I’ll start. So Michaels has. 40% off coupon on any items not on sale. I needed two items. But…you can only use one per day. Now why is that? I know…it’s to get me to come to the store…again.
But really…I could have gone to a second Michaels store near me…and used my second coupon. Or I could have gone back tomorrow and bought only the one last item I needed.
Why do stores do that?
I mean…BBB you can use a gazzillion coupons each time you are there.
I don’t shop at Michaels very often…and this doesn’t inspire me to want to go there again.
I hate the ones that aren’t good until a later date after issue. I made a purchase at DSW a week ago and received a $20 off coupon. I bought another new pair of shoes over the weekend and discovered that the coupon isn’t valid until later in the month. Grrrr… (still bought the shoes because I need them now)
I do appreciate BBB’s honoring all coupons at once (even expired), but I often wonder how they make money in doing this. (I know certain brands are excluded, but still…)
BBB might be generous in their coupon policies but I also find them expensive overall. So, without a coupon in hand, you wind up paying more than you could elsewhere. IMO, that kind of sucks, too. I don’t like having to deal with coupons all the time to get a decent price. Plus, they are constantly sending me coupon mailers creating trash.
I always assumed the idea was to get you into the store as many times as possible, with the hope you then bought more since you were there … and it’s 4O% off.
I don’t try to keep up with the coupons. If I happen to buy something there, I just ask at the register whether they have any coupons for me to use. Usually they hand me at least a couple to use on the purchase.
I politely refuse to take coupons home with me. I won’t give them my mailing address.
I hate coupons/stores that half the store does not qualify for the coupon. I remember being at JCPenny once (now probably 5 years ago and I don’t know if I’ve stepped in one since…) with a $10 off anything at least $10 in price…
BUT the exceptions were a mile long on the coupon - and so small who could tell if their item qualified or not!
No Levi’s! No famous shoe brands! No somewhat-designer brand items! And on and on and on…
I walked through that store forever trying to find something I needed that qualified - think I walked out with nothing!
When I go to Michaels and I have more than one 40% off and they tell me no that I can only use one coupon I tell them fine go ahead and ring up the one item and I will pay and then will get back on line with the other item. Usually they say ok I will take them both. Yup I am serious when it comes to my coupons :))
You need an accounting degree to shop at Kroger stores some weeks. Multiples of 4, but not the loaded pizza, only the type with 2 toppings. Two of those, three of those. Today I went to the other store that didn’t have the right iced tea, and it turns out the item in the ad was not the one actually on sale. I’m sure they would have honored it, but it just isn’t worth it.
And then there are the happy coupon stories. Lord and Taylor. I swear, you never know how much anything is going to cost you until you get to the checkout.
I recently bought a dress. Original price was $279, which was fine enough. Dress was marked down to $168. Even better. But I needed alterations which were…ready…$24. Then because I was having alterations the dress was being shipped from alterations so I had to pay shipping. And tax.
No problem. So $168 dress, $24 alterations, and some random shipping charge…plus tax.
So, my total $152. Say what?
So i asked…apparently they had “some coupons” or discounts or whatever…they applied and my dress was $106. I have no idea how they arrived at that number. But I politely handed them my credit card.
I got one from Kohl’s recently giving me $9 off because it was my 9th anniversary with them (maybe of my credit card?) but the date the coupon became valid was a week later. Of course I tucked it away somewhere and then forgot to use it until it expired.
My best coupon discovery is that one of the large grocery chains near me accepts any competitior’s coupons. Often a store I don’t like to shop at has $10 off a $50 purchase coupon in their ad. So now I take those coupons to my preferred store, and I save probably about $400 a year.
I’ve left BBB before because I felt like I was stuck in some bad outtake from “extreme couponing”. One cashier, only 2 people ahead of me, but each of them had multiple items for multiple transaction with multiple coupons. I was too tired to stand around and wait for all that. Maybe they need a self checkout.
