[GAsaver]

Maybe this is kind of a vent or whatever, but I wanted to share this with everyone. My very favorite Publix, which has always liberally accepted competitor coupons, has had a policy change.

Obviously, as has been posted before, the competitor coupon policy is a YMMV (hope that's the right term...). My Publix has generously accepted competitor coupons, including Rite Aid, CVS, etc. I had a $5 off $25 Rite Aid Q that I was not allowed to use today. I had the cashier (who really could have handled it better...) call an asst. mgr over, who told me the cashier was correct. I went ahead and checked out and stopped at the customer service desk to clarify the policy completely, so that I did not get publicly humiliated again (I swear, that is how I felt...)

I ended up speaking with the store manager at the service desk, who told me that my store will now only accept "traditional" competitor coupons -- grocery stores that are nearby. They will no longer be accepting competitor Qs from Rite Aid, CVS, big box retailers, etc. I specifically asked him if they would accept food/household coupons from stores such as Walgreen's, and was told no.

He was very polite, and really explained the rationale behind his decision to me. He said the store was losing so much money from a small handful of shoppers who were really abusing the system, the store, and my store's generosity (my term, not his) insofar as competitor coupon policy. He went on to tell me that that had a few customers who would break their order up into multiple parts, use multiple $5 off $25 coupons on the front end of each part of their order (prior to presenting MQs), over and over again, and would end up buying a total of $300 groceries for $5. He said there were a couple of individuals (who would sometimes come in and buy a cartful of one item (presenting huge stacks of coupons -- guess working ebay or clipping services on deals like the Kraft dressing deal (meaning the $1.50 off 1 MQ, with the BOGO, made it a small MM), and who would then divide that order into $25 increments, getting cash back on each transaction. Those same people bragged to employees there that they get the food free (or make money) from Publix by using all the competitor coupons and then turn around and sell it to make more money.

This really burns me up!! I hope I don't ruffle anyone's feathers by saying this -- stockpiling for personal use, to donate products to charity or to those less fortunate, etc. is a great thing. But to stockpile to "beat" the system in order to make money reselling product have the end result of hurting those of us who are good, honest people trying to stretch our money. The end result are new policies, such as adopted by my store. I am in an area where Publix and Kroger double coupons, and I'd venture to say that if abuses continue, we can kiss that goodbye too. I would also imagine that store coupons will become non-existent as well.

I don't know what the solution is -- those that abuse will continue to do so...

[Linzep]

I am sorry that happened to you. Is it the watkinsville publix? I used my rite aid q on atl hwy this morning.
Lindsay

[morgzack]

My Publix has never taken the local drug store Qs, but one of my local stores has started doing something that is maddening because of coupon abuse. When a customer goes to check out, she is asked if she has coupons before the cashier starts to check out the order. Of course, I had a lot of coupons! The cashier spread all my coupons out and each time she scans a product, she goes through all my coupons to see if I have a q for that item. Needless to say, this took FOREVER! They were doing it at all the registers. I understand that their are people out there that find ways to cheat with coupons, and it makes me sick that the rest of us have to be inconvienced because of those people. I love going to Publix, but if I were in a hurry or had both kids with me, I wouldn't dream of standing there that long to check out.

[crackedwillow]

Don't assume its abuse. Publix is a business, period... The $5/$20s, come directly out of their pocket...

[crackedwillow]

Originally Posted by morgzack

My Publix has never taken the local drug store Qs, but one of my local stores has started doing something that is maddening because of coupon abuse. When a customer goes to check out, she is asked if she has coupons before the cashier starts to check out the order. Of course, I had a lot of coupons! The cashier spread all my coupons out and each time she scans a product, she goes through all my coupons to see if I have a q for that item. Needless to say, this took FOREVER! They were doing it at all the registers. I understand that their are people out there that find ways to cheat with coupons, and it makes me sick that the rest of us have to be inconvienced because of those people. I love going to Publix, but if I were in a hurry or had both kids with me, I wouldn't dream of standing there that long to check out.

I do this...

Say, I have 10 Birdseye, 5 Chex Mix, and 5 Tropicana.

I put up 10 Birdseye, then give the cashier the 10 coupons after she scans them. I put up the 5 Chex Mix, and so on and so forth. I don't like the feeling, nor the looks of people behind me, as cashiers/*** managers riffle through my bags. It helped tons!

