The cashier smiled and laughed at the customer in front of me, but the minute I stepped up to the counter her face turned very tense and serious. I’ve seen this look before. In fact, I’ve seen it so many times that I do whatever I can to avoid her line and have even considered shopping on different days of the week so I can ensure that she won’t be there.
I handed her my discount card and let her know that I had a stack of coupons matching the items in my basket. I asked if she wanted to see the coupons in advance and she said no. I placed the items on the counter one-by-one and watched each item scan before putting the next one down. In total I had twelve items.
When all of the items were scanned I handed over my coupons. The cashier flipped through the stack and made a face. Then she said, “I can’t take this one or this one or this one.” She informed me that I could not use a buy-one-get-one free coupon if the store was running a buy-one-get-one sale. I told her that the store policy permitted one coupon for every two items, in essence permitting me to get two items for free, but she immediately snipped back saying, “we can’t just give away the store.”
I turned to the person behind me and apologized for the inconvenience of holding up the line. He laughed and said, “No worries. My wife uses coupons and gets stuck in the checkout all the time.”
I wanted to tell him that I encounter this problem every time I’m faced with this particular cashier. She looks at me as though I’m trying to rob the store of merchandise. Every time I try to checkout I must explain that I am following the stores policy and every time she gripes at me over each and every coupon.
She was clearly annoyed with me so I suggested she call the store manager. I turned to apologize to the person behind me, but I realized that he had already checked out through a different line and there weren’t any other customers checking out. That made me feel much better. I hate holding up the line when other people are waiting. In fact, a lot of times I’ll just give up on the transaction and come back another time.
When the manager reached the register the cashier said, “this woman is trying to get everything for free.”
Now I should say that I’m not an extreme couponer, but I do save a lot of money on every day household products by shopping at the local drugstores in my area. It’s not unusual for me to walk into a store with a wad of coupons and walk out paying only a dollar for two or three bags worth of items.
I’ve lived in the same neighborhood for ten years and I frequent this store quite often so I know a lot of the managers, assistant managers and cashiers by name. When I walk in at Christmas time they all wish me a happy holiday and when I haven’t been around for awhile they ask where I’ve been. Well all except for this particular cashier.
I’m not sure what her issue is. Perhaps she truly believes that I am abusing the store’s policy. After all, she sees me walk out of the store with nine or ten products knowing full well that I’ve paid nothing but the taxes. Perhaps she doesn’t love her job, doesn’t make a lot of money and thinks that people like me are contributing to her low pay and lack of benefits.
I’m not sure what her issue is, but I wish she wouldn’t make me feel so bad about combining sales and coupons to obtain deeply discounted items. The truth is I’m not doing anything wrong. I make certain I don’t use expired coupons, I don’t use more than the number of coupons permitted and I don’t obtain extra savings cards by pretending they are owned by my husband. Given all those factors I really wish she wouldn’t make me feel like I’m stealing.
Completely unprofessional for her to make that comment to the manager while you were right there.
I really don't understand how some people are able to keep their jobs when unemployment is this high – seems like it would be a good time to upgrade the staff.
Whether she likes the policy or not really shouldn't be an issue. If you were following the policy, then there shouldn't have been a problem.
Speaking of policies (warning: I'm hijacking this thread) … the local Penney's store has made sure that I will never buy anything from them in the future by lying to me.
I was returning an item (kids clothing that was the wrong size) with a receipt, but without my wife's card. I've done this at Penney's (because I'm likely to forget to give the card back to mu wife) and it has never been an issue. In fact, when I have done returns to other stores (Wal-Mart, Target, Lowe's) it is quite rare to even be asked for the card. Then just scan the receipt, scan the bar code on the item, and the amount goes back on the card (note: Penney's has the barcoded receipts that would make this possible).
The cashier told me that they couldn't do this because of store policy, but that I could talk to a manager if I wanted.
I decided to talk to the manager.
The manager told me that it wasn't store policy (contrary to the information provided by the cashier), but that it was physically impossible to do this without the card being presents. I'm an IT professional, so I verified that he actually meant that there was a technical roadblock to this. He assured me that this was the case. When I mentioned that I had done this in the past at this very store, he assured me that I was mistaken. I had a good laugh about that and left the store.
An email to corporate verified that there was indeed no technical issue. It COULD be done, but the company policy was to avoid doing this, although the corp rep said that the manager should have been flexible in this case (not really sure why it would have been an unusual case, but …)
OK, so now the manager has lied to me (and, honestly, my BS detector was going off at the time we talked), and the store seems to have a very odd policy that they suggest has something to do with fraud. Huh?
If I'm trying to defraud the card holder, what would this accomplish? I'm putting money back on their card, not taking anything off (and the full card number is never exposed during the process).
