Click to get a copy of the Walmart Ad Match Policy and the Walmart Coupon Policy
I was checking out the other day at Walmart and I noticed I was in the line of a cashier that gives people a little trouble about price matching. Now this woman has no idea who I am, (not that i’m important, but I spend so much time in the store it is darn near impossible to not know me) so I decide to price match something without my ads.
Just as has been reported, she asks me for the ads and just looks completely confused when I say “Sorry, I don’t have them but the price of X is Y at Kroger.”
She replies, “Well I can’t PM without an ad.”
I smile, and point to the sign right above her register that has the Walmart Ad Match Policy on it.
“According to your sign, I don’t need my ad.” I say.
What does she say? “Fine, JUST THIS ONE TIME, I will do it without an ad.”
This past month we had the opportunity to go on a 2 week road trip. We stopped at no less then 8 different Walmarts along the way. Each store had this same sign at each register, so I am guessing they are going to be in just about EVERY store. I think you should still have the policy with you, BUT make sure to take notice of the policy in case you need to point it out when you are checking out!
All the Wal-Mart is Tri Cities have this same sign at the register. Pasco, Kennewick and Richland,WA
Those signs are in my Walmart also:)
that’s hilarious! I’ll be sure to check for those at my Walmart (Saint Robert, MO) when I go in this week.
I have the YouTube version of the commercial saved on my iPhone. When the cashier says that I need the ad I whip out the phone and hit “play”. That’s all it takes!! 🙂
If I have a newer cashier they ask for ad. My Walmart actually carries the ads in the customer service dept. I always bring my ads with me too.
I PM’d for the 1st time yesterday. I had the competitor’s ad all highlighted with my list and the cashier said she didn’t need to see it & would take my word for it. I was shocked.
Break out the SmartPhone and show her your blog! Lol
This is funny because Friday I went to a Wal-Mart and was trying to PM something from DG and the cashier couldn’t find an ad so he said he couldn’t do it. I just said okay and decided to go to a different WM. On my way I stopped at DG and picked up their ad so I would have it with me. When I got there the cashier was so nice, I explained what happen at the other WM and he showed me the sign and said you don’t have to have the ad with you.
In my store in Woodstock VA we used to not need the ad but something happen with a customer one time and they want they ad now. I still have some chashier that let it go but others are hard nosed about it. They even wouldnt let you buy 1 of 10 for 10 because they say you have to buy 10….fight that time and time again. I put post its on anything I price match I go though the papers andI put all the like things in order for them. Why give me a hard time…….I also put on the post it the store I found the match….Sometime I just want to go store to store for my deals………..
My walmarts try to give me a hard time too… they hate when I ask for a store manager and even when i point to the sign they say “well they told us we couldn’t and I’m just doing what I was told” come to find out the csm are the ones telling them not to do it. In my opinion the csm’s should be better trained.
I recently moved to CA, and sent my hubby to the local WM to price match CVS’s .88 tuna. He brought the ad with him, and they wouldn’t price match because the ad says “with card”. Later that day I decided to call the same WM and asked if I needed the ad to price match and was told ‘YES”, I also asked about if an ad says sale price with loyalty card would they match that and she said “NO”! I think I am going to go to the store and see if they have these price match signs up. IDK if WM in CA works differently then other states, but I was shocked b/c I never had this happen to me in PA.
A friend of my husband is a manager at the #1 store. I asked him about all the rules being different at each store. He told me that the manager does have some say as to what they do. He told me to sit down and talk with the manager and find out what all the rules are and then when I have a problem just let them know that I have spoken with the manager and he said….
Will you please explain in more detail their policy regarding accepting competitors coupons? I think I understand it but not sure enough to try and I want to be sure I am right, have all my facts before I try. Please and thank you.
Absolutely! The competitor Coupon must state the actual price of the item.This video should help! http://www.iheartthemart.com/2011/04/20/competitor-coupons-walmart-video/
Excellant! Just watched the video and feel ready to tackle that issue when I try. Great video with the picture examples. TG for I Heart the Mart!
My friend and I started a group of price matchers in our town. When a large part of our community began to price match the stores took down this sign, then changed their policy which was a 40 mile radius, down to a 30 mile radius. When I asked why they were changing things I was informed that Bentonville (AKA The Big Boys) wanted to know why the “comp rate” was so much higher at our store. It seems that if a large group of people catch on to the savings potential that they can change the policy to fit what they want.
I also wanted to say that by dropping the mile radius down to 30 miles it excluded both of the large towns and 1/2 of the ads we could match to. They had been matching those 2 large towns for 17 years (exact words from management) and they changed it only because their “Comp Rate” had become so high. I would love to hear Paul’s opinion on this.
I usually check out in the garden center. They don’t want to take the time to get a head cashier to verify the price.
I always bring the ads even though you do not need them to be safe. I was at the WalMart in Calera, AL lat month when I had a cashier who I never used before asking me when an ad was supposed to end because I had hot dogs that were 99 cents ( I think that was the price at the time) from another grocery store. I smiled and said Tuesday and had to show the cashier the ad even though it wasn’t required. I never used that cashier again. I only go to the cashiers that know me and how I use my coupons. I make sure to prepare my coupons and ads ready whenever I get reay for a WM road trip so it will go smoothly. My Calera WM cashiers I go to rock!!!
