Why I Fought to Save Three Bucks (and Why You Should Too)
Published on - August 7th, 2008 (by J.D. Roth) This guest post comes from Donna Freedman, a blogger at MSN Money’s Smart Spending blog. Donna is one of my favorite personal finance writers. This is a reprint (with permission) of one of her recent pieces.
On Friday I visited Office Depot for school backpacks at the killer price of $2.99. Along with other loss-leader school supplies, they’ll be donated to a local social services agency. At the checkout, I handed over a “20% off all backpacks” coupon from an Office Depot mailer. The cash register wouldn’t accept the coupon. “These are already on sale so the coupon won’t work,” the salesclerk said.
I noted, politely, that the coupon did not say “not good on sale-priced items.” The cashier tried again. No dice. “It’s not letting it go through,” she said, and waited. I got the distinct impression she wanted me to say, “Oh, that’s OK.” But I wasn’t going to say that, because my belief is that a store should honor its published offers.
She called a manager, who told me the coupon wasn’t intended for sale items. I again pointed out that nowhere on the coupon did it say that. This started off a 10-minute dance between manager and consumer over what would have been a $3 discount.
Before you write me off as an intractable miser, consider this: What happens when consumers do not insist that businesses keep their word?
All kinds of reasons
During our little discount minuet, the manager demanded to see the mailer from which I’d taken the ad, saying it would explain that the coupon was not good on sale items. I went out to my car and got the ad; it said no such thing.
The manager, whom I’ll call Nancy, tried several other tacks. She pored over the fine print in the store’s weekly ad — complaining it was hard to read because the doctor had dilated her eyes that morning — but nothing in the ad excluded coupons. She said that “corporate” never intended for coupons to be used with sale items, and that’s why the computer wouldn’t allow it — the computer is programmed by “corporate.”
If that’s the case, I suggested, then “not valid with sale items” ought to be written on the coupon.
She looked at it again, noting the phrase “we reserve the right to limit quantities.” I’d bought five, the limit noted in the weekly flier. Nancy said, “I’ll give you the coupon on one of them.” I replied that nowhere on the coupon does it say that it was good for just one item.
“It says ‘one-time use’, so I’ll let you have it for just the one.” I suggested that “one-time use” might actually mean that I couldn’t use the coupon again the next day.
Nancy said that when I signed up for the store rewards program, I would have gotten an e-mail explaining, among other things, why coupons couldn’t be used on sale items. I repeated, “Shouldn’t that be written on the coupon itself?”
A real headache
The manager said she’d send my “information” to corporate headquarters and have them explain why coupons can’t be used on sale items. First she asked for my driver’s license, which I would not have given, and then decided that just my rewards card would do. She wrote down the card number and told me that at $2.99, the store was losing money on the backpacks. Using a coupon made it worse.
I replied that I was familiar with the concept of a loss leader: you lose money on some items to get people into the store.
Finally the manager told the cashier to override the register and ring up the discount for all five backpacks. “I don’t want to spend any more time on this. I have a headache,” she said.
You and me both, Nancy. Confrontation is not easy for me. I simply wanted Office Depot to make good on its published promise.
Why you should care
Some of you are probably thinking, It’s only $3 — give it up, already. I don’t think that the amount matters. The company mailed me a flier full of discounts in the hope I would come to one of its stores. When I tried to use one of those discounts, employees decided that it shouldn’t apply to sales.
Suppose you saw a coupon good for 20% off all winter coats, but when you get to the store you’re told, “Oh, it’s not good on red coats.” Or imagine seeing a car ad, “20% off all Chevrolets,” but when you get to the dealership you’re told that it’s only good on four-door sedans.
There’s a term for this. It’s called bait and switch. Get the customer into the store and then change the terms.
What happened at Office Depot was not a bait and switch per se, but it still wasn’t good customer relations. Yes, I understand that the company is taking a hit pricing its backpacks at $2.99 and that an additional 60-cent discount hurts even more. But that’s a cost of doing business: Advertise something really cheaply and hope people buy enough other things to make the loss leader worthwhile.
Certainly any company is within its rights to limit coupon use on loss leaders. But if that’s what corporate wants, then corporate needs to be very clear, and it needs to do so on the coupon. I don’t want to rely on the personal interpretation of a cash register. Or a manager with a headache.
