These are the best deals I see this week based on the Rainbow Foods ad (a Roundy’s store). It assumes you shop on Wednesday when they will double the face value of five coupons that are worth $1 or less. If you’d like more details on the rules around doubling check out this post.
New to Pocket Your Dollars? Learn to read this shopping list. If you have issues printing coupons, then try the troubleshooting suggestions found here.
Your turn: What other coupons are you planning to use this week?
Produce
T Marzetti Vegetable Dip $3.00
Use $0/75/1 coupon from 11/22 Smart Source insert
Final price: $1.50 after doubled coupon
Meat
Buy 3 lb of 75% lean ground beef at $1.79/lb, Get Hamburger Helper, Tortilla Shells, McCormick Seasoning, or Hard Shell Tacos Free
Buy 3 lb meat and 3 Hamburger Helpers
Use $1/3 Hamburger Helper printable coupon
Final price: Spend $5.37 for everything (the three Hamburger Helpers will be free – great to give to charity)
Dairy
YoPlus and Fiber One Yogurt –on sale buy one, get one free (or 2 for $2.59)
Use $1/1 YoPlus coupon from 1/3 Smart Source insert or Fiber One and YoPlus printable coupon and printable coupon
Fiber One $1/1 printable coupon, printable coupon
Final price: Two free after doubled coupons
Fiber One Cottage Cheese $2.39
Use $1/1 coupon from 1/3 Smart Source #1 insert
Final price: $0.39 after doubled coupon
Stonyfield Organic Yogurt $0.89
Buy 4 and use $0.75/4 printable coupon after registering
Final price: $0.52 each after doubled coupon
Freezer
El Monterey Tornados $1.35
Use $1/1 coupon from 10/4 Smart Source insert
Final price: Free after doubled coupon
Yoplait Smoothies $2.50
Use $1/1 coupon from 1/3 General Mills insert or printable coupon, printable coupon, printable coupon, and printable coupon
Final price: $0.50 after doubled coupon**
**I sampled these products at General Mills last summer. Just know that you need to add milk or OJ, but this contains frozen yogurt chunks and fruit to make a quick smoothie.
McCain Potatoes $2.50
Use $1/1 coupon from 12/6 Smart Source insert
Final price: $0.50 after doubled coupon
Select Healthy Choice Meals $2.00
Buy 2 and use $1/2 coupon from 1/3 Smart Source #1 insert
Final price: $1.00 each after doubled coupon
Soy Dream or Rice Dream $3.99
Use $0.75/1 printable coupon
Final price: $2.49 after doubled coupon
Tyson Chicken Nuggets $5.99
Use $1/1 coupon from 10/11 Smart Source insert
Final price: $3.99 after doubled coupon
Grocery
Campbell’s Chicken Noodle and Tomato Soup $0.49
Buy 4 and use $1/4 printable coupon or $0.40/4 coupon from 12/13 Smart Source and 1/3 Smart Source #2 inserts
Final price: As low as four free after doubled coupon
Fisher Peanuts—on sale buy one, get one free (2 for $3.09)
Buy two and use two $1/1 coupons from 11/155 Smart Source, 11/22 Smart Source, 12/6 Smart Source, 12/13 Smart Source and 1/10 Smart Source inserts
Final price: Two free after doubled coupons
Ronzoni Pasta – on sale buy one, get one free (2 for $1.89)
Buy 2 and use $1/2 printable coupon or $1/2 printable coupon after registering here and here
Final price: Two free after doubled coupon
Quaker Old Fashioned or Quick Oats $2.00
Use $1/1 Quaker Oatmeal printable coupon (IE version) (FF Version)
Final price: Free after doubled coupon
Gatorade (G2) $1.00
Use $0.50/1 coupon from 1/10 Red Plum insert
Final price: Free after doubled coupon
Ken’s Dressing $2.25
Use $1/1 or $2/1 coupons from the 1/10 Smart Source insert
Final price: $0.25 after (doubled) coupon**
**This is free at Cub this week (you can price match Cub’s price at Target or Walmart), but I’m waiting for it to be free at Rainbow
Del Monte Canned Vegetables, Selected 11-15.25 oz. Varieties 5/$4.00
Buy 4 and use $1.00/4 printable coupon
Final price: $0.30 each after doubled coupon
Hamburger/Tuna Helper $0.99
Buy 3 and use $0.75/3 coupon from 1/3 Smart Source #1 insert or $1/3 printable coupon
Final price: As low as $0.33 each after doubled coupon
Powerbars $0.88
Buy 5 and use $1/5 coupon from 1/3 Smart Source #2 insert
Final price: $0.48 each after doubled coupon
Select Quaker Rice Cakes $2.00
Use $0.75/1 coupon from 1/10 Red Plum insert
Final price: $0.50 each after doubled coupon
General Mills Cereals $2.50
Available coupons include:
$1/1 General Mills (IE) (FF) (works for Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, and Trix)
$1/2 Cheerios – This works for any Cheerios brand.
