Coupon Post 2: Know your store's coupon policy

Know your store's coupon policy. Each store deals with coupons in a different way and it is important to use each coupon to its full potential. I will talk about some of the stores that I frequent and how you can find out what your store's policies are. 

Finding out how the stores you frequent deal with coupons is not hard and can be very valuable. 

Kroger, for example, doubles all coupons everyday up to one dollar, so if you have a coupon for $0.50 off of a product you will get $1.00 off, if you have a coupon for $0.30 off you will get $0.60 off, a coupon for $0.75 will be worth $1.00. 

Target will let you use a Target coupon (that you print off from their web-page, you will find the link all the way at the bottom of their page) and a manufacturer's coupon at the same time. This is where you can get things for free or close to free. 

Wal-Mart will take competitor's coupons.

Most stores put their coupon policy on the store web-page. I would suggest printing out that page and keeping it with you. Not all cashiers are up to date on the store policies so it is nice to have the hard copy to refer to when you are at the store.

Here are the links to some of the stores' policies where I shop:

Target Coupon Policy

Walmart Coupon Policy

Meijer Coupon Policy

Here are some additional tips when looking at policies. 

• Do coupons that you load onto a card double? As an example, the online coupons that you can load onto your Kroger card do not double, so do not put coupons on the card that are under a dollar. Use paper coupons so that you get more money off.
• Does your store take expired coupons? Some do. Kroger and Meijer do not, but Cub Food does. 
• Does your store take coupons printed from an on-line source? Most will if the coupon has a barcode. That is the reason all of the coupon sites have you use a special program to print the coupons; it is not to spam you, it’s so that each coupon has its own barcode. 
• Can you use two coupons on buy one get one free promotions? Most of the time I have have been able to because technically you are buying two products so you are using one coupon for each.
• Does your store give cash back if the coupon is over the amount of the product? This one changes a lot, some stores do and some don't. Some stores like Kroger keep changing their mind about this one, so look at your store's policy and stay up to date. 

If you are still unsure if you can use a specific coupon or you are going to be using a lot of coupons at the same time, make friends with the service desk. They can answer your questions and will open another lane if they know you are going to be taking a long time to check out. 

Let me know if you have specific questions about a policy and I will try my best to find an answer for you!