The way I understand the way these deals work is that if it is a Catalina, they work off shelf prices, if the product rings up that way. It doesn't vary by store because the programming is done one time for the whole chain. But sometimes only the product sales price is what comes up (the GM/Coke/Unilver deal a couple of weeks ago had Skippy peanut butter at a knock down price and it was only ringing up at the sale price, no mention of regular price, so it onlly counted a that sale price.)
There can be other problems with this type of deal: The store can be off line (just happened to me at Acme a few weeks ago), the Catalina machine can be not working (look for a steady green light, not a blinking one - and I just had different one at an A&P that was out of paper) and some items can be not programmed correctly (For this week's deal at ShopRite, the YoCrunch yogurt is not programmed in. For the GM/Coke/Unilever deal at Acme, not all types of Hellman's mayonaise were programmed in ). I think sometimes people run into one of these problems without realizing it, and think that means that "their store" doesn't work on shelf prices.
The fix for the store being off line, and machine not working is to call Catalina. If the item isn't programmed, Catalina refers it back to the store (happened to me once - missed a Kraft deal because I bought an item pictured but it wasn't on their list).
Here's the information on how to contact Catalina. (This is from a post on another board (HCW) by irishsaver):
Q: My Catalina didn't print. What do I do ?
A1: The store will give you a form to fill out and mail in to catalina
A2: 1-888-8coupon, option 3
A3: use the online form: Contact | Catalina Marketing
I have called twice, and used the on line form twice. It takes a long time to get a replacement coupon but it did come the first time for me. The last one is too recent to have gotten a response, I will see what happens.
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