J.D.’s note: I’m proud of Donna for standing up for herself. It can seem ludicrous to fight bureaucracy for just a few bucks, but I make a point of doing it, too. (Read “I want my four dollars!” for a real-life example from the early days of Get Rich Slowly. I love that story.) Later today I’ll share another tale of fighting corporate madness. Photos by The Consumerist and mlcastle.
GRS is committed to helping our readers save and achieve your financial goals.Savings interest rates may be low, but that’s all the more reason to shop for the best rate.Find the highest savings interest rate from Ally Bank, Capital One 360, Everbank, and more.
This article is about Basics, Marketing, Real-Life, Shopping
Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.
Discover is a paid advertiser of this site. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the Discover online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards.
SEARCH FOR RECENT ARTICLES
My response whenever I find myself in a situation with someone (like the manager in the original post) when they say
“But it’s only three dollars”
you say
“If it’s only three dollars then it shouldn’t be a big deal to give me the discount”
takes all the air out of their argument.
loading....
People forget sometimes that companies are just the aggregate of the people that work for them. It was somebody’s job to make that coupon. Did they do it perfectly? No.
Does the author do her job perfectly? More to the point, if she titles a blog post “I’ll give you 5 bucks…” with the intent of continuing it into the post “…if you can find me xxx,” do I have the right to say “You need to give me five dollars! You said so in your post!” She didn’t include a disclaimer that the title of the post wasn’t a promise!
There’s a common understanding about things. You don’t use coupons on sale items because THEY’RE ON SALE. The coupon is built in. The company, in fact, is saving you the time of clipping the coupon.
What this lady accomplished was ruining the day of the cashier, the manager, and the 9 people who probably ended up behind her in line because she was taking 10 minutes to buy five backpacks.
As the person above me said, I would have offered to pay the lady $3 just so she could leave and I could buy my things. Why? Because I value my time at above $18 an hour. ($3 for 10 minutes of waiting). What this really shows is that this lady doesn’t have anything better to do than finagle over $3.
If you’re forcing the jaws of common understandings open to reach down the gullet and get $3, you’re just being obstinate.
loading....
“There’s a common understanding about things. You don’t use coupons on sale items because THEY’RE ON SALE. The coupon is built in.”
I don’t agree with this at all. A sale is a sale and a coupon is a coupon. They aren’t mutually exclusive, unless it is clearly stated on the coupon or the advertising literature. Many shoppers “piggyback” their coupons onto sale items on a daily basis in a variety of stores.
I disagree that there is “common understanding” that this isn’t (or in your opinion, shouldn’t be) done.
loading....
Some of this makes me laugh.
This is a free country. At will.
You go into the store. You expect a discount because you have a coupon. They say no to that coupon. At that point in time, make a freaking decision. Either buy or don’t buy.
If you don’t agree, don’t sit there and whine, bitch, cry, argue, negotiate or whatever you want to call it. LEAVE. TALK WITH YOUR MONEY, not your mouth.
Why. Because it is not just your time your are spending. It is the cashier, the managers, and the other people in the store in line behind you and next to you.
Negotiating for 20 minutes over $3 isn’t the point. Everyone with a life knows that is a waste of time, there are countless other things you could have done with that time.
Would you spend 3 hours to save 10 cents to prove a point? Then you just proved mine.
That point is make your life a bit simpler, and you won’t have to care about coupons and cashiers.
loading....
Donna is certainly a more patient person than I am. I don’t think I would use so much effort to save such a small amount of money. But I think her point is valid. Stores really should honor their coupons and not change the terms once the consumer tries to redeem.
loading....
I’m confused why ONE coupon discount would be applied to ALL items in one transaction – unless the coupon says 20% off your TOTAL order. If it wasn’t stated I have never seen a business take one coupon and reuse it a bunch of times. I would have needed a coupon on each individual item to make it legit. I think it is unfair of the customer to fight them on this.
I read about people getting a credit back on “free” items once the coupon is used. Again, I dont think any business has to do this and I have never seen it is real life. I also wouldnt fight them for it. If you didnt put money into the item how can you expect to get money back? If you won a free car in a contest would you expect back a “$1000 money back” incentive promo the lot was running for paying customers? No.