$1/1 Cheerios
$1/1 Trix
$1/1 Cheerios (again)
$1/1 Trix (again)
$1/2 Chex– This works for any Chex brand
Final price: As low as $0.50 after doubled coupon
Campbell’s Chunky Soup – on sale buy one, get one free (2 for $2.59)
Buy 6 and use three $1/3 printable coupons
Final price: $0.63 each after doubled coupon
Chex Mix – on sale buy one, get one free (2 for $3.59)
Buy 2 Chocolate Chex Mix and use two $0.50/1 printable coupons or printable coupons
Final price: $0.85 each after doubled coupon
Kettle Cooked Potato Chips $2.99
Use $1/1 coupon from 1/10 Smart Source insert
Final price: $0.99 after doubled coupon
Select Quaker Granola Bars $2.00
Buy 2 and use $1/2 coupon from 12/6 Red Plum and 1/3 Red Plum #1 inserts or printable coupon
Final price: $1.00 each after doubled coupon
Newman’s Own Pasta Sauce $2.00
Buy 2 and use $1/2 printable coupon
Final price: $1.00 each after doubled coupon
Minute Rice $2.00
Use $0.50/1 coupon from 12/13 Red Plum insert
Final price: $1.00 after doubled coupon
Knudsen Organic Just Juice –on sale 15% off
Use $1/1 printable coupon
Final price: ?? after doubled coupon
Household
Playtex HandSaver Gloves $1.00
Use $1/1 coupon from 10/4 Smart Source insert (if this coupon matches the gloves that are on sale)
Final price: Free after doubled coupon
Purex Liquid Laundry Detergent $2.25
Use $0.35/1 coupon for Purex Liquid Laundry Detergent from 1/10 Red Plum insert or
$1/1 Natural Elements printable coupon (if this variety is included in sale)
Final price: As low as $0.25 each after doubled coupon
Renuzit Adjustables $1.00
Buy 3 and use buy two, get one free coupon from 1/10 Red Plum insert
Final price: $0.67 each after coupon
Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner $2.00
Use $0/50/1 coupon from 1/3 Smart Source #2 insert or printable coupon after registering
Final price: $1.00 after doubled coupon
Personal Care
Suave Shampoo $1.66
Use $0.50/1 Men’s shampoo coupon from 12/13 Red Plum insert or
Buy 2 and use $1/2 any shampoo or conditioner coupon from 10/25 Red Plum insert
Final price: $0.66 each after doubled coupon
Triaminc $4.99
Use $2/1 coupon from 12/6 Smart Source insert
Final price: $2.99 after coupon
Osteo Bi-Flex –on sale buy one, get one free
Buy 2 and use two $6/1 coupons from 1/10 Red Plum insert
Final price: ?? after doubled coupons
Thanks to Mercedes at Common Sense with Money for her starting list of deals. Pocket Your Dollars is part of BeCentsable’s Grocery Gathering, a compilation of shopping lists for stores nationwide. If you want a shopping list for a store not covered by Pocket Your Dollars, then check out the Grocery Gathering.
Tricia- can’t explain why your one transaction didn’t double. Fluke? Someday’s I don’t know why something happens like it does!
Regarding B1G1 and using coupons on both. The policy Carrie outlined clearly says you can’t do it. I know i’ve done it not knowing (including today) but today they wouldn’t let me. They said I can’t use a coupon on the free item. So who knows what might happen when you go through the line. This was the Brooklyn Park Rainbow, which someone said is now requiring 25$ purchase to double (sale price) – so maybe it’s unique to that store.
I just wish there was consistency! I will follow any guidelines they give, as long as they’re all the same!
