Posted on 01/02/2011 2:08:21 PM PST by PJ-Comix
Profiling. That word has taken on such an ugly connotation in recent years. And yet, if you want to be a successful couponer, you MUST profile. And don't feel guilty about profiling cashiers. We all profile in one way or another. Those "enlightened" souls who claim they don't profile are lying. In fact, they are probably profiling people more than the rest of us.
My favorite part of the recent TLC show, "Extreme Couponing" was when Joanie Demer aka Krazy Coupon Lady flat out admitted that she profiles cashiers. And how does she profile the cashiers? As Joanie stated she definitely prefers young cashiers (such as the friendly cashier in the photo above) to little old lady cashiers. And from bitter experience I can tell you she is absolutely correct. If you want to spare yourself a lot of time and aggravation, avoid little old lady cashiers like the plague. You want a sad tale of just how horrible it can be if you throw caution to the winds and choose a little old lady checkout line? Just read what happened to me back in September when I was scoring a few free boxes of Advil at Publix...
I was in Publix and had picked up several bottles of 40 count Advil Liqui-Gels. All lines were very long EXCEPT for the 10 item or less line which, unfortunately, had the type of cashier that I just warned you about. I knew problems would ensue but I also didn't want to wait 20 minutes on line soooo... I get to the elderly cashier who had an angry looking mouth.
I handed her a couple of Advils. Normally they are $6.75 each but they were on sale for just $4.49. I handed her a Publix coupon for $5 off two which lowered the total price to $3.98. She pulled the coupons up close to her eyeglasses as she tried to figure out what the clearly stated $5 off two means. After about a minute she very reluctantly knocks 5 bucks off the price.
And then...I hand her two Advil manufacturer's coupons which were $2 each which made the Advils...FREE! That's when she violently shook her head and declared that I couldn't use those coupons.
I then explained that Publix policy allows a manufacturer's coupon to be stacked on top of a store coupon such as in this case. She still refused to ring me up so I requested the store manager. It was late at night so the store manager was a really young guy yet despite his youth he knew the rules and told the cashier to ring up the coupons.
The little old lady cashier grumbled and said the rules vary from store to store and I replied that the rules in each state for Publix are CONSISTENT. Then she mumbled something about how I shouldn't complain since she is ringing up all the coupons so I reply that she should just go ahead and do that without the grumbling.
All of a sudden she screamed "AHA!" (she actually used that word) and in an incredibly triumphant voice declared that the coupons are only good on 50 count or more.
She wasn't a good reader since in this case (which I admit is rare) the coupon actually said "50 count or SMALLER." I drew her attention to that "little" detail and she very sadly began to do the discount that she should have done without all the drama. But she wasn't done yet because she came up with an absurd final line of defense when she again triumphantly declared that the coupons didn't apply to my Advils because they were Advil Liqui-Gels.
I showed her the coupon up close and pointed out that it said good on ANY Advil. She countered again by claiming that my Advils weren't included because they were Liqui-Gels.
"Lady, what part of the word 'ANY' can't you figure out?"
Again more argument from her so I turned to the young manager who was listening and said, "Could you please bail me OUT of this nightmare?"
The manager looked at coupon and told the cashier, "These are good. Ring him up."
So she FINALLY rang up the coupons in the most depressed manner imaginable. ...And now you know why I say NEVER use coupons with elderly cashiers with tight angry mouths. They ALWAYS cause trouble for you.
Should you think I'm exaggerating the problems almost inevitably caused by the little old lady cashiers, then I invite you to give them a try while couponing. Trust me. You'll be sorrrrrrrryyyyyy...
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The Oscillococcinum Flu Medicine deal that I posted yesterday for Walgreens didn't work. See, the medicine that gives the Register Rewards is for CHILDREN'S Oscillococcinum and the $5 coupon in the WAGS January booklet is ONLY for the adult version. However, no big deal since I heard that stuff is not much better than a placebo. PLUS I did some QUICK research at Walgreens today when that deal fell through and came up with an even BETTER deal that worked perfectly for me. Here is how it works:
Buy OMEGA FACTOR 3 premium blend 1300 mg fish oil pills (tuna & krill). They sell for 10 bucks but when you buy it, you get $10 back in register rewards. So what to do with that $10 back? Well, the big boxes of Colonnaide 14 day programs is selling for $29.99 but with in the January WAGS there is a coupon for $20 off that product. Soooo....use the $10 register rewards from the Omega Factor 3 (plus the WAG coupon) and you get it FREE! Great deal but in my case I don't need it since I already had the Fantastic Voyage routine (sans Raquel Welch) done on my colon and everything in there was A-OK. In my case, I used the $10 register rewards to buy 2 DiGiorno Supreme pizzas which were on sale for...$10. Therefore FREE! Plus I used the WAG sales sheet coupon to get 4 Progresso Soups for $5. Then used a couple of $2 register rewards I had on my person to buy all those soups for just a buck. I actually could have gotten it free but I didn't feel like scrambling outside to my van to look for a $1 RR that I knew was sitting in an envelop.
So let's look at my shopping trip. I didn't get that flu medicine like I thought but I quickly switched gears and used a $10 RR I already had to score a FREE bottle of Omega Factor 3 premium blend fish oil pills (which I take everyday) then rolled the $10 that generated to score 2 free DiGiorno pizzas. Plus got myself 4 cans of Progresso soup using $4 in Register Rewards that I had from last week. Total out of pocket for all that...a buck.
Ahhh, I see.