As far as fighting back on overcharges – I do it all the time due to principle – not dollar amount. WIth my point above I think it was wrong to expect 20% on every item, but I would maybe have asked politely for the coupon to be accepted on the one I’m entitled to because it didnt say sale items were excluded. I also dont think personnel in retail necessarily even know the right answers (per corporate) and all its little policies and should grant it at their own discretion.
I wish I could remember more details of a case – but in the early 90s or so Safeway got slammed because they overcharged every customer like a dime and made huge profits for such ‘illegal’ activity. It just burns me either way, so I fight it. At the grocer though, I let the cashier finish because they rarely will comply with fixing an overcharge. I just take my receipt to the customer desk and get a refund – since I get the item for free if I catch a mistake.
loading....
As someone who has worked in many hourly customer-service jobs (including retail), this type of situation would not bother me one bit. But then I’d also agree with giving the customer the discount, and I would be working with the customer instead of against. I think they call that “consultative sales”.
Elevating the issue to the manager, the employee is free to help the other customers in line and return to the backpack person a few minutes later.
Yes, three dollars is hardly worth bickering over, but just because I’m fortunate enough to have $3 in expendable income doesn’t mean that the entire population is in the same situation.
It seems customer service is fast approaching obsolescence. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been a customer interacting with an employee, thanked them, and been replied to with “yup” instead of a “thanks for your business” or something similar.
loading....
I would love to see the correlation between people who regularly use coupons and people who will fight for any amount of time over any amount of money, even in cases when the time they spend is considerably more valuable than the money.
loading....
This is the kind of situation that leads to companies canceling coupons for everybody.
And this is also precisely why I have kept the job I have instead of taking one where waiting on customers was necessary. I do not agree that the customer is always right, and this kind of stuff drives me up the wall.
loading....
Apparently you place zero value on your time (and that of the people stuck in line behind you). Had I been stuck waiting 10 minutes for you to save such a tiny amount of money, I’d have happily paid you the $3 just to get out of my way!
loading....
I get this frequently in shops where I live. Often it ends up in me blocking a line, the manager trying all sorts of “just accept it” tactics (which don’t work), and my wife usually gets annoyed beyond belief. My theory? If you advertise it, you stick with it.
I want to make something clear. IT IS NOT ABOUT $3. The store is doing something illegal (perhaps not intentionally), bottom line it is advertising something it does not intend to honor fully. And that is worth the annoyance it takes to get through to some of these stores.
loading....
Is your “principal” worth the time, money and frustration of everyone behind you in line too?
loading....
Bravo! Keep them in check.
As one who has designed many coupons, we pore over those details and fine print. If we don’t include something as an exception then the consumer has full right to exercise it.
As a consumer I have also drew a line in the sand with my local supermarket that claims they no longer except Internet-printed coupons. But until it is a posted policy I will continue to use them.
loading....
I once stopped at a large computer store to buy a stack of CD-Rs. I happened to have an ad for a competitor with a sales price for just that. The competitor was out of my way, and this place was on my way home and they had a price-beating guarantee.
I presented the stack and the competitor’s ad to the cashier, who promtly MATCHED the price. I told him that their policy, clearly stated on a sign nearby was to BEAT the price. He told me that this was how they beat the competitor’s price, by matching it. No manager was available, but the head cashier took the same postion and there was a line starting to back up behind me, so I paid and left.
On the way home however, I kept thinking about it and got upset. So I looked up some information on the corporate web site and fired off an email complaining about their misinterpretation of the word BEAT. I explained that I knew it was only 1 cent, but it was the principle that mattered.
A few days later, I got a snail mail from the manager of the local store. He apologised for the mistake, promised that the employees would receive training on the policy, and he included a $20 gift certificate. I thought that was an excellent example of how to respond to a complaint.
loading....
