couponing becoming harder

[breezy2]

I am getting really frustrated with stores changing the rules and making it harder and harder to coupon.

One after another thing comes down the pike. It just won't be worth all the work if they keep this up.

The most frustrating thing is that they are ignorant of coupon useage. They will get the money from the manufacturer! Why do they act like it is taking money out of their pockets?

[chrissyf3]

I think there are just more and more people doing it and a lot of fraudulent couponing is going on with copying of internet q's, etc.... Also, people wiping out sale items before others have a chance. It is a pain sometimes, but I guess I do understand where they are coming from too. Although, they really do need to train people better and have a clear knowledge of q's across the board.

[heyaheather]

ITA about it getting harder and harder. There are more cashiers that think that just because your OOP is low, means that they are not making any money off of the sale. That is ignorance on their part; but I try to think positively about and think that they just don't realize that they really are getting reimbursed in the end. All the cashiers know is that their hours are dwindling and they still need to pay their bills. They can't help but think that the crazy couponers are the ones to blame. True or not, it's hard to get them to realize in the 2-3 minute exchange you have with them.

I overheard some store managers complaining the other day about some woman who "shockingly" shops at more than one of the same grocery store! They were annoyed by it, because she shopped at their store and then would go to the next town over the following day. And she may even come back on the third day to the original store. Can you believe it?! Granted, they were upset that the stock was low or even zero, but why are they blaming this shopper? If the sale is a good one, don't you think that it's a good thing to sell a lot of product? The managers should have the foresight to know when a sale is going to be awesome. If they don't, then it's their loss. And they get other angry customers, because of "this one woman" aka the lack of foresight by the managers.

I also agree that more people are couponing now, maybe not to an extreme, but couponing nonetheless. Not everyone knows that what they're doing is wrong, but many people are trying to scam the stores with fake coupons. That's why I like HCW so much. It's not just about getting a deal, but getting a deal with honesty and integrity.

[MaryMary]

ITA about it getting harder and harder. There are more cashiers that think that just because your OOP is low, means that they are not making any money off of the sale. That is ignorance on their part; but I try to think positively about and think that they just don't realize that they really are getting reimbursed in the end. All the cashiers know is that their hours are dwindling and they still need to pay their bills. They can't help but think that the crazy couponers are the ones to blame. True or not, it's hard to get them to realize in the 2-3 minute exchange you have with them.

I overheard some store managers complaining the other day about some woman who "shockingly" shops at more than one of the same grocery store! They were annoyed by it, because she shopped at their store and then would go to the next town over the following day. And she may even come back on the third day to the original store. Can you believe it?! Granted, they were upset that the stock was low or even zero, but why are they blaming this shopper? If the sale is a good one, don't you think that it's a good thing to sell a lot of product? The managers should have the foresight to know when a sale is going to be awesome. If they don't, then it's their loss. And they get other angry customers, because of "this one woman" aka the lack of foresight by the managers.

I also agree that more people are couponing now, maybe not to an extreme, but couponing nonetheless. Not everyone knows that what they're doing is wrong, but many people are trying to scam the stores with fake coupons. That's why I like HCW so much. It's not just about getting a deal, but getting a deal with honesty and integrity.

I wonder if these managers would be given a bunch of coupons and sent to competitor store where at the moment sales are better for the coupon items, will they extend their knowledge of couponing to their own store?
I mean for their personal grocery shopping, from their own earnings?

But I need to assure you that a lot of managers do get our shopping ways, but have to follow their corporate directives, cannot control how much stock of the hot items the warehouse sends in, no matter how much they had ordered.

[breezy2]

Yes there are many newbies who are either uninformed or just don't care. My neighbor has taken a few lessons from me. She still pushes it, will do something that I tell her is wrong.... if she gets away with it she figures it's ok. And the other day she said that someone had brought in a bunch of coupons to her work. They were Welchs and she works at a plant that bottles for them. I thought it was going to be great. Nope they were the ones from coupons.com that had been put on a copy machine. I told her that was wrong and threw the ones she brought me away. But how many people from that factory tried to use them?

[pwetypweas]

I've heard all kinds of crazy fraud stories from my local stores - people making fake OYNOs, fake free qs, fake qs period...it's making it SO hard to coupon legitimately in my area because they look at everyone who coupons as someone who commits "fraud" - ESP if my OOP is low :(

[mom2lucas]

I agree that it is getting harder to get deals. I really think a lot of it has do with frauds and cheats. I know my stores are getting really picky over coupons and will comb over them like crazy. I've heard there are a lot of bad deals going down, and some cashiers got in major trouble for taking fake coupons and coupons on the wrong items. The cashiers are not always trained well, and then they get a scary talk in meetings about taking coupons on the wrong item, etc and getting written up or fired. It really causes a lot of making up rules on the spot because they don't remember or understand what they were told. I've had to make more calls to get policies clarified than I care to repeat. It is something different every time.

[jen276here]

Here's my take on it - Cashiers and managers who don't understand the ins and outs of coupons create the most issues about using them. It makes me wonder how/why they are managers if they don't understand how couponing does and doesn't impact their business. Seriously, if you are looking to increase profits, decrease costs, etc. etc., why would you put someone who doesn't fully understand all aspects of the business in a position to make decisions that directly impact your financial position?

[MaryMary]

Here's my take on it - Cashiers and managers who don't understand the ins and outs of coupons create the most issues about using them. It makes me wonder how/why they are managers if they don't understand how couponing does and doesn't impact their business. Seriously, if you are looking to increase profits, decrease costs, etc. etc., why would you put someone who doesn't fully understand all aspects of the business in a position to make decisions that directly impact your financial position?

Most of the ignorant managers still believe that coupons are not an important part of their store's sales figure, therefore not worth spending their busy time studying it..
And implications on this store's future sales if the customer leaving the store unsatisfied? Ha, that's kabbalah to most of them..

But I want to give a credit to smart managers I've met in stores.

[jen276here]

But I want to give a credit to smart managers I've met in stores.

Absolutely!