[GAsaver]

Originally Posted by Linzep

I am sorry that happened to you. Is it the watkinsville publix? I used my rite aid q on atl hwy this morning.
Lindsay

Yes, it was the Watkinsville Publix. I'd had a cashier at the Atlanta Hwy Publix to tell me that she couldn't take a Publix Q and a mfr Q on the same item. I politely insisted it was allowed, and she reluctantly accepted both, but I haven't been back with an mq/store q transaction. Sounds like I need to change stores!

[knw2860]

In my opinion I think Publix is making the right decision. They have to do what they have to do as a company in order to see a profit. I know that may not be popular with some of you and for that I am sorry. I think it is great of them to take competitors coupons to begin with so for them to make the decision to stop taking some of them is hard for some people to swallow. I understand your frustration but I hope you are not mad at Publix for this decision. In my experiences with coupons they have always been the one store I could count on for not making me feel like a criminal just for using coupons. I have had great experiences everytime I go and never had a problem. I am sorry you had to go through that today.

[BreaMarie]

I don't think it's wrong for people to resell things that they get good deals on (though I wouldn't do that personally, it sounds like a huge hassle, LOL), but how dumb to brag about it to the cashiers!!! Duh. You'd think they'd want to fly under the radar a bit if they were going to continue doing it.

It does irritate me that they called it 'abuse'. Unless they had a policy that people could only get X amount of an item, or X amount of transactions, these people were following the rules. (Though it would also bug me to see someone with a bazillion of something in their cart and nothing left on the shelf...but I don't think they're "officially" wrong, LOL)

[GAsaver]

Originally Posted by knw2860

In my opinion I think Publix is making the right decision. They have to do what they have to do as a company in order to see a profit. I know that may not be popular with some of you and for that I am sorry. I think it is great of them to take competitors coupons to begin with so for them to make the decision to stop taking some of them is hard for some people to swallow. I understand your frustration but I hope you are not mad at Publix for this decision. In my experiences with coupons they have always been the one store I could count on for not making me feel like a criminal just for using coupons. I have had great experiences everytime I go and never had a problem. I am sorry you had to go through that today.

Yes, we have our own business, and I certainly understand the "business decision" part of it, and simply cannot be mad at them in making a business decision. What is upsetting to me is the way the rude cashier handled it, and that my favorite cashier told me it was accepted, and even the customer svc. mgr. accepted competitor Qs earlier this week, when the policy change was supposedly 3 weeks go... It is just frustrating, and I was upset and embarassed that the cashier made me feel like a criminal doing something that was accepted, and even encouraged by another cashier 3 days ago...

[crackedwillow]

I've never been given a consistent policy nor answer on competitor's coupons at Publix. I just ask each time, and wait for the answer. Its like playing the slots, but with better odds... About 50/50.

Oh, and to the OP, I'm also an Atlanta-area shopper, and have been experiencing tension at Publix as well lately. It is not the customers fault, that they don't have smart registers. They loose the most $$, from people with LARGE carts, who just hand them coupons randomly, and not simply heavy couponers.... Publix, despite some people's claims, is in fact more expensive than many Krogers here, and $/$s, and using store/manuf, coupons together are a way for them to be competitive. Perhaps the gap between them has closed, maybe they were loosing too much $$$, or perhaps they've given up on trying to win new prescriptions from drug stores..who knows... The Publix pharmacy, seems empty much of the time...

As far as the competitor's coupons, that directly, comes out of their pocket... The $/$s, are nice, but they add up.... The lack of consistency from stores can be annoying, but it is to be expected in retail.

I don't believe though, that Walgreens RRs, etc, should be seen as competitor's coupons. They are Manuf's, and there are ways they can possibly be reimbursed.

When deals, or offers change, I don't blame "abuse", "horrible troll shoppers", cashiers or SM, I just keep it moving. Policies, and offers change for a variety of reasons.....

[2littleladyb's]

"He went on to tell me that that had a few customers who would break their order up into multiple parts, use multiple $5 off $25 coupons on the front end of each part of their order (prior to presenting MQs), over and over again, and would end up buying a total of $300 groceries for $5."

