1st Couponing Adventure as ONE

It has been a busy day of traveling for Elisa (Guadalupe to San Francisco and back as well as stops in between) as well Destyny (San Jose to Los Banos and everywhere in between)  as a busy day of trying to get some deals from up and down the cental coast!. Finally able to reunite with my Sans and meet another fellow couponer, Kasondra!

Our first stop together was at Morgan Hill Walmart. My (elisa) very first time I was there a few weeks ago, everyone was so nice, but then again it was only one little couponer....This time, there were THREE of us, each with a basket, each with a binder and each with a gazillion coupons. Mind you, we were not there to clear the shelves, but get some good deals with last minute coupons. Since we walked in, we were treated very nice UNTIL it was checkout time. We each had a very minimal amount of items in our cart (I had, 2 face bars, 4 packs of Schick razors, 4 all detergents, 1 bag of dog food, 2 covergirl face sponges, 2 Oral B toothbrushes and a bag of candy corn) Both my sans and Kasondra had less than I, but different items (so we did NO SHELF CLEARING). There was only one lane open and we all went in the same line. Another lane opened so Kassie and I went to that one. I had no problems until my schick razors MC came up. They refused to take it because the amount was more than the item. Destyny's were in question at the other register as well and we were holding up all the lines. I did feel bad because I do hate holding up lines because cashiers dont know their own policy.

If coupon value exceeds the price of the item, the excess may be given to the customer as cash or applied toward the basket purchase. After literally 5-10 minutes of waiting for the manager to "call" another manager, she gave a frustrated look to both different cashiers  and said "just do it". After that, I was in the clear (i did nothing wrong and made sure my coupons were for my products), I paid my total of $6 for over $65 worth of items and stood to the side while Kassie finished her transaction. Destyny was still having issues with her cashiers and ended up having to take items out of her cart, because the manager REFUSED to take her coupons for items that would in the end be FREE plus have OVERAGE.  Again in their policy If coupon value exceeds the price of the item, the excess may be given to the customer as cash or applied toward the basket purchase. She pointed this out and the manger again told her "I cant just give you stuff for free"  (um, yes you can, if you use coupons, that is the point in using coupons, to get items cheaper than the average person and possibly free) I honestly dont understand why they made it such a big deal. There was no fraud being comitted, the coupons were for the exact products and sizes and the amounts were miniscual. The store will get refunded the amount of the coupon by the manufacturer. The mangager then preceded to tell both of her employees to be prepared for a write up because of "these couponers". I pulled her aside and asked her "excuse me, can you explain that to me?" She told me it was because the subtotal was less than the amount of items and they had to do so many overrides with in minutes.

 I still dont get it, but I will be sure to call corporate and let them know of our coupning experience in their store. No way, No where should anyone, couponer or not be treated so rudely and made to feel like they are doing something wrong.

These are reasons to ALWAYS have your coupon policies with you. In most cases if you point something out to them from their policy, they will abide by it. But I think they were just very irritated, that we were getting things for so cheap and maybe because there were 3 of us and 2 kids (my 2 kids who were well behaved actually!!!)  I hope this doesnt discourage you from couponing. It just goes to show, that cashiers/managers arent too familiar with their own store and we as couponers are sometimes more familiar than they. And also try not to over react. We need to keep ourselves together, no matter how they treat us. The worst that can happen is they we say with a big smile "you know what, I dont think Im going to take any of this. I dont come here to shop to be treated so rudely, I came to give you my business and you are acting like Im a thief, have a nice day!" Walmart in Morgan Hill....argh.......

After that, we decided to hit up CVS a few exits down the road. I went in for the Almay deal and also the Whisk/gift card deal....Much better transactions and much frendlier and patient people all around!!!Scored 2 Almay makup products (5.99 each), 6 Whisk detergents ($4.99 each)  and a $10 CVS gift card PLUS $4 ECB (for next week!) for $17!!!! CVS in Morgan Hill off of Dunne Rd...YOU ROCK!!!

It was then time for us to part ways and say our goodbyes. Kids and I had a long ride home (Morgan Hill to Guadalupe-193 miles) and Destyny home to her parents (60 miles) and Kassie to her home (40 miles). Sans and I decided to take a picture of us with our new personalized totes courtesy of Infinite Threads (Thanks Sans!!!) for our FB page and blog!!!

After we parted ways, Destyny decided to stop at the Walmart in Los Banos and had a succesful trip with frendlier employees! I decided to stop at the Walmart in Paso Robles with also frendlier employees. All in all we had a little bit of both types of couponing experiences. and even though, we were a bit discouraged we still continued and ended up having a great day!

Keep at it...Dont let the rough experiences define your couponing. Even we (who have been coupning for a few months) have bad days... As long as you know that you are doing everything right, you have nothing to worry about!!! GOOD LUCK & HAPPY COUPONING!!!!