Not So Super Shopping Trip

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Here is a post that will show you that I coupon like the rest of you. I am not a super human couponer who always gets these amazing deals. I flop, I get upset, I say is it worth it? Like this weekend. The worst shopping weekend. What could go wrong, did go wrong.

My first stop is at ShopRite. My lovely ShopRite. My favorite store for the best deals on a weekly basis. But {sigh} they disappointed me.

I know a lot of you have been having issues with the Do Not Double coupons. Cashiers and managers have been hitting that do not double button on the register. Well because of that I called corporate offices. I was informed that they will double them but it does depend on the store and the store manager. You can read more about the explanation in my Do Not Double Post. My only suggestion to everyone has been to either just accept the fact that this is their store’s policy or go to another ShopRite.

Well, guess what. Now my store has decided to join the bandwagon. Yeap, at the checkout I sensed something might go awry when the cashier asked, for a $1.00 coupon, if she had to change it to “do not double”. Well of course not because it’s a $1.00 coupon and it does not double I chimed in (she didn’t care my opinion anyway). But I had a bad feeling. And sure enough…..well, you know what happened. They wouldn’t double.  So, I removed those items from the cart, spoke to the assistant manager who promised to call today with an explanation as to when this started, if it truly will continue, if it is corporate policy or just the store’s policy. Well, needless to say, I never received that call so once again I will be emailing and calling corporate to find out what is truly going on.

In the end I spent $35.97 for $147.54 worth of groceries. Still a good day in the numbers book which is all that matters anyway.

Then I went to Pathmark where I spent way more than I wanted to. I was going for the catalina deal & the 10 for $.77 deal, the cheap ground beef & using the 10% off $75 from Kings competitor coupon.

What a mess. Before I put 1 item in my cart, I went to customer service and showed them the Kings coupon and asked if I could use it. Yes no problem was their answer. So, I started shopping.

The marjority of the items I planned on getting to make all the deals work were already gone. I should of just put everything back and gone another time but I tried to make it work. I thought I was doing okay until….checkout. Everything scanned, store is busy, 1 cashier & 2 self checkouts open. Are you getting a good visual. Cashier asks for help on the Kings coupon. Head cashier says, we don’t take competitor coupons anymore. Oh boy!!

As they searched for the memo that said they weren’t taking competitor coupons and then searching down the store manager, then calling other stores the line started to build. We canceled my order and I waited. I waited to find out that they stopped taking competitor coupons but now they do again. Ugh! Back to checkout. And, it gets better. The catalina machine (which I always check to see if it’s working) was not working at this new register. I never checked with everything that was going on. So now I have to go over everything to show I qualified for the catalina. Oh how I wish I had a video camera going for all this.

In the end I spent $48.93 for $135.22 worth of groceries. And I have a $10 gift card for the missing catalina. A couple of cleaning products are missing from the picture. They were hiding behind the oatmeal.

So, without those super human couponing powers, I too can have a really bad experience. But in the end I got $282.76 for $84.90. I’m over budget but I have $10 from this trip to carry over for next weeks shopping. With savings like that, I think I’ll take a weekend of bad couponing.

How did you to this week?