Sarah gave me the heads up about a great deal on Mission tortillas going at Safeway this week. Use the in-ad coupon to get them at the $0.99 price. AND, there is a limit of 10 on this item. Then, stack with the $0.75/1 coupon from the 1/10 SmartSource and you've got tortillas for $0.24 each! You can find the ad here.
As most of you know, these "Super Coupons" require a minimum purchase of $10 to use. Sarah found some GREAT clarification on these – right on the Safeway website! Check it out:
"You will reach the minimum purchase amount based upon total purchases before your Club Card discount is applied. This total will include the coupon item's regular price, not the discounted price. For example, the regular retail price of a box of Cheerios (before coupon and before Club Card discounts) will count toward the minimum purchase required in order to use the Cheerios coupon."
Let's break this down. According to the Mission in-ad coupon, the price before discount (but after Club Card) would be $1.99 each. I'm not sure of the price before any discounts, but let's suppose it's $2.50. This policy tells me that I could buy 4 tortillas and qualify to use the coupon, because my total before any discount would be $10. Does that make sense?
Given this my question is: "why have a minimum purchase amount in the first place?" It seems like a way to trick customers into spending more than they need. The idea!
Sarah tells me that she usually has to show cashiers this policy in order to have them process the coupons correctly. So I DO recommend you print this out for your Safeway trips. Thanks for pointing this out, Sarah!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I LOVE that sheet of paper, I’ve never actually had to pull it out for a cashier but I always keep it with me. I did a post recently that highlights and links to all of Safeway’s written policies in case you’re interested. I even found a note on one page that okays the stacking of multiple ecoupons on one item. http://maybefrugal.blogspot.com/2010/01/understanding-safeway-coupon-policy.html
Hi Angela, I just wanted to point out that not stores may honor this (mine is one of them). On Safeway’s webite it also says this:
“We will not accept Printable Coupons for more than 50% of a product’s value. For example, a $2 off coupon will be acceptable for a product that sells for $5 or more, but a $2 off Printable Coupon for a product that sells for $2.25 will not be accepted. If there are exceptions, we are usually provided an advance notice by the applicable manufacturer upon which we will pass the appropriate savings, if any, onto you.”
So, that pre-card value applies to to store coupons only. My store will not accept MF coupons that are over 50% off the value of the selling price. Of course store managers will probably use their own discretion, like Maygan’s does. I may check with another Safeway myself! It’s funny too, because the policy makes it sound like this is a manufacturer policy. Yikes!
By the way, here’s the link to that policy: http://www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/Coupons-Policy
Thanks!
Does anyone get yet why I really don’t like to feature Safeway regularly? LOL! Their coupon policy is by far the most bizarre of the local grocery stores.
The 50% off value thing makes NO sense to me. But the Mission Tortilla coupons I mentioned are not printables – they are insert coupons from the 1/10 SmartSource. Let me know what I’m missing here. Thanks Kim.
I ran into this same issue with the Kmart coupons I tried to use last night to get Pepsi 2-liters at 77 cents and Angel Soft Bath Tissue at $4.49 (and then stack with a $1 off coupon.) I walked through a couple aisles and realized there was nothing else I needed here that I could spend $10 on, so I left with nothing.
Angela, this post saved me $5!!!! I read this and printed out the policy page and stuffed it in my coupon binder because I was just going to buy a bunch of tortillas. After a few other stops, my list actually grew because other stores kept being out of our necessities so I was forced to buy them at Safeway (milk, eggs, etc). The next thing I knew, the cashier had my bill at just over $50 (unheard of!!!). I hadn’t put in my club card or forked over my coupons yet but immediately realized I could use my $5 off $50 coupon from my Entertainment book. I busted it out but the anti-couponing cashier claimed my total wasn’t high enough once I put in my club card. So I told her to just ring me up and I’d deal with it at customer service. I took my printout to the guy at customer service who didn’t want to believe me but had to because of my proof! He looked at my receipt (spent $32, saved $22, not my best work but was buying staples), agreed it was over $50, took my coupon and handed me $5. I left feeling savvy and like I’d won the good fight and got to celebrate that after getting the $5 back, my savings rate for the trip was 50%. I really don’t like shopping at Safeway anymore, they don’t play nice with couponers and my particular store seems to have lots of cashiers who think I’m somehow less of a person because I use them. The joke’s on them, I think they’re silly for throwing away hundreds of dollars in deals when NOT using coupons! Anyway, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!