OUTDATED INO & BAD LINKS ~ Jewel Osco’s FAQ’s & Discussion Thread

[Lady Margaret]

I'm trying to teach someone how to shop at Jewel. As I've never set foot in one, this is a bit tricky.

Can someone tell me, can you use coupons to lower your OOP for a CAT deal? Say I've reached the $25 (I've read up on how to caculate that), can I use coupons thereafter to lower the OOP?

Thanks! Also, if anyone reads this and happens to shop the store in Dekalb, IL - please PM me, I'd love to pick your brain!

[TheCouponDealPost]

Hi there! It seems this Forum gets left behind a little and I saw your message - yes, you can use Manufacturer (and/or store coupons) to lower your OOP on Cat deals. You want to get to the required CAT amount before Preferred Card and before any coupons. (Your best bet is to go to the self-checkout, (hold off on scanning your Preferred Card), scan all of your products, be sure you are over the required amount BEFORE tax (for instance on a "spend $25, get $5 OYNO" sale, be sure you're over $25 BEFORE your Preferred Card and BEFORE tax), then scan your preferred card (the Preferred Savings will then be deducted), have the Customer Service associate scan your coupons, pay, and get your Cat back.

Below is a summary of Jewel Shopping I have on my website (thecoupondealpost.com)- (I'm in no means any kind of expert at this, it's just what I've found in my experience - I hope it's helpful to you)

Jewel:

1. Jewel’s sales run weekly from Thursday to Wednesday.
2. Jewel does not accept expired coupons.
3. Check the Jewel ad every week for sales and Catalina deals.
4. Go to MyAvenu regularly to load any special offers onto your Jewel card.
5. If Jewel is running a Buy One Get One Free sale and you have a manufacturer coupon for the same item that also states Buy One Get One Free, you can use that coupon with the sale to receive BOTH items for free. Jewel views their B1G1F sale as a “store” coupon so using the manufacturer’s B1G1F coupon is stacking the store and manufacturer coupon.
6. If Jewel is running a Buy One Get One Free sale and you have two manufacturer’s coupons for the same item, you may use both coupons on the two items. For instance, if Jewel is running a B1G1F sale on Dawn detergent and you have two (2) .50 coupons for Dawn, you would purchase two detergents, and hand the cashier both .50 coupons. Therefore, you are paying for one, minus the .50 coupon, and applying another .50 coupon to the free item. Again Jewel views the B1G1F sale as a “store” coupon so you are essentially stacking the store coupon with the manufacturer coupon. However, the value of the coupons cannot exceed the value of the item. So, if the Dawn were on sale for $.99 with a B1G1F sale, you could not use two .50 coupons since that would equal $1.00, exceeding the price of the item.
7. Catalina deals such as Spend $30/get $5 OYNO work differently at Jewel than at other stores. Usually a sale such as this requires the SALE price to reach the $30.00 amount, rather than the PREFERRED PRICE. If you look at your Jewel ad when they advertise this type of sale, you will see items that are listed as Preferred Price 2/$5.00, and below that it may say “Sale Price” or “Without Preferred Card” 2/$7.50. You would use the 2/$7.50 sale price to bring your total to $30. There are no guarantees that this will work every time for you and it can be a bit of a gamble. However, I have found in my experience that it works this way most of the time. I have run into problems when Jewel will change the price to a “Bonus Buy” price. In those cases, the deal almost never works. I definitely encourage you to try working your deals this way, but be prepared if it does not work. Most times you can return the items to Customer Service if it doesn’t work, but some Jewel employees will not be sympathetic when they see that you did not reach the $30 requirement based on your Preferred Pricing. Remember that Catalina coupons are MANUFACTURER coupons, not store coupons, so the store is not required to do anything for you in this situation. Follow some of the deals done by other people first until you are comfortable with how this works. These deals DO NOT work on Osco items. See below for a more detailed description of how Catalinas work at Jewel.
8. I have read in numerous places that Catalina deals at Jewel almost always "roll." This means that you can purchase your participating items, get your Catalina and then purchase more participating items, pay for it with the Catalina from the first transaction and still receive another Catalina.
9. Jewel accepts Walgreen’s Register Rewards (RR) as payment on purchases.

Catalina Sales at Jewel:

First, these sales are nothing new and have been around for years. More and more people are becoming aware of them and the manufacturers are offering great coupons to go along with these sales. The more people that use coupons, the more manufacturers will offer great coupons.
There was a great deal on General Mills products at Jewel not too long ago. Catalinas are the coupons that print out at the end of your transaction at Jewel. Catalina sales work differently at Jewel than at any other store. The current GM sale is spend $25 in participating products and receive $10 on your next shopping order (OYNO). The $25 amount is calculated before Preferred Card pricing, and before manufacturer coupons (regardless of what the ad says).
The best way to double-check the sale price of an item is to find the price scanner at Jewel (they are located somewhere in the store, ask someone if you don’t know where it is) and scan the item. There will be a “Shelf” price which is what the price of the item is priced on the shelf, a “Sale” price which is what you would pay without a Preferred Card and a “Preferred” price which is what you pay when you scan your Preferred Card. Use the “Sale” price amount to get to the required Catalina amount ($25 in the case of the GM CAT). Always double-check your items because the pricing can vary from store to store and sometimes it seems to me even day to day! The Sale/Preferred pricing does not work on Osco items, only Jewel prices. For Osco items, use the Preferred price to get to the required total.
You can purchase your products, receive your $10 CAT to be used OYNO and then purchase more products, pay with the $10 CAT and receive another $10 CAT (this is called “rolling”). This allows you to stretch your grocery budget greatly. If you purchase $50 in products in one transaction, you will only receive one $10 CAT. However, if you split your transactions up into two separate $25 transactions, you will receive two $10 Catalinas. I urge you to use the self-checkout but do not swipe your Preferred Card first. Instead, ring up all of your items, be sure you are over the $25 amount AFTER TAX, and then swipe your Preferred Card. The Preferred Card discounts will then be deducted. You will pay whatever the Preferred Price is and still receive your CAT.
A note on “Bonus Buy” items…if you see an item included in a Catalina sale that is marked with a “Bonus Buy” price, you must use that amount to get to your total. Do not go by the Sale or Preferred Price on those items, use the Bonus Buy price.
If you’re lucky, you will shop at a Jewel where the employees are aware of how these sales work. (Two Jewel stores that I shop at regularly with some fantastic and help. Some employees at other Jewel stores believe that the CAT dollar amount is calculated after Preferred Pricing and after coupon pricing. This is not the case. Think of your Preferred Card as a “store” coupon and the Catalina as a “manufacturer” coupon. You can almost always use a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon on the same item. This is why this sale works this way.
If your CAT doesn’t print for some reason you need to figure out what went wrong. You can go to the Customer Service desk and ask them to help you figure it out or return all of your items and try again. Please be nice to the store employees! It is not their fault if something doesn’t work out. Sometimes a CAT won’t print because the paper is jammed or the machine is not working properly or you didn’t reach the required dollar amount AFTER TAX. You must have $25 in product alone. One penny can mess this total up for you. You have to be sure you are well over $25 AFTER TAX. If your total is $25.19 and you have .24 in taxes, your CAT will not print. Again, the best way to be sure you are over the $25 is to scan your participating items first at the self-checkout, be sure you are over $25 AFTER TAX, then scan your Preferred Card so you get your Preferred pricing.
The information in this post applies to the buy a certain dollar amount, get a certain dollar amount OYNO. Jewel also runs buy a certain number of products, get a certain dollar amount OYNO. In those cases, you must buy the number of items specified.

Good luck!