Well, sounds like you got a deal alright.
Guess I'll have to remember that you may be referring to a previous/other thread concerning some of your references to buying something.
Thanks for the response.
Just learned a valuable lesson. If one uses an Omega Factor RR to buy another Omega Factor, one won’t get another $10 RR.
I don't work anywhere near as hard on this as PJ. 15 minutes of clipping from the Sunday Paper. Maybe a scant 15 min of making a list, checking sales, grabbing the correct coupons, etc before shopping.
I keep track of the prices in my head for WalMart, Target, and our Grocery Store of the top 10 or 15 things that we buy every week. So that doesn't really take time at all.
For that 30 min (less really) a week of work, I figure that we get 1-1/2 weeks of groceries, free, per month.
And, for what it's worth, WM advetises "best price", but that's rarely the case in my area. Unless it's a loss leader (and sometimes not even then) they're barely competitive. Target is the best for Dry Goods or processed foods. Our local grocery store has the best loss leaders and meats/dairy/produce. Typically, they even beat the local farmer's market, too.
It's been awhile since I've looked at Costco or Sam's. My experience there is that the prices are good, but not the best. A fair deal if you don't have *any* time to shop, or can't wait for a sale to come back around again. Otherwise, completely worthless.
PJ, the Coupon Juggernaut, please put me on pinglist, thanks!
“I always try to date the little old lady cashiers.” Is that why some FReepers keep posting, “Laz’d hit it?”
I profile cashiers when I am purchasing Coke@Cola products for my son’s Coke machine but Winco has such a high turn over I lose 70% of the time. I carry a Calif resale exemption permit and purchase the product less sales tax (9.5%) and 70% of the time they have to call a manager. I don’t have the problem at Costco as they have it in the data base but Costco doesn’t carry the full line...
Our coupons all say “not to be combined with other offers”
The only way I would ask to be added to your ping list is if you give me star (#1) billing...
Yup! Remember, register rewards usually WON’T roll on the same item. You have to find another item to use it on. Ideally you would want to find an item that yields another $10 in register rewards so you can use it AGAIN on the Omega 3. Then back and forth like ping-pong. I did this today. Bought the Omega 3 then used the $10 Register Rewards to buy 3 Sinex sprays for $6.99 each. I used 3 $4 Sinex coupons which brought the price down to just under 9 bucks. Then added a “filler” plus the $10 RR from the Omega 3 Factor and purchased all. Then...the Sinex got me ANOTHER $10 since that is what you get when you spend $20 or more on Vick’s products. Then used THAT $10 Register Rewards to buy MORE Omega 3 Factor. Back and forth. Ping-pong! And almost no money OOP.
http://www.walgreens.com/topic/save-money/register-rewards.jsp
Coupon Policy Help | Walgreens Coupon Policy
http://www.walgreens.com/topic/help/generalhelp/coupon_policy_main.jsp
That’s why. A little secret, though: when its a pretty, conservative girl, I mean I’d hit it, in the traditional sense. However, when it’s a ugly or especially a liberal girl, I mean I’d hit it with a steel mallet. :)
add me!!!
Thanks. Some of the guys made the hit comments but the general direction didn’t always seem too cohesive. Since you’ve explained, I can now chime in enthusiastically!
Thanks, I’m learning.
I don’t think it’s commonly done — but I like to have a variety of easily thawed frozen foods to make complete meals with on those busy hectic days when it’s really easy to spend money on fast food, simply cuz one is too tired or busy to cook a decent supper — AND because I genuinely do not like boiling up spaghetti noodles night after night when I’ve got a large pot of homemade spaghetti sauce. It irks me, LOL
p.s. do NOT over nuke the frozen noodles, they can melt into one solid piece of hardened pasta, LOL, if one isn’t careful — just thaw them out gently, the hot spaghetti sauce can heat them the rest of the way.
>The Coupon Whisperer PING List has exploded in just one day to 53. Let me know if you want to be on The Coupon Whisperer PING List.<
Oh goodness yes. Please add me.
Thank you.
My friend bought the Omega Factor for 10 and got 10 bucks back in RR. He used the 10 on the 2 pizzas, so the pizzas were free, but he didn’t get the 5 dollars back in RR for the 2 pizzas. Did he have to buy something else or actually pay for the pizza to get the 5 dollars back? We thought he would get the pizzas and 5 dollars in RR’s.
A little confused about the ping pong because it sounds like you’re using RR’s and getting RR’s back. We called and they said you couldn’t pay with RR’s and get RR’s back.
Can you clarify?
Please add me to the list. Thanks!
Did I say anything about getting $5 in RR's when you buy the two pizzas? The fact is that not everything yields register rewards and that includes the pizzas.
A little confused about the ping pong because it sounds like you’re using RR’s and getting RR’s back. We called and they said you couldn’t pay with RR’s and get RR’s back.
You were MISINFORMED. You can't get $10 in Omega 3 Factor in RRs and then use those same RRs to buy more Omega 3 Factor. HOWEVER, you can use the Omega 3 Factor RRs to buy $20 in Vicks cold medicine (which will be a lot less if you also use $7 in Vicks coupons from the recent P&G flyer) to yield another $10 in (P&G) RRs which, guess what, you can use again on the Omega Factor 3.
BTW, I sure hope you opened the Omega Factor 3 box to pull out the $3 coupon to use on your next Omega Factor 3 so you only pay $7 OOP. Actually you would pay almost nothing if you can decipher the secret code in my original message of this edition of The Coupon Whisperer.
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