Carrie I’d love to hear if you’ve gotten any official word on Rainbow changing the way their registers ring up.
julie
You know- I May have just mispoken. I re-read the policy after it dawned on me Carrie would not promote deals that were clearly against the policy. I read the language wrong- you can’t double B1G1 coupons, but it doesn’t address using 2 coupons on B1G1 free sales. Interesting. So I should have been able to do it after all
Carrie do you know if there is specific language anywhere on this?
Julie
I’ve run into a couple of cashiers who tell me I can’t use 2 Mfg Q’s when the store has them on sale for BOGO since I’m getting the 2nd one free. One cashier in particular, seems to know every price, every promotion, and I think, grants herself the title “Coupon Officer” ;-) Most of the cashier’s I’ve dealt with scan the coupons and if they don’t beep, they don’t police. Here is my perspective: If the products were on sale for 50% off, and you bought 2, would they disallow the 2 Mfg Q’s? So how is BOGO and 2 Mfg Q’s any different? I think the registers are trained to beep if you try to turn in more Mfg Q’s than product you are buying…ie if you buy 2 Quaker Oats and try to use 3 Quaker Oats Mfg Q’s — you should get a beep….
I have been doing this for about a month now and today I saved 64.2% at Rainbow. I know it is not the 75% goal but I still think that is pretty good for a newbie. Thank you pocket your dollars!!
So I have a question… Can you purchase a Rainbow giftcard to get up to $25? I have a few runs tonight that I know won’t be $25… My husband was able to purchase a giftcard this morning but i want to know if others have been able to do it or was he lucky.
$25 giftcard does count!!
Postage stamps work too. A book of the “Forever” stamps sell for $8.80.
I asked about this at the service desk last night and they said no, gift cards don’t count towards the $25 purchase. I was buying a gift card anyway and only had a few items with coupons and was willing to accept the fact that they wouldn’t double. After going through the register though, it turns out my coupons did double so I’m assuming that it depends on what cashier you get to prevent this.
Two great trips to report!
My first trip this morning was to my usual SLP store. I bought 5 Quaker items ($10), 1 Minute Rice ($2), 4 Campbell’s soups ($1.96), bananas ($1.21), Honeycrisp apples ($3.90), asparagus ($1.81), 2 bags potatoes (BOGO $2.69) and milk for $2.19. $40.13 of groceries on sale for $25.76 with $10.80 in coupons (3-$1, 1-.50 and 1-.40, plus the $3.00 flyer coupon). Total OOP was $14.96 (63% savings),
My second trip at lunch was to the Plymouth store. I bought 5 Quaker items ($10), 2 Ronzoni pasta (BOGO at $1.55), 2 Celestial Seasonings tea (2/$5), 2 Brownberry bread (BOGO at $3.89), 2 Thomas English Muffins (BOGO at $3.99). $40.81 of groceries on sale for $24.43 with $10.80 in coupons (6-$1, plus the $3.00 flyer coupon). Total OOP was $11.43 (72% savings),
Definitely going back tonight for another trip! Great deals this week!
I was just at MG one today and was told by two different cashiers I needed my my total before coupons to be 25.00-so B1G1 only counted for one item cost. Like the peanuts only counted for 3.09 instead of 6.18. Is this new policy there too?
I was at MG today and I had no problem. I spent about $6 OOP for 2 transactions so I clearly wasn’t at $25 sale price. Whenever a cashier tells me that, I just smile nicely and say okay. Then they scan in the coupons and they double anyways. Occasionally, I have had cashiers cancel out the doubling, etc. but I have never had a problem at MG.
LOL…Kimm…do you happen to shop at the AV location?
No – usually Forest Lake but honestly, that cashier frustrates me so much that I’ve started stopping at the Quarry before or after work. Sometimes I’ll drive to the Shoreview store. So far, I’ve had really good luck at the Quarry and Shoreview locations. I was disappointed to hear above that people have recently been told they can only do a couple of trnx at Shoreview. However, it’s rare that I’ll do more than 2 trnx at one store (at one time….) I do leverage multiple locations if I can, or sometimes I take my son with me and give him one of my credit cards to pay with. Figure it’s good to teach them how to spot a good deal, and then I don’t get any excuses as to why he didn’t come down to help me haul in the groceries :-) (Win Win :-)
Thanks Joanna for telling me to look at Carries printing tips! I hadn’t noticed those and finally got coupons to print! I was also told at my Rainbow “We don’t accept internet coupons for free items because half the time they are fake and we are a small company that can’t afford the losses.” I put back my chocolate milk and will use it at Cub.
