have no impact on the price threshold needed, and they don’t change the number of products you bought.

Q: What does it mean to double dip?
A: Sometimes there will be two Catalina promotions running at the same time, and a product (or products) may qualify for both. In that case, you could end up with more OYNO cats than expected! A recent example of this was Dove Shampoo. One cat was for buying a certain amount of Unilever products, and the second was for buying a certain amount of General Mills products. Unilever is a part of General Mills.

Q: What does it mean to roll a Catalina?
A: Rolling a Catalina is using the actual Catalina(s) from your first transaction and using it on your second transaction. If there are no restrictions prohibiting this, then you should be able to do this without affecting the outcome of your second transaction. Previously, there was a P&G promotion, where the OYNO cats printed out with wording that specifically stated that they could not be used in conjunction with a similar offer. In this promo, you could not roll your cats.

Q: Are some Catalina deals better than others?
A: Yes! But that is also largely dependant upon who the shopper is. A deal is not worth much if you can’t use the product. Sometimes you can get an awesome deal, even without using coupons. Other times, you may have to spend a bit more, but it would be worth it for products that you use.

[heyaheather]

Catalinas 102: When, Where, Why, and How!

Q: When are Catalina deals valid?
A: Each Catalina deal is different. If you get an advertisement print out from the Catalina machine promoting a future deal, make sure to either save it to help you remember, or post it in the Official Catalina thread for everyone to benefit. If you need to know more than what was printed out, give Catalina a call and get more details.

Q: Are all of the Catalina deals valid at every location?
A: As far as I know they are chain-wide deals. You can check other chains under the same parent company also, although it is not 100% that the same deal is going on or that the same products are included in a similar deal.

Q: Why didn’t my Catalina print?
A: This is a common question!

1. Most likely, an item was not programmed into the system the right way. You can still get your Catalina(s) at the customer service desk, as long as your store understands how the promotions work (based on shelf prices).
2. Another reason could be that the Catalina machine is offline or not working. If a customer ahead of you had Catalinas handed to them, but you didn’t get any when you were expecting to; you know that the machine is on. The problem is something else.
3. Make sure that you bought the correct products and fulfilled the requirements of the promotion. Did all of the shelf prices ring up correctly, and is the total above the minimum threshold? Did you by the right number of products?

Q: How do I do a Catalina deal?
A: The simple answer is: Find out the shelf price of the items included in the deal, figure out what coupons are available, pick out what you want to buy, make sure it adds up to at least the minimum threshold, and then go to the store with your list and coupons.

Q: Can I do more than one Catalina deal in the same transaction? (Buy $x, Get $y OYNO)
A: Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I would try a deal once the way it is advertised, and then I would try to double up the deal in a second transaction. It’s nice to know that if what you bought the first time actually worked or not. If you don’t know that, then doubling up on your first transaction won’t give you just one reason to consider for failure. Also, doing it the way I suggested above gives you proof to CS that the deal actually does work based on shelf prices.

Q: Can I do more than one Catalina deal in the same transaction? (Buy x#, Get $y OYNO)
A: Most of the time the answer is no, especially when the terms state that it is buy 5 or more products to get the OYNO cat. That is a clear signal that it won’t double. If the terms state “buy 4 cereals get free milk,” then this deal will sometimes double, or even triple or quadruple. It is best to try to double it once, before you try to triple or quadruple the deal.

[heyaheather]

Catalinas 103: Working it! And Helpful Hints.

Q: Matching Catalina deals with coupons AND rebates
A: Sometimes a Catalina deal coincides with a MIR (mail-in rebate). When that happens, it can be a money maker for you. A recent example of this is the Kellogg’s Fuel for School rebate, where you have to buy 10 items to get $10 back. At the same time, the grocery store is doing a Catalina deal, where if you buy $25 off product, you get $10 OYNO.

1. Let’s say that the 10 items cost you ($26 shelf) $17 sale price: you’ve met the minimum threshold for the cat deal and the minimum # item requirement for the MIR.
2. In addition, you can use up to 10 manufacturer’s coupons to bring the OOP down. If the coupon value was $1/1, your actual OOP would be $7, with a $10 OYNO printing @ the register and $10 coming back after submitting the MIR.
3. The total cost to you would be -$13 for 10 products. A $13 money maker is pretty darn good!

Q: Using the overage from one deal towards a deal that doubles
A: One of the best ways to get more out of your hard Catalina work is to use the overage you get from doing one deal towards a second and/or third deal. Say you start checking the Catalina deal out by doing one deal in one transaction. You know that the deal will double (meaning that if you have to “spend” $20 for the deal to get $10, you can “spend” $40 to get $20). If with the coupons that you use towards the deal brings you below what you’d get in OYNO cats, then doing two deals together can help you save more of those OYNO cats later on. In this example, I assume that the catalinas print out as (2) $5 OYNO catalinas, like they have been doing recently.

1. For example, you buy 10 soups @ $10 sale ($20 shelf) – (3) $1/3 MQ = $7 OOP, Get back (2) $5 OYNO.
2. Double the deal to buy 20 soups @ $20 – (6) $1/3 MQ = $14 OOP - $10 OYNO from previous order = $4 OOP, Get back (4) $5 OYNO (or $20 OYNO).
3. Double the deal a second time and buy 20 soups @ $20 – (6) $1/3 MQ = $14 OOP (add in a $1 filler item [maybe a reusable bag or some produce] - $15 OYNO from previous order = $0 OOP, Get back $20 OYNO. You still have one of the $5 cats left over from last time, so this is where you start making some money on the deal.
4. Start out with $25 OYNO. Continue to double the same deal as above, or find another product that does not give you as much overage. The catalinas that you saved by buying so many soups will help keep you OOP down now.

Q: Combining the 2 deals above: Using overage from a Catalina deal along with a coupon, and submitting a rebate!
A: Once you figure out that you’ll be getting overage on a Catalina deal, you may want to use the overage to help pay for a rebate item that you also have a coupon for.

1. Let’s pretend that a Catalina deal doesn’t double, and you can only get one $10 OYNO cat wyb $25 worth of products. That’s a large cat, and you can’t break it down if you need to pay a couple more dollars for your order. You’ll either pay the $2 or you’ll figure out how to get that money back!
2. If you have a try-me-free rebate for an item, it doesn’t matter if it’s on sale or not. They only thing you want to consider is possible tax, because the less you pay means a lesser amount of tax you also pay. Having a coupon to go along with the TMF item means that you’ll pay that much less for the item, but you’ll get the full amount back from the company.
3. Now, for the Buy $25, Get $10 OYNO Catalina deal, try to figure out a scenario that gives you overage, meaning you’ll pay less than $10 to get the $10 back. Let’s say the scenario you figured out makes you pay $8.20 OOP, get back $10. Your TMF item is normally $3.50, but you have a $1 coupon. Add your scenario ($8.20) to your TMF item ($2.50 after coupon) = $10.70. If you have a $10 catalina already, you can pay with that and then another $.70. Submit your rebate and get back $2.50. All in all, you’ll end up paying $.70 + $.44 for postage - $2.50 = -$1.36. A $1.36 money maker is not the biggest money maker, but just think about all the groceries that you were just paid to take out of the store.

[couponpsycho]

Thanks for the explanation Ladies !!
Is there a website that lists the Catalina deals for the week/month etc ??

[heyaheather]

You'd have to go into each grocery store forum here and see what's going on that week. So week's you may have more than others. Sometimes you will have a weekly catalina deal that double dips with a month long catalina deal, which is the case for Shaw's this week. It all depends on the store.

[tmsmalley]

Bump