Here is my two cents on Walmart….I actually used to shop there all the time…but when I started using coupons they just gave me the evil eye and I had trouble every visit whether it was PM or not….so I have mostly stopped going. I used and still do use coupons the right and legal way… I think the problem is that there are too many people using them the wrong illegal way and it is harmful to the rest of us who need to save money and do things correctly. I should say this not only happens at Walmart but at other stores too…I had a cashier at Rite Aid just last week roll her eyes and say repeatedly, “I HATE coupons!”….I wanted to say, “Well, I wouldn’t even shop here if it wasn’t for coupons!”…but I didn’t!…I despise feeling like I’m the bad guy…especially when I’m not!
i use to work at wal-mart in the lawn and garden center. and that is where i will usually check out. the cashiers back there know me and the ones that dont will stand by the register and watch as the price keeps dropping from the coupons. they want to know how they can do it too. i think some of them are more excited by my savings than what i am. (NOT!)
Ive been wondering when you pricematch with cvs or walgreens, how does it work when they are offering ecb’s or register rewards, does walmart match the price before or after the rewards….and wht about when it says the price with a limited amount, will they match price with more than the quantity?
They do not Price match ECB or Register Rewards. Those are actually coupons that you get after a transaction.
Explain to me how to price match BOGO’s? Do you just state the half off price?
Thanks 🙂
If the price is listed the cashier should take divide the full ad price in 2 and place half the price on each item.
Our store that’s been giving us so many problems says for BOGO items you have to pay Walmart’s full price for the first one, then do the math on what the cost of the second item should be. That way they are only taking a mark down on one item instead of two. Weird I know!
Ok I live in california and after your post about how cali residents should price match i started to try. I tried to price match on limes from a small hispanic grocery store, but the check out person would not let me because the sale for set for a specific day(wednesday). she said i would have to come back wednesday to walmart get that price match. is that right?
If the item you are trying to PM is on sale somewhere else for a specific day only, then YES you must be doing your PM on that same day. I do a lot of PM’s for Randall’s where I live for their Friday specials, but I have to be doing them on Friday’s if I want to PM. HTH
thank you so much.
They don’t have the sign up at my Walmart but I normally don’t have a problem price matching. Once I did have someone tell me they could price match for groceries only, but not the other items. I nicely corrected her and she told me “Well it must have changed because that’s how I was trained a couple months ago!” Most of the time the cashiers don’t care where it is you’re price matching to. For example, I will say “This cereal is $1.99 at Walgreens” and I’ve had cashiers tell me “you don’t have to say where each items is from”. Less time consuming for me, as a price matcher, but scary to think the cashiers give such little thought that anyone can say anything is on sale anywhere and get away with it.
75% of the cashiers at our loacl Walmart WILL NOT price match anything w/o the actual ad. They also will not honor local stores loyalty card prices (CVS, etc.), nor will they allow us to have the yellow box (super saver) prices from Blackburn’s Market 🙁
It sounds like it is time to call 1-800-Walmart
I agree with you Paul! They should definitely call the home office. I cannot imagine “Bentonville” would be ok with cashiers or managers turning down $…since thats the whole point of the ad match guarantee. They should let them know they will be shopping at the stores offering the lower prices instead of ad matching at Walmart.
When I went to Walmart today I was getting some slack from the checker I used today. She went ahead and price matched everything , but it was not because she wanted to. I had quite a few things to price match, so I don’t know if that is why she was being a pain or what.
Has anyone ever tried for clarity on the “we take competitors coupons as long as they specified a price”? I was told that they will price match, but cannot take a competitor coupons since Walmart will not be refunded a value. My Target is across the street from Walmart and I would think Target coupons are competitors, but the manager stated that ALL stores are competitors and that only means they will price match to the competitor coupon? I tried to explain that Publix takes competitor coupons but they just kept trying to tell me they would lose money. Any info? I did try to call home office and they said it is store option?
they will price match a competitor coupon that states a price. If it is for a dollar amount off they will not. The good part is that you are then allowed to use a manufacturer coupon on that item.
HELLO Wal-Mart Coupon Man!!!
I enjoy your website and get some laughs at the same time. Question: Sometimes when I checkout at Wal-Mart and I have several coupons for the same item, some of the checkers say that the coupon state one coupon per purchase and they tell me that I can’t check out 3 of the same item and use 3 of the same coupons. The coupon does not say any limit on it. Fyi… these are the $2.00 coupons for the Glade Expression REFILLS. The clerk at first is rejecting my coupons saying that I can’t do this. I tell her that it is one coupon per item purchased and not one coupon per transaction. Again, she is trying to reject my coupons. Finally, she says you have to check each refill out separately. I told her to do whatever she needs to do and then she got nicer. She tells me that Wal-Mart is getting after the cashiers since some of them are not doing it that way. She knew this in the first place and could have immediately stated she needs to check them out separately, but instead of tried twice to reject my coupon. I have had this problem before on other items at Wal-Mart. Since you are the Wal-Mart expert can you explain this to me. Is this Wal-Mart’s policy that I have to check each one out separately? Thanks for what you do.