Was that an attempt at humor on their part, or do they honestly think that their store is the only Roundy’s store in existance.
current data
Roundy’s Supermarkets ranked #105 in 2008.
Industry: Grocery Stores (grocery stores, food wholesaler)
875 East Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee WI 53202
Phone: 414-231-5000
Fax: 414-231-7939
http://www.roundys.com
vivian.king@roundys.com
CEO: Robert A. Mariano, 59
BS University of Illinois
MBA University of Chicago
CFO: Darren W. Karst
2008
Revenues Revenue
Change % Employees Fiscal Year End
$3.90 bil 2.6 19,000 Dec
Roundy’s is one of the nation’s oldest grocers. Founded in Milwaukee in 1872, Roundy’s operates 151 retail grocery stores under the Pick ‘n Save, Copps, Rainbow, and Metro Market brands in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Roundy’s private label brand encompasses 3,200 items. Chicago investment company Willis Stein & Partners acquired the company in 2002.
Brands: Copps, Orchard Foods, Park & Save, Pick ‘n Save, Rainbow Foods, Roundy’s
Pam – Was just at Cub – they wouldn’t take it either. :( Have to go to Target, never have had a problem with free coupons there (yet).
I did 3 runs through Rainbow today. Freebies included: fisher’s peanuts (with overage), el monterey tornados (with overage), quaker oats and ronzoni pasta (with overage). Cheapies included kotex pads for .50, yoplait smoothie mix for .50, ken’s salad dressing for .25 and healthy choice fresh mixers for $1. All-in-all I bought $99.62 worth of groceries for $27.92. That even included bread, milk and eggs that weren’t on sale, along with two pork tenderloins that were bogo. Btw, the El Monterey tornados were bogo for $2.49, I think the ad was a misprint. Happy shopping everyone!
From what I’m seeing people are able to use the $3.00 off in ad coupon, and the manufacture coupons available on the Quacker deals. Is this correct, and has anybody had any problems with doing this?
I specifically went and asked as asst manager at our SLP store about that, and he said I could do one or the other. I knew it may go through the cash register if I did both, but for ethical reasons, I wouldn’t have done it (because I asked).
I havw been to 2 stores today and both accepted the $3 Quaker mfg coupon along with 5 dloubled mfg coupons for same 5 items. No beeps, no questions. The register states exactly what each coupon is, so I think its safe to assume that the registers are preprogrammed to accepted it along with the others. Otherwise, wouldn’t it beep and alert the cashier to too many coupons.
Today I went to the AV Rainbow with a friend (I usually do the Shoreview Rainbow). The cashier gave me back one of my peanut coupons and said I couldn’t use it on the free items. I said whatever. The funny thing was that she let my other coupons for the B1G1 free items go thru. Kinda funny that she broke her own rule. Oh well. I did great. Rang up as $24 something before coupons, and was $8 something afterward. My friend was impressed! :-). Almost all my deals were found on here. Thanks!
I just came back from The Quarry Rainbow in Minneapolis and I am furious. They will NOT accept Smartsource coupons period. I had a great Healthy Choice coupon for $5 off 5 entrees and they were on sale for 5/$10. I told them to keep their groceries and left. I came home with nothing. How is that for saving?!?!
Anyone else have problems or success with Smartsource coupons?
I’m referring to the Smartsource internet coupon http://healthychoice.com/5off5.jsp
I just returned from my shopping trip to rainbow. My cashier told me that the coupons that said “DND” on them they couldn’t double for me but simply give me face value of it. I said I’ve always been able to before but he wouldn’t budge so I said it was fine. However when he took the coupons I noticed he was keying them all in instead of scanning them as they usually do. He did the same thing with my husband’s set (He always come’s with, its easier than making the two trips myself.) Now that I’m home I looked at the receipt and noticed that when he keyed them in, the DND ones he keyed in that they were $.50 so it’d double the $.50. Are they allowed to do that? If he would have scanned it they would have doubled! I am getting sick of this, last time I was there 3 weeks ago they failed to give me my instant $10 off at register for buying kelloggs products and when I went to customer service later they wouldn’t reimburse me. Should I start looking for a different store to shop at?
