[TommyMaggyMommy]

(I'll leave this here in the main forum for a while, so everyone sees it.)

Here we go. Rite Aid has updated the coupon policy and there are a few notable changes. They're highlighted below.

The coupon policy has been clarified (for the better) and here is the breakdown:

1.) We can use one cents off coupon with a Buy One Get One Free promotion or Buy One Get One Free coupon.
2.) We can use two coupons on a Buy One Get One % Off sale.
3.) Buy One Get One Free coupons cannot be used with any Buy One Get One Free sales or coupons or Buy One Get One 50% off sales.


Here is the new coupon policy:



Rite Aid - Coupon Acceptance

To Our Valued Customers:
Rite Aid Gladly accepts the following coupon types as detailed in the coupon acceptance guidelines listed below:

COUPON TYPES:

Manufacturer Coupons

• Manufacturer coupons are found in newspapers, magazines and even affixed to products. The UPC on these coupons begins with a "5."

Rite Aid Manufacturer Coupons

• Rite Aid Manufacturer coupons generally appear in our weekly circular, on our website and are sent to customers via email. These coupons are labeled "manufacturer coupon" and have a UPC that begins with "49."

Rite Aid Valuable Coupons

• Rite Aid coupons are labeled "Valuable Coupon" and have a UPC that begins with "48."

Internet/Print at Home Coupons

• Rite Aid will accept internet/print at home coupons.

+UP Reward Coupons

• +UP Reward coupons are special coupons earned by a customer in a prior purchase that can be used for any non-prescription purchase with a small number of exclusions that are listed on the +UP coupon. Multiple +UP coupons can be used (subject to the printed exclusions) up to the amount of purchase before sales tax.

eCoupons

• Rite Aid and its business partners make electronic coupons available that can be loaded directly on a wellness+ card. The register automatically "rings" the coupon when the qualifying item is scanned.

Buy One, Get One Free

• Rite Aid accepts Buy One Get One Free coupons, however, only one coupon can be used for each pair of items purchased. A customer can use one “cents off” coupon (a coupon of fixed value such as $0.50, $1.25, etc.) in conjunction with the item they are purchasing on a Buy One Get One Free promotion (or with a Buy One Get One Free coupon), although the value of the cents off coupon cannot exceed the selling price of the item. Customers can use up to two coupons with a Buy One Get One at a % off promotion, provided the total value of the coupons does not exceed the selling price of the two items combined.
• Buy One Get One Free coupons cannot be used in conjunction with a Buy One Get One Free or with a Buy One Get One % off promotion.

Total Purchase Coupons

• Rite Aid may feature total purchase coupons which discount the total purchase amount based upon meeting specific requirements. Fore example $5 off a $25 purchase price threshold coupon.
• These coupons are accepted under the following conditions:

The coupon is valid and in date; only one total purchase coupon per transaction.
Total Purchase equals or exceeds $25 before tax (before any coupons are applied.)
Coupons for individual items can also be used including another "48" coupon that is tied to an item in the transaction.
Provided the total of items purchased is equal to or greater than the purchase requirement, other coupons can be used in conjunction with the total purchase coupon.

ACCEPTANCE GUIDELINES:
General Guidelines:

• Coupons must be valid and in date; Coupons cannot be exchanged for cash.
• Register will validate coupon through scanning or keyed entry of the coupon UPC number.
• In the event that any item's selling price is less than the value of the coupon, Rite Aid will accept the coupon in exchange for the selling price of the item. Coupon redemption can never exceed the selling price of an item and no cash back is allowed.
• When making a return for a product that had a coupon attached, Rite Aid cannot refund cash for the value of the coupon and cannot return the coupon that was used.
• Rite Aid reserves the right to not accept any coupon where the validity of the coupon cannot be established

Multiple Coupons

• More than one coupon can be used on the purchase of a single item under the following conditions:

All coupons match the item being purchased.
The total of the coupons is equal to or less than the selling price of the item before sales tax.

• No more than one "48" Rite Aid Valuable Coupon, one "49" Rite Aid Manufacturer coupon and one "5" Manufacturer coupon can be used on a single item. Rite Aid may accept up to 4 identical coupons for the same number of qualifying items as long as there is sufficient stock to satisfy other customers within the store managers sole discretion.

[amybonnema29]

Just one more reason I gave up on Rite Aid...I'll stick with CVS, they are soooo much better and friendlier too!

[JulieinOregon]

Buy One, Get One Free

Rite Aid accepts Buy One Get One Free coupons, however, only one coupon can be used for each pair of items purchased. A customer can use one "cents off" coupon in conjunction with the item they are purchasing on a Buy One Get One Free promotion (or with a Buy One Get One at a % off promotion or with a Buy One Get One Free coupon), although the value of the cents off coupon cannot exceed the selling price of the item.

