I first published this post back in October when Fred Meyer put their new coupon policy into place. To this point, there has not been much actual enforcement of that policy. I thought it was just in place as a safety net, so they have something to fall back on when someone tries to buy a large amount of one product.
In light of one of our readers having an unpleasant experience last night at Fred Meyer, I would like to make sure that everyone is aware of the policy. It looks like some stores have in fact begun enforcing this, at any more than 5 items.
This first part is what the original post was.
Fred Meyer has just released a new coupon policy. There are some new rules that everyone should be aware of!
Fred Meyer will now limit no more than 5 paper manufacturer coupons for the same product.
Only 2 Internet Coupons per manufacturer, per customer, per day will be accepted.
They do not accept Competitor’s Coupons. They will however take a catalina coupon that has a different store’s logo on it, as they will get reimbursement from the manufacturer for it.
To read the whole policy, head on over here. You might want to print a copy for your records so you remember to plan your shopping trips around the new rules.
Now I will touch on the current issue our reader experienced in the store last night.
We have had some questions on how to approach this policy with the Buy 10 Promos Fred Meyer has been running. It gets a bit complicated if they are asking you to buy 10 items, but they will only allow you to use 5 coupons per product.
In this case, if you want to buy 10 boxes of Grapenuts Cereal, you can buy 10 boxes. However you will only be able to use 5 of your coupons. You will not be able to use a coupon on each product, which is of course, hard for us couponers. Many of us strive to not buy anything if we do not have a coupon for it.
Here is how it would look:
Buy 10 Grapenuts, $1.99 each (Included in mix and match Buy 10 Promo)
-(5)$1.00/5 Grapenuts MF Coupon from the 1/15 SS
Final Price: 5 boxes for $.99 each, 5 boxes for $1.99 each
Or you could do this Buy 10 promo situation:
Buy 5 Grapenuts, $1.99 (Included in mix and match Buy 10 Promo)
Buy 5 Shredded Wheat, $1.99 (Included in mix and match Buy 10 Promo)
-(5) $1.00/5 Grapenuts MF Coupon from the 1/15 SS
And -(5) $1.00/5 Shredded Wheat MF Coupon from the 1/15 SS
Final Price: All 10 boxes for $.99 each!
Now let’s pretend these were Printable Coupons, and not from the newspapers, because they have rules on those too.
Here is the printable coupon rule again:
“Only two Internet coupons per manufacturer, per Customer, per day will be accepted.”
Buy 5 Post Grapenuts, $1.99 (Included in mix and match Buy 10 Promo)
Buy 5 Post Shredded Wheat, $1.99 (Included in mix and match Buy 10 Promo)
-(2) $1.00/1 Printable Coupons for the Grapenuts (Not really available-for example only)
Final Price: 2 boxes for $.99, 8 boxes for $1.99 each!
Since these are both manufactured by Post, we can only use TWO Printable Coupons from that company PER DAY!
Even if we were to buy products from separate manufacturers, we would still pay way more OOP using printable coupons.
5 Post Grapenuts, $1.99 (Included in mix and match Buy 10 Promo)
5 Frito Lay Naturals, $1.99 (Included in mix and match Buy 10 Promo)
-(2) $1.00/1 Grapenuts Printable Coupon (Not really available-for example only)
-(2) $1.00/1 Frito Lay Printable Coupon (Not really available-for example only)
Final Price: 2 Grapenuts for $.99, 3 Grapenuts for $1.99, 2 Frito Lay for $.99, 3 Frito Lay for $1.99.
Suddenly price-matching at Walmart seems like a much simpler way to go!
