Did you know that stores WANT & WELCOME you to coupon?

Yes It's true, you read the subject correct lol....although sadly enough...their employees aren't informed or trained on their own coupon policy the majority of the time....businesses/stores WANT you to use coupons in there....so much that they: 1) offer their own 'rewards' program that saves you $ &/or gives you back money for buying things in their store, 2) offer store coupons, 3) put coupons in their wkly sales ads, 4) accept manufacturer coupons, 5) go to the extent of matching their competitors prices &/ OR 6) accept their competitors coupons, just so that you will shop with them instead of with their competitors, 7) do some coupon matchups FOR you in their ad & tell you what the final cost oop will be!
*you can read some of my previous blogs on the rewards programs offered at various stores & important info on their coupon policy if you want to know more

Take a look at this Walgreen's sales ad for this current week (through 4/20), I am just using this as an example to show you what kind of things to look for in a sales ad:

The portion of the ad highlighted in blue are where they did a few of the coupon match ups for you & gave you a final oop (out of pocket) price for you.

The portion in yellow, didn't do a coupon match up, but is letting you know that if you buy this item (before coupons) you will pay (in this case) $3.99 upfront, but you will receive back a $2 register reward.
**Now, throw in a coupon with this one & it makes the deal even sweeter....I believe there is a $1/1 manufacturer coupon on Listerine, so you'd only pay $2.99 oop (plus tax) & get back $2 in register rewards, which technically means you only paid $.99 for this item since they gave you back $2.

I wish I still had all the other sales ads on me for Target, CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart, etc...but they each do something similar to let us know that "hey, we accept coupons here, come buy it from us!" Even though we may get the occasional oblivious cashier &/or mgr (yes it happens from time to time) that knows nothing about their coupon policy & comes across in a way that we (couponers) feel unwelcomed....we have their own policy to back us up & point out that, 'your coupon policy states....' or 'it says here i n your ad that...'....I cannot stress enough how important it is to know the stores policy & even more handy it is to have a printed copy with you (in your binder, purse, accordion file...whatever couponing method that you have chosen) at all times, so if they don't know it or have a copy on hand, you can pull it out & polite have back up of what you are telling them & it's on their own wesbite/letterhead.

Once you get familiar & comfy with how their policy works, things run much smoother. I've heard so many stories of cashiers not wanting to honor something that you know is in the policy & once you can prove that, the transaction went smoothly....alot of times these cashiers aren't thrilled at all to be proven wrong, so they aren't happy that you got your way (the right way per their policy)....it feels good to stand up for yourself & inform/enforce the policy they have in place.

Hope this helped a little. I may try to take a pic of some of the new ads this Sunday so you can see a little variety of the stores ads & what they look like, but I think this will give you a good idea of what to be on the look out for, for now. :)

PS....please just make sure that you are using coupons the correct way, I think this is why we have such a hard time when we shop, is because there are people out there that misuse & abuse the coupons & that is why the stores tend to buckle down & be more strict when it comes to accepting coupons! Let's be the ones that they welcome because we aren't trying to do anything illegal, we just want good deals!

And to those that are new to couponing, the stores aren't losing out on any $ when a coupon is used properly & on the correct product. The amount printed on the coupon is the amount that the manufacturers PAY that store, just because you bought their product there. Matter of fact, sales go up for that store when you coupon & as a couponer, you know we buy multiples of an item/brand/product, so technically, WE are HELPING that store survive by giving them our business. COUPONS=MONEY, literally!

#GotCoupons??