I wanted to take a minute to update this post. If there is ever any question on a readers post about the coupons that they used I always ask the reader first and give them a chance to talk to me about it. I also get about 3 readers deals a day and don’t post 60% of them for coupon misuse. About 90% of the time it is unintentional.
People are extremely quick to comment and accuse people of wrongdoing. Many times it is the commenters that were wrong or are in a different area with different regional coupons and they don’t realize that. I think it is only fair to give the person a chance, who took the time to send a picture and write up a post which is a time consuming ordeal either explain what coupons they had or even realize it might have not been the correct one.
It is also extremely discouraging for readers to send in deals knowing other readers are going to be extremely critical of them, from the color of their kitchen to the products they are feeding their families.
With that being said, yes the reader did use the wrong coupons. She is a new couponer and was very excited about her trip. After chatting she was heartbroken and embarrassed to find out she possibly used the wrong coupons on 2 products and considered not couponing anymore. That is NOT the answer at all! I am guessing everyone of us has accidentally at some point in our coupon career used the wrong coupon. I know that I have. I have even posted the deal I did and had 200 people quickly yell and scream at me. For most of you, you have the luxury of making a mistake in private.
I applaude the readers excitement for couponing and wanting to coupon the correct way. Ironically, those 2 coupons are probably the most misused coupons that are out right now. Well, except for the $5/2 Clariol coupon from Sunday.
Thank you for sending in your trip and for taking criticism in such a gracious way.
———————————————————————————————————-
Thank you for submitting your readers trip post! I love to see what people are finding in their stores!
“Ok, so after perusing your glorious site I went to my local Walmart here in Boise, Idaho. I price matched 7 up ten 2 liter bottles to a Kmart ad and got some other items from your lists.”
Here’s how it went:
Transaction
18 2 ltr bottles of 7Up Ten products @ $1.38 ea (Walmart price)
2 13oz Enfamil Prosobee $4.98 ea
2 BirdsEye ready fresh $1.00 ea
2 Reach double pk $1.97 ea
2 Flashy toothbrushes $1.88 (can’t remember name!!!)
2 Rayovac AA 4 packs $0.97
6 Beechnut Baby food jars $0.46 ea
4 Yakisoba noodles $0.72 ea
That would have been $56.81 w tax
Missing from the picture are the 2 pkgs of flashy toothbrushes because my nephew got to the bags before me when he saw the lights going off!
I used:
75/1 coupons for the soda, which they then doubled all 18 coupons!
4 50/1 Yakisoba’s
2 $2/1 Reach
1$2/2 flashy Toothbrushes
2 $5/1 Enfamil
2 $1/1 Rayovac
2 $1/1 Birdseye
And I had 2 $1/3 Beechnut but it wouldn’t scan.
So with tax my total was………..$2.76!!!!!
All of these coupons were printed from your site, with the exception of the soda.
Thank you for all you do!!
The soda coupons state do not double.
Where do you live that Walmart “doubles” coupons????? I have never heard of that
They double in Idaho and Utah on certain days.
Those look like the Crystal Clear toothbrushes to me… the $2/1 q says that it EXCLUDES those…
It does to me as well 🙁
I don’t want this to sound critical, but some of the coupons were used for the wrong items. The toothbrush coupons excluded crystal clean, but according to the picture, that is what they were used on. And the battery coupons were for alkaline batteries, but that is not what is pictured. I don’t want people to think that you promote using coupons incorrectly, even if the coupon will scan.
I have a question about the batteries I have a bunch of the IPS from the Walmart site and they say on Alkaline batteries. So I looked at the yellow ones and they are not labeled Alkaline. The ones that are, are 2.97 not 1.00 so is there a different coupon for the RAYOVAC or am I crazy!
No you are not crazy, it looks like she used the wrong coupon on them.