Dave said: “If you’re forcing the jaws of common understandings open to reach down the gullet and get $3, you’re just being obstinate.” It’s a slippery slope Dave. Consumers need to fight back to marketing tactics. The coupon entices the buyer into the store in the hopes that in addition to the backpack, she buys other school supplies for her children. Once at the cash desk with her $75+ total, the nonapplicable $3 coupon doesn’t seem like such a big deal so the purchaser says, “it’s okay, forget it”. Psychology and marketing rolled into one $3 coupon. Good for the writer making the company make good on its coupon promise. It should have done so sooner.
loading....
I think that in some instances we should stand up for ourselves on principle as you did (and I really like that a disadvantaged kid will get a backpack). Yet in other instances we should refuse to get lost in the weeds. Three dollars is a weed in the big picture.
In the big picture, our culture consumes way too much, both from the perspective of personal finance and our aggregate debt-load, and from the perspective of the earth’s resources, which we’re depleting at a dizzying rate. For my related article on reducing energy use while maintaining a high quality of life click here.
loading....
I agree fully. I once refused to pay an extra 10 cents at Chipotle once. The cost of chips said $1.25 on the menu, but rang up at $1.35. “I’m sorry, but we haven’t changed the menu”, they said. It was not about the money, but about the principle of them honoring their advertised price.
loading....
My wife works at a company where a guy with NO case is suing over discrimination. The guy’s lawyer has come to his senses, and wants to settle for $8000. Now, the company could easily just pay $8000, and probably be better off than paying its own lawyer fees, but if the company does that, then word will get around, and suddenly many more discrimination lawsuits will appear.
Sometimes, it is better to fight out of principle, even if it is not worth the time and money. This will set precedent for acceptable behavior.
loading....
The difference, of course, being court cases can set actual precedence. Fighting with cashier #29427 at Giant Mega Corp accomplishes no such thing. It does not affect the company in any way, and it certainly does not change company policy.
loading....
This is a great idea, but immediately ineffective. Having worked at similarly-run retail establishments, what I know is that the manager will give the coupon just to avoid the argument, and then there it will stay.
Managers and employees have absolutely no say over company policy. As a cashier-level employee, I can’t even override coupons most of the time. The computer simply won’t let me. My job is to try to get you to shut up and let me do it the way I was instructed, even if I agree with you, or to call my manager and let him deal with you.
If my boss, the general manager of the store, had said to his boss, “Five people came in this week pissed because the coupon didn’t explicate our store policy,” his boss would have laughed. There’s nothing they can do.
The immediate result of this is that you feel self-righteous, and everyone around you feels annoyed at you for something they have no control over.
If you are this irritated over a coupon, you should deal with it in the appropriate manner. Write to someone who does have control over these things. If that doesn’t work, escalate it. There are several appropriate ways of dealing with this that do not involve having a hissy fit in the store. Yes, they are more time consuming. They are more effective, however.
You may have won the scuffle, but it has no effect on the war.
loading....
You go Donna! Stores and corporations rely on the apathy of customers. They think that no one will bother to complain over just $3. But all those $3 add up to huge profits. Good for you for standing up to the big guys!
loading....
@Dave – Did you really email a complaint over 1 cent? Really?
loading....
When I worked retail I would usually be pretty generous with our coupons. Of course I worked at what was more of a local company and keeping our customers was more important. Sure people could have made fake coupons and brought them in, but I doubt they would put that much effort into screwing us out of $3. Our managers had some common sense too, which was nice.
loading....
@Kevin – Really, I did. It wasn’t so much over the penny, it was because they had a big sign that said they would BEAT any advertised price, but instead they just offered a price match. If they had simply said “we will MATCH any competitor’s price”, I would have accepted it and never looked back. It was the fact that they had the nerve to argue that a match was the same thing as beating the price – this is what got my back up. I truly never expected any sort of response. I just sent them a polite email that said I didn’t understand their policy because they defined “BEAT” differently than I did. Hey, it cost me all of 2 minutes to look up an address and fire off the email, and I sure felt better after I hit send, so it was totally worth it to me, even before I got their response.
loading....
There are a lot of things wrong with this exchange, and Kevin et al. are right that $3 really isn’t worth it. But I zeroed in on this part:
Nancy said, “I’ll give you the coupon on one of them.” I replied that nowhere on the coupon does it say that it was good for just one item.