YES!!! Give another Rainbow your business and start saving big on Double Coupon Days!!!
Earlier someone said it would be nice if there was some consistency to the rules-I can’t agree more! I had two $5/5 Healthy Choice coupons. At the very same time in lanes right next to each other at the AV location, my husband used one with no problem on his transaction, but my cashier said they don’t accept printed coupons over $1 and didn’t accept it. I took it to the customer service desk and politely asked what the policy was and told them I was willing to accept the policy if they wouldn’t take the coupon, but then I was returning the Healthy Choices. She honored the coupon no problem. Sheesh!! Frustrating, yet I am VERY thankful to Rainbow for all of the bargains!
What Rainbow did you go to?
I’m sorry to hear so many people had trouble at Rainbow today :( I was one of them! It was my own mistake, though – I failed to reach my $25 limit (at retail) on my first two transactions and lost $8 on would-be doubled coupons :( Still, on 6 transactions (yes, six) spent $44 for $153 worth of groceries (retail), $130 sale.
I’ve also had trouble with cashiers at my Rainbow the last couple of weeks telling me $25 needs to be the sale price, but I know from experience that the registers automatically double my coupons when the RETAIL price reaches $25. Like Tanya, I politely blow them off knowing that my coupons will double. However, today I got tired of the general rudeness of the cashiers at the Richfield Rainbow and started going to Southtown. It’s bigger, cleaner, brighter, and the people are nicer.
Mindy – Wow! $44 on SIX transactions and plus $8 more that could have come off…that’s great! I also just missed my $25 limit on one of my transactions today by 24 cents! And I was so bummed because I couldn’t figure out how it had happened, as I was sure I had at least 26-27 dollars worth of stuff. I got home, set my toddler up to play and got to work on figuring it out. My conclusion is that their produce scale was off. Either the one in the store that I weighed on, or the one that the cahsier rang up on because there was a big difference there, I’m talking 1/4 of a pound and I bought several items that needed to be weighed, and I even underestimated what the cost of those items would be when figuring my total so I wouldn’t miss the $25. Oh well, live and learn, I just wanted to vent to someone who would understand the frustration of just $4.35 =) (my husband just said, “oh bummer”) =)
Eagan store DID NOT accept $3 Quaker Oats Q AND MQ’s– so I just used my MQ’s–register actually beeped. Also, I was able to use the free chocolate milk coupon there, no beeps, no problems.
Didn’t have any problems with the $5/5 SS coupon healthy choice. Cashier even remarked wow that’s a good coupon to have this week. I gave one to my mom to use and she used it at another location as well no problems.
Which store did you go to? I’m trying to find a new Rainbow to go to.
I go to Riverdale Rainbow in CR and my mom went to Northtown Rainbow in Blaine. Of the two I prefer Riverdale.
I had good bargains today… No problems, bought 6 Fisher peanuts with 6 coupons, the first 5 doubled, bought the 2 gallons of milk and got the free 1/2 of choc milk, plus some other fillins. Nicest cashier, I went to that cashier even though the other lines were shorter. I shop Apple Valley also, When you know which cashiers give out the “Hassle” Factor and seem to make up the rules like it is coming out of their own pocket, pick another lane, go later in the evening or even pick another store. That is what I have started to do. If you think a cashier is subtracting or not accepting a valid coupon, ask for the manager, maybe if these hassling cashiers get enough complaints the manager will start doing something about their Attitude. It has been my experience that it is better if your sale price total is $25 to be ethical about it since most of us have figured out the way to do multiple transactions and they have not put a limit on it, “Yet”. I think getting $40-60 off of $100 of groceries is more than fair! (depending on $ of coupons and deals.)
I was at the Bloomington Rainbow tonight and found that only one of the BOGO items count toward the $25. So I had to do a little scrambling and throw in some candy bars at the last minute! My kids were sure happy though!
I just got back from the Riverdale Rainbow in Coon Rapids. My cashier wouldn’t allow the SmartSource printed coupons either. She said there was a memo that they were no longer accepting them. I read on a blog this week that SmartSource was having trouble with people forging the coupons and had to change their style to stop that. I think the cashier tonight said the store was having trouble getting reimbursed for the coupons and so that’s why they were not accepting them now. It totally sucks and I scrapped one of my transactions at the register when she said that. I was still got the Healthy Choice dinners, but I was bummed that I couldn’t use the coupon.