Our Walmart in Boise, on State st., will double only on Kmart match ups, I was however really surprised when they doubled ALL of them and not just 5. They will also match a local store called Ridleys,that doubles on Tuesdays if you ad match to their ad, but you have to go to the Walmart closest to them, which is the Walmart on Fairview Rd. The doubles were actually approved by the front end manager, and one another trip a few days earlier by a different manager.
The Reach toothbrushes are the crystal clean, but the ones that printed from your site didn’t specify, I don’t think. In any case those are the only ones we had. In my defense, I didn’t realize there was a difference!
Our Rayovac’s, the ones that I bought, the Heavy Duty ones, are indeed $.97 cents.
I have posted before about the highly variable prices from store to store even in our own town,as well as the extreme differences in variety.
I am still learning! I do apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this caused anyone. I always ask before I ad match, and with any doubles too.
Oh well at least I wont drive myself crazy looking for the coupon so I can get them free lol! Thank you!
Paul, i feel for the sake of honest couponing that this HAUL should be deleted bc of the knowing mis-use of the coupons she mentioned. Its not a good haul if you mis use coupons. i feel like you are promoting misuse of coupons by leaving this shopping trip up. thanks for listening and i do love your site.
Christine – I wanted to wait and have a chance to ask the reader first before I assume anything. No, I am not promoting the misuse of coupons, people are entirely to quick to accuse people.
Geez Louise! You live and you learn. I am a beginner as well. I must admit its tricky and confusing at first, but if you don’t succeed try try try again. It will be nice to ask if she needs help rather than cutting her out. Everyone so fast to jump and pounce with pitch forks in hand rather than leading a hand. Don’t give up it’s worth learning for you and yours GOOD LUCK!!
We all make mistakes, how else will we learn to do it right the next time.
I saw good for her! Way to go! I made the mistake a couple weeks ago of using the $5/1 Venus razor which excluded the disposable. I bought the disposable pack at Dollar General and the coupon went through just fine with no problems. Even the cashier did not catch it. I really did not realize what I was doing until my mother pointed it out to me when I was showing her what I got. I felt bad but learned my lesson and will pay better attention to the fine print on the coupon AND on the product.
I appreciate you posting this as we all make mistakes…..but I do believe any mistakes should be pointed out in a NICE way so that you and the poster will know what happened. This lets others know, that may see the post that a mistake was made and that it’s not ok to use the coupon that way. Unfortunately, many people do intentionally use coupons in the wrong way and I think that’s why people are quick to be critical, even when they shouldn’t be. It’s human nature to react first, and ask questions later.
I also appreciate the fact that you won’t post shopping trips that show misuse of coupons! Some are so afraid of losing readers or offending, that they either go ahead and post it or just ignore getting the email and say nothing to the person who shopped. Thanks for standing up for what’s right 🙂
I so appreciate Tiffany and Paul’s attitude when it comes to this mistake. I truly did not realize that I was using the wrong coupons on those items. After all the posts I wrote Tiffany and Paul and explained and apologized for the appearance of wrong doing. I also called my Walmart and spoke to the front end manager and explained my mistake and offered to bring the receipt in so it could be fixed. They were very gracious with me, but told me not to worry about it. It was also a chance for me to ask some questions about their coupon policies, so that the next time I am in, I don’t make the same mistakes.
I am absolutely sure that I will make new ones! I was very upset with myself for misusing those coupons tho, I felt as tho I had done something terribly wrong. I do appreciate the comments tho, it will keep me on my toes.
My Walmart manager did pass something on to me, if we will ask first the stores will usually work with us and try to give us some room in our couponing, just to keep good customers.
Have a beautiful day!
I actually almost used the same coupons on those exact same items until I read the coupon again before I finished shopping. Definitely common to misuse coupons when you first start. Even without those 2 hiccups, it was still an awesome take home on everything else. Good job!
Ok, so I’m a bit confused… does certain walmart stores double coupons????
Yes some do, but there are VERY few that offer that.