“It says ‘one-time use’, so I’ll let you have it for just the one.” I suggested that “one-time use” might actually mean that I couldn’t use the coupon again the next day.
The common understanding is that a coupon is that you can use one coupon for one item unless the coupon specifically says otherwise. Sorry, Donna, you’re clearly trying to game the system.
(Also, #1 BK, you’ll remember that Michael Scott ended up paying full price for all of his pizzas.)
loading....
Have worked in retail and I think there are both sides to the story:
1) Don’t be rude to the cashier. They don’t care if you get your $3 either way. If you make sure that you are not implying that it’s somehow their fault and you ARE HELPING THEM WITH A SITUATION THAT THEY WILL HAVE TO FACE AGAIN, they usually bend over backwards to help you out. (Believe me, you get one bad coupon situation and it will come up 10 times a day)
2) It’s the managers job to take care of just this type of situation. To say that they you are wasting their time is just silly. You’re not wasting their time – if they are clocked in that’s what they are there for. If you were asking them to come outside and check your oil which is not their job, then you would be wasting their time.
3) I believe that a lot of managers are to blame for this type of situation. If I go up to a register and there is some confusion on both sides about how the coupon works – 99 times out of a 100 when they call the manager will just let it go without even looking at it. While this seems good, it’s not. That expired coupon they just let go through will tell that lady that if you question anything at that particular store you will get what you want as long as you call a manager. This is a nightmare for the cashier. As long as the rules are clear on the sale/coupon then the manager should have your back, not make you look like a moron to the customer. (I think this is why it is most peoples gut reaction to yell at the cashier)
4) Cashiers and Managers can have a bad day just like anyone else and yeah, they probably hate their job. But there are days that I hate my job and if I was a big pain in the butt to everyone I came in contact with or just said “NO! Asking me to do — isn’t part of my job description!” to a client and I would be in BIG trouble.
It’s your job. I’m sorry if you hate it – but you get paid to be here. As long as I’m not asking you to do something that has nothing to do with being a cashier, then you are being paid to help me.
5) Yes, it’s $3 for one person. But having been a cashier several times before if you send out a big weekly flyer with something like a 20% off coupon off on something you already have on sale, this fight is going to come up AT LEAST 10 times a day. Bare minimum. So that’s what? $30 a day that the company didn’t discount the customer? and $210 a week that the sale runs? with average at least 10 stores in a metro area? Wow, that three bucks just from you became a profit of $2100 to your area Office Max in just one week. And that was only on the coupon you knew about….
loading....
But you spent more than $3 of your time.
I get the principle argument, but can you actually say this was worth your time?
loading....
Plenty of people already said this but I wanted to say it again:
Good for her! She’s not wasting her time negotiating this, it was the manager wasting her time. I can’t believe that the manager didn’t just over ride the transaction and give it to her… They can do that, instead they had some power trip…
loading....
I would have just paid $30 for a Land’s End backpack that wouldn’t require me to leave the house and would last 2 years instead of 2 months. Whenever stores run things really, really cheap like that I just stay away cause the crowds are a huge time waster.
loading....
You are absolute right to fight. It doesn’t matter what was intended by Office Depot. It matters the integrity of what they stand behind. Not tolerating lousy customer service is the only way for the small guy to fight back. Otherwise, apathy brings about higher prices because, heck, why would the customer care because “they are not saying anything and they are still buying.”
I would write Office Depot and let them know how many people have read this story. Managers should be trained better to accommodate for these types of situations, especially when they know that they can loose a customer. -Cheaplee
loading....
Kevin-
The only reason I talked to a manager is because he was rude and was intentionally mishandling my produce (my biggest pet peeve in grocery stores). I understand that people can have bad days but I’m a college student and can’t afford to be overcharged a dollar, and when someone mistreats something that I worked very hard to afford, its unacceptable.
I do also talk to managers when I have a GREAT cashier, BTW. I’ve worked retail for most of my working life, some of it at walmart, and I know how crappy of a job it is. I certainly never was that rude to a customer though. If I was in a bad mood, I was just less chatty, or said what i was required to (“hello how are you, this is your total, have a nice day”). Even after the drunks get mad for you refusing to sell them alcohol, or a customer accusing you of selling your soul because you work at walmart.
loading....