If I'm trying to defraud Penney's, how would this work? I'd grab a receipt from home, snag an item from the store, and then return it? I guess that could happen … but couldn't I also walk out the door with the item (and receipt) and come back when I had the card.
OK, end of rant.
Ha! Your cashier from you-know-where reminds me of one at a Kroger I shopped at years before. She bore a strong resemblance to "Amy Farrah Fowler" on The Big Bang Theory. No sense of humor; she'd scrutinize every coupon and refuse to take one if even a micron of the bar code was cut off, or if, heaven forbid, the coupon had expired the day before. She'd always reject my coupons in a loud, accusatory tone with lots of other customers in line behind me. I'd go home and tell my husband I got busted by the Coupon Police again — like you, I had the misfortune of being unable to avoid her on more than one occasion. She eventually moved on (or maybe got fired); I didn't have to endure her for more than a few months. Maybe yours is a relative.
There is a really simple way to solve this. If she does not accept your coupons in a friendly manner next time (especially if you have a copy of the coupon policy with you), then you write a friendly letter to the corporate head office explaining how you'd love to visit their store more often but are thwarted by a cashier by the name of _______ who will not follow the company's coupon policy.
Oh, I'd also have spare copies of that coupon policy on hand to give to both the manager and said cashier the next time either of them doubt whether you are doing anything wrong.
Thanks for spamming, "Martha Jackson'.
Came here from "get rich slowly."
As a former member of the hospitality industry, this cashier's behavior is UNACCEPTABLE. By treating you poorly she is actually jeopardizing the store's profits, not saving them. You do not need to "make waves" to address this issue. The next time you shop at this store, ask to speak to the manager before you start shopping. Let them know that you enjoy their business and the products and services they offer; but that the attitude of X Employee is offensive and off-putting and not in keeping with your expectations of service. I can almost guarantee you will not be the first person to express concern about this employee and if you are, then it is high time her behavior was brought to management's attention. If you feel uncomfortable speaking with the manager in person, a politely worded letter will do the same thing. The goal here is not to get this woman fired (though if it does happen it will be her doing, not yours); but to give the store a chance to improve their customer service and by proxy, their business. Viewed in this light, by complaining you are actually doing them a favor. The least they can do is return it and ask their employee to be polite to their customers.
I thought it was funny that you say you aren't an extreme couponer but that you often go into a store and walk out with two or three bags of stuff and only pay a dollar or two. No one works out that kind of deal without being an extreme couponer.
Also, a previous commenter stated that employees like this are jeopardizing store profits, and that the business should focus on improving customer service in order to improve their business.
While cashiers like this should certainly not be rude to paying customers, the simple fact is that customers that use coupons like this are of no value to the business. You not coming there anymore certainly isn't going to affect store profits, because they are making any profits off of you. In the post you stated that it isn't uncommon for you to buy nine or ten products and pay nothing but the sales tax. So why do they care if you ever come back again or not? Even if you were paying full price for these products one customer does not make or break a store's earnings.
If you want to try to game the system with coupons, fine. You are right in that you did exactly as store policy indicated you could. And employees should treat you better, but again the business doesn't care if you ever come back. Just by this story alone you can tell that you are a high maintenance customer that requires more attention than a normal customer. Plus, you're paying very little money for the items so you are a double loss for the store.
This is the thing that annoys me most about couponers. I don't mind people looking to get a good deal but don't get pissed when you are inconvenienced. You're getting the crap for almost free anyways.
She sounds like a miserable person and you are kind and thoughtful to try and understand her. I hope your attempt to understand her will lead to better interactions with each other in the future. There's no insurance for this since we are all humans, but we can hope for the best.
Anonymous said: the simple fact is that customers that use coupons like this are of no value to the business
Actually, you're wrong. As Pam said, with manufacturer's coupons, the manufacturer is reimbursing the store for the coupon, so the store IS getting that money because the customer bought it.
Well I agree, you are not stealing. There is a difference between legality and ethics. Consider lawyers, do you think they get a bad rap because they do something illegal? Since you are able to "walk out of the store with nine or ten products knowing full well that I've paid nothing but the taxes", I think the cost you pay is the occasional service without a smile. And even when she objected to some coupons, you flagged down a manager and got what you wanted, so I don't understand why you are upset.
Personally I think that she must really love her job and that is why she thinks people like you are leeches on the company. Maybe if she saw you pay for some items once in a while, she would feel better towards you. I guess you could write to corporate and get her fired, but that is just downright mean.
Melissa
If the store is already doing its own buy 1, get one free, and you use a coupon giving the same, the store is only getting paid for one item. So they are only getting reimbursed for one item.
If the store is running its own coupon then there is no reimbursement.
Regardless, couponers that take up a lot of time and piss off other customers in line are not good for business.