Yesterday I spent some time discussing how to identify manufacturers' coupons. Today I want to move onto something a little less clear: store coupons.
Think of store coupons as a sale the store is offering, more or less. The store is giving you the discount. These coupons are most commonly found in weekly and monthly ads, but they can be found elsewhere, as we'll look at today.
Let's start with a simple example. This is taken from a Walgreens ad.
Here are some of the features of this coupon:
1) It has the "W" Walgreens logo and reads "Good at Walgrees" up at the top.
2) It tells us that we can use the one coupon for up to 6 candy bars.
3) There is no fine print other than the sale date.
This is clearly a store coupon, and if you had a Hershey or Reese's manufacturer coupon (say from a Sunday insert) you could use that ON TOP OF this coupon at checkout for deeper discount. (More on stacking coupons tomorrow!)
Note that many store coupons will allow you to buy multiples of an item at that discount or price. This feature is not typical at all of manufacturers coupons, which require a coupon per purchase for proper reimbursement.
Here's another Walgreens' coupon, though slightly trickier to navigate.
At first glance this might appear to be a store coupon – it has the logo and reads "Good at Walgreens" just as the in-ad coupon does above.
But why does it read "Manufacturer coupon good only at Walgreens" on the bottom? I can't tell you that, but I'm fairly certain it is NOT a manufacturer's coupon. Why? First, the barcode (though you can't see it) starts with a "0," and not a "5" or "9" as it typical of manufacturers' coupons. Second, there is no instruction for where the retailer should submit the coupon. Third, when this coupon is scanned at checkout, it deducts the amount PER the number of items purchased as is typical of their store coupons. Store employees also will often scan these directly out of the books (as opposed to ripping them out) – a further indication they are not sent in for reimbursement. Bottom line? They are store coupons and can be stacked with manufacturers' coupons.
Since we're talking about drugstores, let's move onto the master of Tricky Coupons: Rite Aid. Check out this classic example from last week's ad:
This is a fun one. It reads "manufacturer's coupon" at the top. But if you evaluate it as I did the Walgreens coupon above, it's clear it's a store coupon. The barcode starts with an "RC," it's only good at Rite Aid, and there's no instruction for where the retailer should submit the coupon.
If that isn't enough proof, check out the blue circle. It reads that there is a "$3 off manufacturer's coupon available in most Sunday papers!" Sounds like to me that they're giving you the green light on using the store coupon to discount $2, and the Sunday insert coupon to discount $3. (And yes, according to their coupon policy, they most certainly are giving you a green light.)
Using the same logic above, I fully believe the AdPerks Video Values coupons on Rite Aid's website are store coupons and can be used with manufacturer's coupons. (And I've done just that!)
I will talk about one more kind of store coupon to end this post: a DOUBLER coupon, and it's one of my favorites. The one I have to show you comes from an Albertsons' ad. Sometimes these appear in the Sunday paper, other times, as part of their weekly ad. (And you will find these types of coupons at other stores, too. Particularly in regions that don't generally just double coupons anyways.)
These little puppies are STORE coupons that you present at checkout with the manufacturer's coupon of your choice (up to $1). Which manufacturer's coupon should you choose? Well, hopefully one that coincides with a sale! I do my best to provide good matchups during any doubler coupon event so you'll have some ideas without having to thumb aimlessly through Sunday inserts.
So how do these work? Say you have a $1 off coupon for noodles. You head to checkout with your noodles, your $1 off coupon AND a doubler coupon. Your $1 off coupon is now "doubled" by the store and you get $2 off. Think these aren't worth it? Last week, I scored three bags of No Yolks egg noodles for FREE!
Most of the time, you'll find three Albertsons doubler coupons per ad, and the fine prints one set of three per shopping trip. If you wish to use more than three, just ask your store's manager or customer service what they consider to be a "shopping trip."
Incidentally, through 3/21, there are three Albertsons doubler coupons in the weekly ad! Go HERE for ideas on how to use them RIGHT NOW!
Tomorrow I will wrap up this short series talking about how to stack store and manfacturers' coupons for maximum savings!