I’ve also come to the conclusion that, generally speaking, the evening shift cashiers (and managers) are more friendly. I absolutely love the evening staff at SLP Rainbow and I’ve made a point to tell both the night manager and the day manager.
My two evening trips were great!
First- 2 GM cereals (2/$5), 1 Minute Rice ($2), 2 Ronzoni (BOGO $1.55), 3lbs ground beef ($5.87), Honeycrisp apples ($5.88), baby bella mushrooms ($2.29), basil plant ($2.49) and 2 YoPlus (BOGO $2.59). $39.68 of groceries, on sale for $30.16 with $9.00 of doubled coupons for a total of $21.16 OOP.or 47% savings.
Second – Celestial Seasonings tea (2/$5), 2 Glade candles (50%off at 2.89 each), Roundy’s Organic coffee (5.99/12oz), OR Smart Pop mini (2.69), 1 Chinet Comfort Cups ($2.50 plus $3 coupon off coffee), Roundy’s chicken boneless breasts ($1.99/lb), 2 Roundy’s milk (2/$4.38) and 2 Yoplait Delights ($2.89×2). $49.34 of groceries, on sale for $32.80 with $15.50 in coupons – 2 $3 coupons, 1 $1.50 coupon and 4 doubled $1 coupons (cashier missed one! That’s the 1st time its happened to me. Two Celestial Seasonings tea coupons must have stuck together. oh well).
Tonight I had two fun surprises of the $3.00 off coffee with one pkg of Chinet Cups (on sale for $2.50 with a doubled $1 coupon) and 2 Glade apple cinnamon candle at 50% off with a $3/2 coupon. Thanks to whoever reminded us to take our Glade holiday coupons! I still can’t believe I didn’t notice the missed $1 tea coupon.
Theresa, I bought some of those apple cinnamon glade candles today thinking they were 1/2 off. When I later checked my receipt, I see they rang at full price — no discount. Guess I’ll be making a trip back to Rainbow in the morning to get a refund. I bought mine at the Quarry.
Speaking of great evening cashiers Mike at the Rainbow in Roseville is awesome!
Where is the Roseville Rainbow? I was at Best Buy by Rosedale last week and thought “I’ll go to Rainbow”…I thought it was right next door. But it was gone! Where did it move to? (Obviously I’m not in that area very often!)
Kimm,
The Rainbow in Roseville is on Larpenteur at Lexington. It’s pretty nice!
To all who posted that they missed their $25 min….remember you can throw in a Rainbow Giftcard to get to your threshhold. They’re usually right there at the register,
Kimm- The Lakeville Rainbow doesn’t let you add a gift card to get to your $25 threshhold. It was even a manager checking me out at the time that wouldn’t allow me to do it.
I did very good tonight myself. For $69.74 worth of groceries, I only paid $24.19. For a grand total of 65% savings on 2 transactions.
So it sounds like I wasn’t the only one who had a horrible experience at Rainbow today… I went to the Shoreview Rainbow and was all set up to do my regular 2 transactions in a row. I had everything out of my cart, and the cashier rang up my 1st transaction and told me that if I wanted to double my coupons I would need more items to reach the $25 minimum. Right away I knew something had changed with the system, since I always add up my transactions very carefully to make sure I will reach the $25. I told him to cancel the transaction, then loaded everything back into my cart and went to customer service. When I asked the CS lady what had changed with the coupon policy, at first she denied that anything had “changed”, but then finally told me that they had just had a big meeting with all the cashiers, where they were told not to let any coupons double unless the $25 minimum was met (So apparently the cash registers are not and have not ever been set up to monitor whether or not the transaction is at $25 before letting the coupons double?). Also, the cashiers were told not to accept any coupons that say “Do Not Double or Triple”. Apparently this has “always” been the policy????, but now they are more strictly enforcing it???? Has anyone else experienced this? Finally, it seems like now the $25 minimum reflects the sale prices and not original retail prices, so it costs more up front to reach the $25 minimum. Did anyone else notice this today? I am definitely planning to call/email corporate headquarters tomorrow, so I can get a written policy on their coupon doubling program, because all of these sudden changes seem so strange and inconsistent!