Reading this post was pretty upsetting to me. Donna’s smug attitude towards “sticking it to the man” is not commendable – it’s tacky and obnoxious. I’ve always assumed it was a given that you can’t combine discounts. I feel badly for the cashier and the manager – why is Donna proud of spreading negative energy by making someone’s job more difficult? It’s not their fault that corporate made a mistake when printing the coupon. I highly doubt the $3 was worth making the world a more unpleasant place for people in customer service.
loading....
Follow up to #18… If you argue with the cashier/manager at the store level, corporate never hears about it. You have wasted everybody’s time. If you truly want CHANGE in corporate America you must write to, or call them. Other wise you are just squabbling over change in your pocket!!!! The pen is mighty!
loading....
You should be embarrassed by this transaction and instead you’re proclaiming it to the internet. This is only one side of the story -yours- and still you are portrayed badly.
loading....
Good job, keep it up!
loading....
Amen, Sister!
I absolutely agree with Donna’s actions. The stores don’t get to make up the rules as they go along. In my opinion, a coupon published in a paper is a form of a contract with the consumer. Based on this “coupon contract” we invest money (gas) and time (selecting items, waiting in line)in the associated store. And it is more than irritating to be told after we’ve invested our valuable and limited commodities that we will not be receiving our “return on investment.” (I don’t know about the rest of you, but I consider my time a valuable commodity that a company does not have the right to waste because of sloppy administrative processes, buraucracy, or inadequately trained employees.)
Besides, if the fact that coupons don’t apply to sale items is such a standard policy, why isn’t it also standard policy to have this restriction printed on every coupon the store publishes? If it’s not important enough to put the effort into establishing a mechanism to ensure this restriction is clearly and routinely identified, then it must not be that important to the store period.
loading....
Hm. Sabina (#82), when reading this (as I have several times), I never get the impression that Donna is smug or trying to “stick it to the man”. To me, she just wants to get the deal she thinks she’s supposed to get.
When I stand up for myself in these sorts of situations, I feel the same way. I’m not trying to stick it to anyone. I’m just trying to get what I paid for, or get what I was promised.
That’s the point here, I think.
loading....
Sabina,
“I’ve always assumed it was a given that you can’t combine discounts.”
“It’s not their fault that corporate made a mistake when printing the coupon. I highly doubt the $3 was worth making the world a more unpleasant place for people in customer service.”
As much as I’d like to think that they don’t make this stuff confusing on purpose, they do. Just like how lottery people know that most people don’t check their tickets, or how they hope you throw away the winning candy bar wrapper so they don’t have to give out that “grand prize” – a coupon is the same way. It’s a gift to get the customer to come in and they would LOVE for you not to use it. One unused confusing coupon spread over thousands of customers equals a lot of cash.
(Heck, we have a friend who works for a company that inusures corporate contests like that. They NEVER actually have the prize – they buy an insurance policy so on the small chance that someone can actually prove they won they can hand it out. Our friend told us that every time you get a “Win a $1000 Shopping Spree” for filling out a survey you get from a chain resturant on a recipet to FILL IT OUT! He says that so few people actually fill it out because they think they can’t win the prize (ie. the really big coupon!)that your chances of winning are actually really good!)
You’re right, it’s not their fault that the coupon is wrong. But you are not buying a backpack from THEM. You are buying a backpack from Office Max and they work for Office Max. The manager needs to hold the company responsible for what she should do about it.
loading....
I spent 12 years working for the world’s largest retailer and I am very familiar with sales tactics to draw customers. This store forgot the most important point, once you get a customer in the door make sure they leave with a positive experience!
http://middleclassdream.wordpress.com/
loading....
+1 on Tom Feldsten’s comment.
I was kind of agreeing with this lady at first, but really she is just being a greedy a**. She’s violating the spirit of the coupon. The company is already losing money on this product. I love Consumerist.com and am all in favor of holding companies accountable, but how many time has she gotten freebies from businesses?
Consider Bed Bath Beyond’s 20% coupons that will be accepted past expiration. Both they and LNT take each others coupons – even expired! I used a 1-day expired Chick-fil-A coupon the other day and no one said anything. THEY could have been sticklers, but weren’t.
loading....