at the stores i shop at it does not matter how you present your coupons as long as you reach your 25.00 or 50.00 limit before any coupons. i myself will break down anywhere from 3 or more orders it depends on what is on sale. i always work my deals out before i leave the house down to the penny . my goal is always to pay less than 3.00 per order and i usually stay under it. my groups gaol is to never pay more than 20.00 in a shopping trip.
one of the managers motto is "i don't care what form of legal tender you use to pay for your items you can use 300.00 in coupons and 2 quarters i do not care". he also said that his job is to sell groceries he could care less what you do with them once they leave his store.
as i said in an earlier post what is good for some is not good for others. if i had a need to sell some things in a yard sale or on ebay to make money it does not matter how much i paid for it. i do not knock anyone that sells their stockpile. if my lights were about to be cut off or my house in jeopardy i would sell all the stockpile i had to get money. my friend sell food boxes all the time to supplement her income. i feed 8 people so i do not have a stockpile everything i have is a necessity.
some managers love to see you save and there are others that would prefer you stay out of their store. we as qponers have heard all type of misguided excuses of why this and why that. the bottom line is corporate put competitor coupon usage as an alternate way for stores to attract business and is letting managers decide if that is what they want for their store. corporate can at anytime rescind their offer to all the stores if they are losing so much money. you can best believe the company as a whole will put a stop to it if it was such a big problem.
target has been putting their coupons out for years. they just decided to change the wording. at my 3 stores you can still go in and buy however many you want without anyone batting an eye. but at the same time they wanted to put something in place so that their managers can have something to go by so that they are not flooded with a million calls for the same thing each month. (being limited on how many you can use) my stores here have always been generous.

now i do not condone the fact that shoppers are getting cash back from publix on their money maker deals. (overage is a shoppers favorite word) i will always add extra items to put me out of the negative. when i buy items for my aunt using her foodstamp card for whatever reason i can never get out of getting cash back. when i am done i just put it all together and buy her things from there that i did not have coupons for that she might need.

anyway publix is not on the verge of financial ruin just because of competitor coupons. when i tell you that i had a store manager talk to me for about an hour because he had to get rid of what he called a one man publix savior. he also explained things that i really did not know or care to know about the inner workings of publix. he cleared up alot about using coupons there. (the one man publix savior said that my group of ladies and gents were ruining the store) so he pretty much told me how it was a lie. also just to add -overage is not a priviledge at publix according to policy. no manu coupon is to ever be crossed out or wrote on unless it has a blank for that.
all of this info came from my friendly neighborhood manager at deerfoot pky store in birmingham.

[GAsaver]

Thanks so much for all of your insights and thoughts!

One thing I wish to make clear -- in starting this thread I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone -- if people have to do MM splits with multiple competitor Qs, sell their stockpile to feed their family, or whatever during this tough economy, then that is called being a survivor and taking care of oneself and one's responsibilities. These are some tough times, and we do what we have to do to survive and to care for our home, family and children.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend, and let's all look forward to what is (hopefully) a great week of shopping and deals next week! I hope that those I have irritated by my personal views and difference in opinion can let this go and that this thread that I feel like I now (stupidly) started, albeit with good intentions, can just slip down the list.

Thanks again for your input, and happy Easter to all!

[Cuponqueeny]

I'm going to move this thread over to Gripes/Groans/Rants etc..
This forum under Coupon Chit Chat was set up for issues like this.

Thanks so much for understanding

[scrapquick]

since this got moved to the gripes section, I'm not familiar with your store but I'm curious to know if the 5/25 Qs said they had a limit on them?

[momkjchs]

Sorry that it worked out this way for you. You obviously didn't know about the changes and were clearly shocked at what you were hearing in regard to other couponers. The first time I heard this stuff and realized that seemingly normal soccer moms were acting like vultures I felt physically sick . And no apologies necessary about ruffling feathers, abuse by any other name is still abuse.

Some of these actions are clearly classless, tacky, socially unacceptable ways of blatently taking advantage of the merchant. Management expects these types of behaviors from the "dregs" of society, not the desired target market. And as the consumer changes so do the rules. Aka, no more competitor coupons, etc. As frustrating as it is, I understand why it is happening and hope that management gets the ability to deal with these situations and protect the store without limiting us.

On the plus side, when we develop a reputation of being a "good" couponer, it is amazing how management and clerks respond and how cooperative they are in our money saving efforts, even sometimes bending their own rules! Grin

I know we don't think about this, but taxes are due on our sales proceeds (tax man can sniff out income, or a resentful person could report our sales to them), permits are necessary in some areas (local officials have been known to "stop" in to check and issue fines) and we should follow food selling regulations just in case someone gets sick from food bought from us and all the previously mentioned and more officials land on our doorstep.

I have no intent to ruffle feathers. Building good relationships with our management and clerks is important for all parties involved. They help us get the most for our money, and smiling faces and warm salutations greet us when we come in the door. And an other thought, considering today's job market, we don't know when we might have to apply there!!