On a positive note, the CS lady ended up being very helpful and even opened up a lane just so I could figure things out. I ended up only being able to do one transaction, though, because I didn’t have enough for two $25 minimums and I had some IP coupons that said “Do Not Double or Triple”, so there were a few items I wasn’t able to get…
I had a very good experience at the shoreview store. They accepted the $5 coupon with no problems. and used the shelf price in the system. I did have to get a $10 gift card on one transaction though cause the shelf tag said 9.89 but rang up as 8.49 which through me off by about a dollar. But they had no problem letting me get a gift card to get to the 25 threshold. I made all of my trips in the morning and at lunch, so maybe the big meeting was in the afternoon. I will see how thing go next week, since this store is close to work, it is easy to go before and at lunch.
On a separate note, my rewards card worked 3 times, but on the 4th it said it had reached the daily limit. this was at a different store than the shoreview one. The cashier said she had never heard of such a thing. it only affects the gas rewards though, not sale prices.
Michelle ~ what time did you go to Shoreview??? I was there around 7-9pm and had absolutely no problems. I did 3 transactions (the first one I brought to my car then came back in). In my first transaction I purchased a $10 gift card. For my other two I put a divider on the belt to separate the two transactions. It was even the same guy who rang me up the 1st time so he knew I was doing 3 but didn’t say anything. The register doubled my coupons based of SHELF price – one of my transactions was about $19 and it doubled my coupons, the second was about $24 and it doubled my coupons – so it MUST have taken the shelf price. I do not recall if any of my coupons said DND (honestly I don’t even pay attention anymore) but one of them was for Cheerios and usually cereal ones say DND I think?? Strange that we go to the same store and all of my transactions when through just fine without a “peep” (or a “beep”!)
I only had 2 transactions last night -
#1
5 Healthy Choice – $5Q
6 Ronzoni Pasta – $1/1 x 3
2 Yo-Plus Yogurt – $1/1 x 2
Total OOP $2.84
#2
Romaine Lettuse
Bananas
Tomatoes
3 cans of mushrooms
2 Kens Dressing – $2/1 x 2
2 Mcormick Spices – $0.75/1 x 2
1 Gatorade G2 – $0.50/1
Wheat Flour
Jar of yeast – $0.75/1
2 Toranados – $1/1
Plus a $5q from the Kraft cheese deal last week – (I misjudged a tran last week and the total was $4.99 – Dope!)
Total OOP $14.12, the flour, yeast, and spices caused me to spend a little more OOP than I probably would have on #2
http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=zakfcch9999255&bt=wg&o=61153&c=RP&p=sKXkmp4P
When i try to print with bricks this is the string of characters I recieve with FF, similiar with IE. I don’t see what to replace. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Dawn
I see that there are some people that have been having some problems with dbl coupons recently. I would like to go ahead & post the e-mail that I have from Roundy’s on this. I have to type it, as I did not save it for some reason. I only contacted P&S asking for a coupon policy, and they sent me a Q&A policy back. I e-mailed them through their website. The e-mail address on the letter that I have is: picknsavecare@roundys.com.
1) Do you accept expired coupons?
Generally we do not accept expired coupons, although you can always check with your local store.
2)Can store coupons and manufacturer coupons be combined?
Most coupons cannot be combined with other offers. However, you can always seek verification about whether particular coupons can be combined with your local store.
3) Do you accept printable coupons from the internet?
Below we have provided general guidelines for internet “cents off” coupons. Due to the large number of fraudulent internet coupons circulating, we need to make you aware that the acceptance of internet coupons is up to the discretion of the Store Director.
The following are general guidelines we use to verify authenticity:
-Coupons can be printed in color or black & white as long as the following items appear on the coupon:
—The words “Manufacturer Internet coupon or manufacturer instant coupon” reads across the top
__URL address of the distributing website should be visible (usually on the bottom of the coupon)
__A watermark (shaded in gray over the original copy) of some type e.g. the words, “internet coupon” or “outlined character” right of the product logo.
__a scanable bar code
__billing address (where the coupon needs to be cleared by our clearing house)
__The customers name who is redeeming the coupon
__a unique pin number can identify the shopper who redeemed the coupon
Please not that “free product” internet coupons (in any format) are not acceptable.