Good for her! The dollar amount is not a big deal because it isn’t huge but when they start fighting what is fairly obvious then you need to stick to your guns and its great to see Donna do so. Really if corporate didn’t want something like this to happen then maybe they should have said so up front and if its a mistake than suck it up and deal with the consequences of your actions.
loading....
I’d be curious to see what all of these people who say “how awful!” and “it’s only $3!” would say if:
a) $5? $10? $20? Still not worth arguing over?
b) let’s say you saw it happen to three people in a row? Still no big deal? What if they were your friends?
c) if you were a cashier in training and saw this exact situation go on 5 or 6 times. (I am positive it would with a major store putting out a 20% off coupon with a sale already going on). Wouldn’t you question why the store would even have a sale and a coupon out at the same time if they knew they would make your computer reject you at the counter?
What would it take to make you mad enough to say something?
loading....
A lot of you are missing the point. Complaining to the low-level grunts in the store serves no purpose, but your own smug satisfaction. If you want to affect change you have to do it at the corporate level.
loading....
Of course stores should abide by the published conditions for their coupons, and I’d have argued the point too. But then I would have reminded myself that:
The computer that doesn’t let the cashier over-ride, well that is ‘corporate’s’ way of limiting the cashier’s discretion. That cashier has a lousy job: no real control or ability to make good decisions — all done for him/her by a computer programmed in another state! It’s not the cashier’s fault he/she can’t override, nor is it the cashier’s fault that the store doesn’t keep its word.
Direct your anger at ‘corporate’ as a model for retail!
Nancy, the manager, is the first step, the corporate office the second. Better yet, try shopping local, where you can actually talk to the owner (or a manager or employee who some real discretion). Reward the places with good service with your business. Yes, their products may (probably do) cost more. But you get what you pay for when you visit big box stores where decisions are made in ‘corporate-land’ and then hardwired into computers.
loading....
While many of us (including me) would give up on the $3 before Donna got the situation resolved, I am glad there are people out there who are willing to make that kind of stand.
Knowing that there are people in the world that will go through the effort needed to right the wrong keeps the worst abuses in check. Similarly, people have secured many of our rights by being to navigate the legal system way beyond what many of us would have been willing to do.
loading....
I agree on the ‘stand up for yourself’ concept…however, how much is your time worth? Even worst case scenerio this extra time talking to manager, cashier, and finally getting the discount was 15 minutes, I believe my time is worth more than $12 an hour….
loading....
“Complaining to the low-level grunts in the store serves no purpose, but your own smug satisfaction. If you want to affect change you have to do it at the corporate level.”
For a lot of people that $3 isn’t nothing. It costs me almost $5 to buy a gallon of milk for my toddler and our grocery bill is very, very tight.
I don’t cut coupons for my “satisfaction”, I do it so maybe those 10 coupons where I save 30 cents each can help keep my budget in check and maybe I can afford to buy a toy or a treat.
Not everyone makes a lot of money! (Particularly not that “low level grunt”)
Besides if you go to the register with a $2.99 backpack and they had the price plastered all over the store and said “Oh, we are actaully charging $5.99 for that.” You would want a resonable response why you were being charged more.
loading....
Again, I don’t think we are reading from the same sheet of music. If you want to actually hold businesses accountable to the public for their misleading behavior then you have to go through their corporate office. Complaining to the cashier or manager servers no purpose other than to put money in your pocket.
loading....
Touche!
The dollar amount is meaningless. It’s the principle behind this situation that’s important. My guess would be that most consumers would let it go and not press the issue. But for those buyers that do, it only makes good sense from a business standpoint to make their buying experience positive-a reason for them to return again. The customer is always right but it seems that nowadays too many businesses have forgotten this important adage.
loading....
“Complaining to the cashier or manager servers no purpose other than to put money in your pocket.”
Other than putting that money back in my pocket. That’s exactly what the point is.
I could care less about the business practices of Office Max. What I care about is that the store I’m in is trying to take my money and I’m not going to let them.
If the manager doesn’t like all the customers complaining holding up the line, then that manager needs to talk to corporate. They are much more willing to listen to him then to me.
loading....