“Did you find everything you needed today?”
I cheerfully replied “yes!”, and chatted about this and that as she scanned my groceries. As I handed her my coupons, I cringed a bit, knowing that a couple of them weren’t going to scan. They were valid on the product I’d purchased, but were coded in such a way that they always beeped, no matter what.
Sure enough, they beeped. Item not found.
She stared at the coupon for a minute, looking down at all the fine print, and then up at the computer, trying to ascertain why they wouldn’t scan.
I pulled out the product from my bags and let her see that it was indeed the right item for the coupon.
“Well, I can’t figure out why these won’t scan and I can’t force them through or I’ll get in trouble. I need to get approval from a manager.”
I patiently told her no problem, and as we waited for the manager to come over, I silently let out a sigh of relief that I only had one child with me, and not all five. (Then again, if all five were with me and were bouncing off the walls, they might have been in a hurry to get us out of there!)
This scenario happened to me recently at Safeway, and as the scenario unfolded, I knew I needed to write a post about how to have a great shopping experience when using coupons. It’s easy to get frustrated with a store’s policies or lack thereof, but having your entire day spoiled by a bad experience at the grocery checkout just isn’t worth it.
Here are my tips for having a smooth coupon-shopping experience.
$1.99 for Pantry Essentials (gallon) at Safeway