4) Do you ever have double-coupon days?
We have been running double coupon days recently on Wednesdays. With regard to the double coupon days, up to 5 manufacturer coupons with a value of $1.00 or less can be doubled. Customers are required to use their shoppers club cards to participate in this promotion. The minimum purchase required is $25.00 after tax and store coupons. Manufacturer coupons for alcohol or tobacco products are not accepted and cash back is not provided.
We hope this information is helpful to you.
Vanita Ross
Customer Experience Representative
Ref # 472802
Thanks Penny – that was a lot to have to retype in.
There is some more information that I have just from my personal experiences. I shop at Pick & Save just about every week. I occasionally go to Piggly Wiggly to pick up a cpl of things if they have a good sale. Other than that Pick and Save is my store. I love the store that I go to! So much so that I recently sent a letter to corporate letting them know just how good they are doing. I also thanked them for offering the 10 dbl Q promotion.
Anyway, onto the what I know:
Your total does have to be $25.00 before Q’s. The $25.00 is based on the sale prices, not the original prices of the products. If a product is on bogo $2.50 for one, get one free; only the $2.50 will go towards your total.
If you use any store coupons you will need to take that amount off of your total. The store coupons count just like a sale, so your total has to be $25.00 after those coupons still.
Most coupons that say do not double, triple, etc…. will still double. This is only put on the coupons as a disclaimer, so that the store is aware that they will not be re-imbursed by the manufacturer when they double the coupon.
If you have a $1.00 off coupon for something that is on sale for a $1.00 the coupon will still double up to the original retail price of the product. If eggs are usually $1.50, and you have a $1.00 off coupon the coupon will only take off a $1.50. However, if eggs are usually $2.25 the coupon will deduct $2.00 even though the eggs are on sale for $1.00. The system is only set to recognize the value of the product before the sale when it comes to doubling the coupons.
I personally have never had a problem doing multiple transactions. I do not do more than two in one run, though. If I want to do more than that I go outside, and come back in. My store does not care about multiple transactions because they are making a ton of money off of it. Remember my total has to be $25.00 before coupons still, and they are getting re-imbursed by the manufacturer. There are a couple of cashiers that don’t like it. I say too bad, though. That’s their job that they are getting PAID to do. When they OWN Pick and Save, etc… then they can change the rules.
Hopefully this information is helpful! :)
I had a good week–saved 81%! I did 6 transactions and my total OOP was $41.27 for 78 items, even though I bought almost 13 lbs. of meat!
http://momforhim.blogspot.com/2010/01/weekly-groceries-saved-81.html
Some of my totals were slightly below $25 because of the BOGOs, and coupons still doubled. The cashier noticed on the first one, and I said I had some backup items I could move up if coupons didn’t double, but she scanned them and they did, no problem.
They didn’t take my free chocolate milk coupon, either. I’m hoping to use it at Walmart (I never go there, but I will for free milk!)
When I went to Rainbow last week I was told that they were no longer accepting coupons with an address that included a “CMS” number. All of my coupons I was trying to use had a “CMS” number on them, so I couldn’t use them. The cashier said there was a posting in their break room about it and even went back there to verify it. Has anyone else been advised of this?
what is a CMS number?
The CMS number is part of the address on the coupon that they would send the coupon to to get reimbursement. I was using some Weight Watchers coupons for frozen novelties and one for Dannon yogurt that I found here.
Me again. I had trouble with smart source coupons at The Quarry Rainbow on Wednesday, but tonight I went to the new St. Louis Park Rainbow and I had a LOVELY experience. No problems with the same $5 Healthy Choice coupon that was refused at The Quarry. Great store, nice cashiers. I found my new Rainbow :) Oh, I spent $25.44 and saved $25! I thought that was pretty good on a non-double coupon day! The BOGOs really helped.
Sean and Sarah Beth – I’m so encouraged that you both had great experiences at Shoreview that day; I guess there’s hope:) I was there between 3 and 4 in the afternoon, so apparently that is NOT the time to go, or I just happened to have really particular cashiers??? So strange that the morning and evening cashiers didn’t seem to be so picky, since the Customer Service lady said it was an all-cashier meeting where they were all told to follow these new guidelines or it would be “on their heads”. I guess we’ll see what happens this week!