Meijer ad and Deal Discussion for 6/20-6/26

[mushyyy]

I can not remember the specific kind of capri sun that the coupons was for last month, but the shelves were VERY FULL except that one kind. I think the manager was trying to get out of a rain check personally. After searching the store a few mins for the correct kind.

This time I believe one of the coupons is for the blueberry muffin tops from the malt o meal which my stores doesnt seem to carry.

Neither time was the coupons expired and both times it was being offered to me.

[Melissa]

K-Ohio Said it very well! Thanks! Exactly what I would have said...

There HAVE been situations though for me where the store was out of a particular item and did not want to give me a raincheck. They wanted to sell me a different item still allowing me to use a Meijer MB Coupon on that item. I am not sure that was even allowed bc Meijer partners WITH MQ for these coupons which I did not find out until after the fact. I thought well it is a meijer coupon and they don't want to give me a raincheck. To me this was their way of making it right, still allowing me to get the deal. But now I know different

Sometimes coupons.com (MQ) printables are specific to store but other stores will honor them as they are MQ. Im not sure if this is "right or not" by the Manufacturer but stores have done it for some time. Many stores take RR that are intended to be used at Wags but they must get re-reimbursed or they wouldn't do it. Is it still right or wrong. I really don't know.

Some stores have written policies on coupon use being allowed a certain way while others consider it coupon fraud!

There are many situations I could give but the bottom line is use your best judgment and remember to always abide by what the coupon says and only use it on what is intended for.

Many managers tell you that you cannot do a deal that you know you can. Many are misinformed about coupons usually they don't know all the info and usually we suffer bc of their ignorance. But there can be situations that we can gain benefit to their coupon ignorance and this is one of them.

There is a lot that I will go through to get a deal. But coupon fraud is not one of them. There has been cases where I have even made mistakes especially early on with couponing where I didn't read a coupon just right, size restrictions and etc.

Just know that if the manufacturer has specified a certain flavor they must only want the coupon used that way.

I hope this info helps broaden your perspective.

[technix]

When it comes to coupons, its a wild wild world. The Manufactures are limited to what they can do with coupons based on 12 digits. because of this limitation a coupon is broken down as follows.

I will make this fictitious coupon 5 12345 67890 4

now lets break this down.

UCC Prefix (NSC): Formerly called the number system character (NSC), a UCC Prefix of 5 is used as a coupon identifier and is the first number that appears to the left of the UPC-A Bar Code Symbol. All coupons must begin with a UCC Prefix (NSC) of 5, regardless of the UCC Prefix that appears on the member's products, in order to identify the coupon to the point-of-sale system. This is why Coupons start with a 5.

UCC Company Prefix (EAN.UCC): The next five numbers following the UCC Prefix (NSC) on a coupon bar code symbol correspond to positions two through six of the UCC Company Prefix. This number not only identifies the manufacturer of the couponed item, but also serves an important role in purchase validation at the checkout. The portion of the UCC Company Prefix on the coupon must match positions two through six of the UCC Company Prefix on the product that is being couponed, regardless of who is issuing or paying for the coupon.

Family Code: On a coupon bar code symbol, the three digits following positions two through six of the UCC Company Prefix are the Family Code. This number, combined with the UCC Company Prefix, is the key to validating that the consumer has purchased the couponed product. It is the manufacturer's responsibility to assign Family Codes to their own products and to communicate Family Codes to retailers. Communication may be done directly or through a third-party service. The topic of Family Codes can be very extensive. This is why a coupon can work for another item, the product maybe in the same product family, for instance, Rice Krispies and Raisin Bran are both cereals they could be in the same family (cereal) therefor qualify as a "valid" product by scanning versus description on coupon. Some Family codes use a Wild Card or 0 so lets say that Kelloggs uses 513 for Cereal Family and 515 for Eggos, They may get lazy and code the coupon to say "get $1 off of kelloggs Eggos" and have the code 5 03800 50076 8 this would be a valid kellogss coupon, for $1 off but would scan without error on Rice Krispies because the Family code 500 is wild for all product family codes from 501 through 599.

Value Code: The two-digit field following the three-digit Family Code designates the redemption value of the coupon in dollars and cents. Some numbers are a direct representation of face values (for example, code number 10 represents a 10 cent coupon value) and some are not (such as code number 83 represents a $2.25 coupon value).

Check Digit is the Last digit.

1. From the right to left, start with odd position, assign the odd/even position to each digit.
2. Sum all digits in odd position and multiply the result by 3.
3. Sum all digits in even position.
4. Sum the results of step 3 and step 4.
5. divide the result of step 4 by 10. The check digit is the number which adds the remainder to 10.


So as you can see, Manufactures limited on how they can do coupons based on a set standard, may sometimes have a coupon that will in fact work, for a product that it was not designed for based on description, well, It is your responsibility to know that you are using the coupon properly, because This is one time we can assume the Cashier and Management do not know!!!

Derrick

[K - Ohio]

@technix

"All coupons must begin with a UCC Prefix (NSC) of 5"

Actually that isn't true....I actually have in my possession a Dole Canned Fruit coupon for 40cents off. It starts with a 9. This will not allow the coupon to automatically double; only works at face value.

This is the only coupon I have ever seen like that....but it is important to be aware of....if it starts with a 9 = DND.

[technix]

(06-24-2010 08:40 AM)K - Ohio Wrote:  @technix

"All coupons must begin with a UCC Prefix (NSC) of 5"

Actually that isn't true....I actually have in my possession a Dole Canned Fruit coupon for 40cents off. It starts with a 9. This will not allow the coupon to automatically double; only works at face value.

This is the only coupon I have ever seen like that....but it is important to be aware of....if it starts with a 9 = DND.

I was going by the GS1Standard, some manufacturers are using the 9 instead of the 00 value code for checker intervention. Here are the First digits

NS Description
0 Regular Items
1 Reserved
2 Variable Weight Items
3 Drug/Health Items
4 In-store use on non-food items
5 Coupons
6 Regular Items
7 Regular Items
8 Regular Items
9 Regular Items

However, this is the GS1 Standard, not everything has to follow as you can see with the 9 for Do Not Double or Triple, and also some coupons for instance Walgreens IVC

Derrick

[tchrust]

(06-24-2010 08:40 AM)K - Ohio Wrote:  @technix

"All coupons must begin with a UCC Prefix (NSC) of 5"

Actually that isn't true....I actually have in my possession a Dole Canned Fruit coupon for 40cents off. It starts with a 9. This will not allow the coupon to automatically double; only works at face value.

This is the only coupon I have ever seen like that....but it is important to be aware of....if it starts with a 9 = DND.

Also ones that start w/a 9 have an extra digit in them.

[technix]

(06-24-2010 10:39 AM)tchrust Wrote:  

(06-24-2010 08:40 AM)K - Ohio Wrote:  @technix

"All coupons must begin with a UCC Prefix (NSC) of 5"

Actually that isn't true....I actually have in my possession a Dole Canned Fruit coupon for 40cents off. It starts with a 9. This will not allow the coupon to automatically double; only works at face value.

This is the only coupon I have ever seen like that....but it is important to be aware of....if it starts with a 9 = DND.

Also ones that start w/a 9 have an extra digit in them.

the ones that start with 9 with an extra digit usually start with 99 and are called EAN and are 13 digits.

Derrick