OK, just for clarification.....I can use a b1g1f and 1 cents off on the same 2 items?

[TommyMaggyMommy]

Julie - I can't answer this yet because I've been notified from corporate that they're getting ready to issue a clarification on the policy. I'll answer your question as soon as I can.

[newbie2Q]

I've am boycotting Rite aid. It is ridiculous that they will not take 2 coupons for a buy one get one 1/2 off. We are after all still paying for two items. Today I walked out not buying Revlon product because I found this out. I will be writing to Revlon to let them know that they lost a sale because of a stores stupid coupon policy. perhaps alot of manufacturers will drop Rite aid.

[TommyMaggyMommy]

I agree. If it remains part of the policy, it will become the most damaging change they've made to this point. There will still be ways to work deals, but the savings overall will be less.

[Cecmer]

I e-mailed corporate and told them how they "shot themselves in the foot" with this one.

[solitariblu]

So much for the rumors that they were considering bringing back BOGO Qs on BOGO sales and/or 2 Qs on a BOGO... oh wells. The deals will still be there, it will just require more work. It will be interesting to see what they are needing to clarify.

[msfrugal77]

Thanks for posting, but this news totally sucks I was just beginning to like RA. Now since they have all of these rules for BOGO promotions, my desire for shopping there has gone down like 10 notches. I will definitely be calling and writing them a letter. It makes no flipping sense why they'd have these rules. It's not like they aren't gonna get paid by the Manufactures right? Oh well, I hope CVS doesn't change their policy on BOGO items. We better start stocking up even more before all the stores start getting tougher on their coupon policies.

[joshmamabear]

Originally Posted by JulieinOregon

Buy One, Get One Free

Rite Aid accepts Buy One Get One Free coupons, however, only one coupon can be used for each pair of items purchased. A customer can use one "cents off" coupon in conjunction with the item they are purchasing on a Buy One Get One Free promotion (or with a Buy One Get One at a % off promotion or with a Buy One Get One Free coupon), although the value of the cents off coupon cannot exceed the selling price of the item.

OK, just for clarification.....I can use a b1g1f and 1 cents off on the same 2 items?

Most BOGO MQs that come out now are coded to attach to 2 items so regardless of store rules, I think the mfr terms and conditions must prevail since they're the ones offering the discount. If only 2 items are bought, then the BOGO MQ covers for both, using another x/1 will be considered stacking. IF RA allows that, it is a different story.

[TommyMaggyMommy]

While everything is YMMV, most coupons beep at RA for no reason. Since the policy allows using a BOGO coupon and a cents off coupon, that has always trumped a beep for me. Some stores won't take coupons that beep. Period.

[solitariblu]

Originally Posted by TommyMaggyMommy

While everything is YMMV, most coupons beep at RA for no reason. Since the policy allows using a BOGO coupon and a cents off coupon, that has always trumped a beep for me. Some stores won't take coupons that beep. Period.

I'm relieved to hear that every other person in the world (or... this forum anyway ) has Qs that beep at RA. As much as I try to come up with logical explanations for the beeps... I have just given up.

I'm glad to see they "clarified" their policy!

[tlgreene1021]

You know, I guess I've been lucky cuz I've never had a problem using a BOGO MFQ or two cents off coupons on a BOGO sale. I just ask if I can and they've always been cool with it at all 3 Rite-Aid stores in town.
I hope this doesn't change things. :-/

[mcgallicher]

Originally Posted by solitariblu

I'm relieved to hear that every other person in the world (or... this forum anyway ) has Qs that beep at RA. As much as I try to come up with logical explanations for the beeps... I have just given up.

I'm glad to see they "clarified" their policy!

Coupons beep because the store has not updated their register software to read the new barcodes.

[solitariblu]

Originally Posted by mcgallicher

Coupons beep because the store has not updated their register software to read the new barcodes.

Yeah, that's what I thought too, but some days they'll scan and some days they won't. Some days the new ones work and the old don't, other days it's vice versa. I agree the register and the lack of updating does play a big part in it though.

[medic2midwife]

That is super unfortunate. Why allow us to use a cents off + bogo but not a q with a b1g1 50% off promo? I don't understand it because the difference of the item price with a q + 50% is still paid and they still get the amount of the q back plus the 8 cents. I wonder if they have changed this policy to make 'complicated' deals easier for their cashiers to understand and process. There are about 10 RA's within a few miles radius of me and at 70% of them the cashiers are clueless when it comes to coupon use.

Also, I've been out of the game for a while so forgive me if this has been asked, is there no way to opt out of the UPs being loaded to the card? I have nothing but problems with my card and half the time my UPs never load. I've called RA about 15 times and they never seem to fix it.

