I shared in the previous post that I am not a fan of Walmart, but sometimes they are just a necessary evil and must be utilized. So, if we must shop at Walmart there is no reason not to really save some money. In order to truly save money you need to be aware of their policies and regulations regarding coupons and such.
The best suggestions I can give you is to print out their coupon policy and stash it in your purse. My biggest pet peeve is for an employee not to be familiar with their own stores policies. But, when I am having one of “those” days I just love teaching the cashier what she should already know. The only way to politely do this, is for you to know more about the store policies than they do. And remember, before you go postal on the person behind the counter, they encounter all types of people throughout the day and you never know what nut-case they just finished with. The bad attitude may not be intentionally aimed at you and being patient and polite (yet firm) will get you a long way.
I am going to give you a brief overview of Walmart’s coupon policies, but again my suggestions is to go their website and print out the full policy. Walmart will accept Print-at-home internet coupons in black and white or color. They must be a manufacture coupon with expiration date and scannable bar code. There must also be listed a valid manufacture address and must be legible. If you have a internet BOGO coupon it must specify a price (ex. buy one for 2.49 and get the second one free).
A regular manufacture coupon is acceptable along with competitor coupons, discounts/coupons on soft drink caps, and check out coupons. Each type of coupon has guidelines for being acceptable. These rules are listed clearly in the Coupon Policy. I will admit that the list of coupons they will take are longer than the list of ones that they will not.
What Walmart will not accept are checkout coupons that give dollars/cents off of basket purchase or a percentage off the entire purchase. Print-at-home coupons are not valid if they require no purchase. Most BOGO coupons are required to have a specified price for the items, and no coupon can be double or tripled.
Now here comes the good stuff. I was amazed at the overall guidelines and limitations. I felt that they were fair to the consumer, especially since it is Walmart after all.
They will only accept coupons for merchandise they sell.
Coupons must be presented at the time of purchase.
Item being purchased must be identical to the coupon. (ex. size, quantity, brand , etc.
There is no limit to the number of coupons you can use per transaction.
All coupons must have an expiration date and be used prior to that date.
*** If the coupon value exceeds the price of the item, the excess may given to the customer as cash or applied to the total purchase. **** (This rule does not apply to WIC or SNAP recipients.)
Walmart brand coupons are also not eligible for the overage to be give as cash back or applied to the total purchase. (Still not to shabby)
Now, be prepared, because certain coupon transactions will prompt a supervisor or floor manager for approval. If you use 40 or more coupons during a transaction, 1 coupon with the value of $20.00 or more (let me know where you find those), and 50 dollars or more in coupons during one transaction. If you are prone to being embarrassed, or if the checkout is already backed up, I would suggest wondering around the store or waiting until things die down a bit.
Sometimes a store will count on a consumer getting easily frustrated or embarrassed. They also can count on consumers not knowing their coupon guidelines. My personal opinion is that my money, no matter how much or little I spend, is important to any store’s bottom line. In this economy a consumer’s spending power is very important to any business. If it isn’t, then you should not be shopping there. Period.
