Coupon Trip: I Hate Walmart

At least I was able to get a couple of good deals before it all went downhill:

Purina Cat Chow Naturals 3.15lb $4.88
 - used:  $3/1 printable
Price:  $1.88 each

P3 Oscar Meyer Protein Pack - $1
 - used: $1/1 printable
Price: FREE

White Cloud 4pk - $2.36
 - used: $2/1 white cloud printable
Price: $.36

Curious about whether the coupons I mentioned above are still available or what coupons are out there for another product?  Check a coupon database.  I personally use the one at CouponLikeAMan HERE.

Only took me 45 minutes to check out this time!  :D  (-sarcasm implied-)

Won't Be Shopping at Walmart Again...

Want to read a super long gripe about my horrible experience at yet another Walmart?

Just FYI:  (Walmart Official Coupon Policy)

Before my recent move, I had stopped shopping at Walmart for 2 years, because it is just a nightmare every time I had gone in there.  I recently started going back, because I thought that the Walmarts here would be different.

With the exception of one wonderful cashier that I've had who told me that she had worked there for over a decade, this would be very wrong.  (Seriously, she was awesome.  I even called the store and left a great review for her.)

After this trip, I am quitting again for awhile.  I have gone to 3 separate Walmarts in this area in the past couple of weeks, and it has been awful every single time.  I thought this Walmart might be better because it is one of the newer ones, but no...

The only good thing that I can say is that it wasn't as nasty as the other Walmarts and I didn't find a bunch of expired stock on the shelves like at the other two.  So, there's that.

It should have been a quick transaction.

I had 2 of the cat foods, 4 P3s, and 4 White Cloud 4pks.  I had a coupon for each item.  Nothing weird.  Not even any BOGOs. 

After the cashier, who was actually very nice unlike my experience at the other Walmart last week, scanned my items, she started to go through my coupons.  You could tell she hadn't been trained at all, but everybody has a first day.  So, I just kept smiling and got my cash ready.

She read each one several times and stared at the products over and over again.

Still smiling...still waiting..."You think it'll rain?" 

I swear they have changed their policy, at least on a store level, because it didn't used to be this difficult even a month ago.

She scanned one cat food coupon, and then told me she couldn't scan the other one even though the coupon had no limit on it.  In her words, "it doesn't seem right to get more than one at this price."  She accidentally scanned it anyway when she went to hand it back to me.  So, I got to get both like how it normally works.

Next, a supervisor had to be called over because she wouldn't scan the $1 off for the P3 because they were priced at a dollar making them free.  (I got out my printed copy of the coupon policy, but the supervisor wouldn't even look at it.  Just rolled her eyes...it was actually a pretty good eye roll.  Full of sass.  I was quite impressed.)

I must have had a "face" going on or something, because another supervisor came over and was like, "just try it."  And wouldn't you know, they scanned and nothing bad happened!

They only allowed me to get one white cloud though.

The coupon was a $2 off any 1 and said "limit one per item per purchase" which means one coupon per item to everyone else and every store I have worked in ever.  Or, basically you can only use one coupon once per item not 2 or 3. You can't come back repurchase with the post-coupon price and apply another coupon later.  You can't apply one coupon twice to cover two items.  If you have 2 of the same items, you can use two coupons.  And so on...

Common sense stuff here.

Let me just note that each coupon had a unique pin code/identification code on them which I politely pointed out.  They looked at me like I had four heads.

Oh, and there were 4 supervisors now.  Whoohoo, party at the register!

Then, the lead supervisor (I assume because they were all watching her reactions) tells me that they can't accept them because the coupon bar code is the same.  Let me just write that again...the coupon bar code is the same.  The. Coupon. Barcode. Is. The. Same.

Uh...

No crap!  If it was a different bar code it would be for a different item or discount!  That's how barcodes and UPCs work!!!

(I said this politely, but inside I wanted to unleash all my frustration because I was a supervisor, this very position, at my last job.  I just couldn't believe that none of them knew this.  Really...a retail supervisor, at a huge store like Walmart, doesn't know basic stuff like this?  And they wouldn't call a manager and find out when I asked.)

I kept my poker face though, because I am not going to throw a fit over a freaking coupon.  I will just void, get my coupons back, and move on.  They wouldn't have listened anyway.  They just wanted me gone to move the line along and was willing to say anything to get me to leave.  (I get it.  I've been there.)

Can I just say that the coupon had "exclusively at Walmart" in big bold letters on it as well? 

(I also had the $1 off equate pad coupon refused last week when I tried to use only one on an item over $3.  So, I really shouldn't be surprised.)

I had already set the other three 4pks up on the bag thing to have them voided.  I had my father with me, and he, the most patient and cool tempered guy I know, was getting frustrated with them.

The funniest thing still...

The cash register had signs all over it that said stuff like "Coupons? No problem" and "We love coupons here at Walmart" and "We gladly accept coupons."  I really had to hold back a laugh.  I wish I could have gotten a picture.

I'm not mad at the cashier at all.  She was actually very nice.  You could tell that she just had no idea.  (Though with how the supervisors were, I can see why...  How do I hook up with this fast track upward job mobility?  Seriously...)

My father (best coupon buddy ever!) and I went to several other stores after this and had zero problems.  The staff everywhere else we went was great.  The coupons just zipped through.  It was just awesome.  So, I would say this is definitely a Walmart thing and I want no more of it.

I will pay a few cents extra to not have to spend an hour in checkout and be treated like I'm doing something wrong.  (The store gets paid the same, in some cases more, when a coupon is used.  So, me getting something at a rock bottom price doesn't affect how much the store makes at all.  That's not how it works.)

Good luck, light, and happiness to all of them and all that crap.

Bless their hearts, every single one of them.  That's all.