[pearlscraftymama]

Ugh, I wish I had read this before I went to Rite Aid. I was doing the Playtex deal this past week. And got informed that I couldn't use all 4 of my BOGO's even though I had the product. I could only use 2 of them. Oh well, still got my fairly cheap Coke right after it. But CVS is much friendlier. My just use my $2 up rewards and then forget about Rite Aid for a while......

[TommyMaggyMommy]

medic - We can use two cents off coupons with BOGO50%. I may not be understanding what you're saying...not unusual for me. And I only know very few people who have been able to opt out of the Load2Card successfully. I really hope they abandon that program.

[solitariblu]

Originally Posted by TommyMaggyMommy

And I only know very few people who have been able to opt out of the Load2Card successfully. I really hope they abandon that program.

I totally agree! It's going to make shopping there a lot more difficult if they decide to keep that program and have it everywhere. I wonder when we will know anything about their decision behind that? As for the coupon policy... we're pretty much used to it and our store is too.

[donnaval]

Kind of frustrated with Rite Aid today - this policy has been in effect for months, and I still run into constant problems. Just today, cashier (backed up by manager) refused to accept a $3 coupon on Febreeze because the item was $2.99 and they said they could not adjust either the coupon or the item price to accept it. Then, they refused to allow me to use a BOGO and cents-off coupon together. (To top it off, my UPs didn't print.) I know I could show them the coupon policy and insist on them following it, but that just leads to anger and future issues. I just wish I could shop with my coupons without always worrying about the hassles.

[winchestk1]

I'm with ya' donnaval. I went today to do the Crest Deal, thinking how come I was allowed to do this with a mq+ RA'q, but wasn't allowed last week with the SAMY hair color. They kept insisting they dont take both coupons. I could only use a Rite Aid coupon or Manufacturer's never both... because that would make the item free & no they cannot adjust it down to price. **SMH** So how come they allowed me to use two today for the Crest?? She wasn't in and the cashier coudn't answer it either.
Are you in a test area as me???

[donnaval]

No, not in a test area - not looking forward to the changes coming next week If there weren't so many deals coming next week, I'd take time off from Rite Aid until things settle down.

[msfrugal77]

Wow. Those are serious issues you both are having. I had something similar happen to me, and after the whole fiasco, I felt as if the cashiers and supervisors were teaming up against me. I almost felt like I never wanted to enter RA again. I Called CS and I got a call from the Dist. manager the next day apologizing and assured me the incident would never happen again.

I'd def call customer service on these store managers and furthermore, I'd request for a Dist. Mgr to call you back so that he/she can be made aware that their managers are not informed of the policy, and they are changing the rules as they deem necessary. Not good for business!

[barracuda]

When I read these posts I am always shocked at the amount of managers who do not understand their own coupon policy and interpreting things so loosely. I can see cashiers not knowing it very well (still no excuse), But managers should be completely aware. I am fortunate enough that I have not had any real problems at Rite Aid for a few years. If corporate is going to issue/change policy they need to make sure Managers know what is up. Although I am a little confused now too. I knew the policy did not allow bogo Q's on bogo promos, But really Bogo 50%. That is just dumb! I also understood the whole not allowing a $ or cents off combined with a bogo Q, but according to this it is now allowed. So we can on Bogo Q's , but not on Bogo promos. that makes no sense. I have a feeling employees are going to confuse bogo and bogo 50% promos with bogo coupons, and it is gonna be a mess. Also, I am not surprised by the cannot return the full value if a coupon is used. Even though I usually never ever return anything, I have made mistakes and purchased the wrong item. Happened just the other week. I wanted to purchase the Venus razors producing the $4 +up, it was Saturday night, all the signs were down, and the cashier wasn't sure if it was the right item. She suggested we just try it and she would refund my money if it was not. Well it was not, she did refund the full amount. I would have been ok with store credit if she hadn't. With this policy does that mean if you pay with +ups you are just out???? That is not fair. I could understand them taking +ups back for items you return that you received them on, but not if you paid with them, and had to return an item. My head is spinning! And ps I still have not been able to opt out.

[msfrugal77]

barracuda

You can always make a return to Rite-Aid regardless if you paid with ups or coupons. Although coupons and ups subtract from the amount you would originally pay with cash, they are in fact another form of payment. Therefore, lets say you made a purchase for Venus Razors-9.99, get 4 ups back. You pay with 4 ups, and you have a 4/1 Q, and you pay the rest 1.99 in cash. If you return that item, the store can either give you a full cash refund (which is what my store does), or they can give you a gift card in the amount of $8, and give you cash in the amount of 1.99 + whatever your tax was.

One more thing, according to CS, Ups rewards are to be treated as cash, and therefore, if ups are used on an item that you want to return, you are to be refunded accordingly.