Coupons and Policies - Important Stuff

When we lived in Hawaii I thought I was completely cut off from “deals”. Sure the Safeway had some good sales and I sought them out and the Wal Mart and Longs (which is now CVS – which is awesome for coupons and deals) had sales too, but I was still paying $10 for 2 gallons of milk and over a buck for a small container of yogurt – and those were sale prices so I never really felt like I was saving anything.

I am learning (and hopefully sharing) things that “if I had known when I lived in Hawaii…” I would have been a much better shopper – and I hope my friends still living in Hawaii (and paying the “paradise tax”) and elsewhere can learn and save too.

The Plain Dealer is usually flush with coupons and ads – there were three in this past Sunday’s paper. The direct mail Red Plum ads during the week here have multiple deals in them. The Sunday Advertiser rarely had coupons at all and our weekly mailings had very limited coupons – sometimes only for a couple of items. I used to have my Mom send me inserts from the papers in Cleveland because, generally speaking, a manufacturer coupon is good nationwide – unless it specifically excludes your state.

I wish I had been a lot more savvy in the Internet Coupon world back then…but knowing when, where, and how to use internet coupons seems to be very important.

Knowing the stores coupon policy is becoming key in my efforts to save money. I am currently amassing the written coupon policies of the stores where I currently shop and intend to coupon. Many seem to be available online and I’m finding a lot of stores have their policy posted at their customer service desk.

Some of what I am learning: NO ONE seems to take internet coupons that say FREE – most out there are apparently not legit so they are not taking them. Some stores will only take coupons up to a certain value of the item such as K-Mart who will not take coupons that exceed 75% of the item cost, or Giant Eagle who will not take internet coupons over $3 in value. On the positive side some stores have paperless electronic coupons that you just "load" the value of onto your store rewards coupon and the register will automatically take the coupon value off your purchase (gotta love that). These are all good things to know ahead of time.

Here’s some help:

CVS does not have their coupons policy printed on their website but they will provide one to you on request. Longs is now CVS – this is good new s on the coupon front! Lots of good store coupons at their site though - and you can stack store coupons and manufacturer coupons at CVS!

Walgreens does not have a particular coupon policy that I can find other than to accept manufacturers coupons as stated on the coupon / and they will take “stacked” coupons.

Rite Aid’s policy is not on their website either but again you can get a copy at the store or write to their corporate offices for one.

K Mart seems to not have a well defined coupon policy and what I’ve learned from thekrazycouponlady.com on the subject tells me I’m better off at Wal Mart of Target unless I really need to go to K-Mart (which of course is the only store in walking distance of my house).

Kroger does not have their coupon policy at their website but they do offer ‘digital coupons’ there that you can ‘load’ onto your Kroger card that will be automatically deducted when you buy that item at the store. Nifty! http://www.softcoin.com/Sites/Kroger_ECoupons/Page/HomePage/Retailer/Kroger

Giant Eagle: http://www.gianteagle.com/saving/coupon-redemption-policy

Target: http://www.target.com/b/ref=br_bx_4/180-0311849-4571964?ie=UTF8&node=2223357011

WalMart: http://walmartstores.com/7655.aspx

Marc’s: http://www.marcs.com/coupon.cfm

Safeway: http://www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/Coupons-Policy

Acme Fresh Market: http://www.acmestores.com/internet-coupon-policy.html

More on “stacking” coupons to come – I’m going to do that today or tomorrow on a shopping trip!

If the snow lets up…