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You may have heard that yesterday Rite Aid released a new coupon policy. They made a few changes that will be very different for couponers.
There are three main things to note:
- Rite Aid accepts Buy One, Get One Free coupons, however only one coupon can be used for each pair of items purchased. A customer can use one “cents off” coupon in conjunction with the item they are purchasing on a Buy One Get One Free promotion (or with a Buy One Get One Free coupon), although the value of the cents off coupon cannot exceed the selling price of the item.
- Buy One Get One Free coupons cannot be used in conjunction with a Buy One Get One Free promotion.
- Rite Aid may accept up to 4 identical coupons for the same number of qualifying items as long as there is sufficient stock to satisfy other customers within the store manager’s sole discretion.
What does this mean??
The biggest change for most of us will be only allowing one coupon on a B1G1 deal, and not allowing the use of a B1G1 coupon. Why change that? Honestly there is no logical reason. This is the policy we just saw Harris Teeter give up, so it’s frustrating to see a store move backwards in logical reasoning.
The change of 4 like coupons per transaction, isn’t really a problem. For most of us we are only buying one or two of an item, so this new addition will only help reduce some shelf clearing.
How does a store get reimbursed on coupons on a B1G1 sale?
First realize when a product is on sale buy one get one free, that is just a sale being offered by the store.
For example:
Pantene B1G1 at $5 is the same sale as if they made Pantene $2.50 each.
In the manufacturer’s eyes you are still buying two products no matter how they ring up and the manufacturer will reimburse one coupon on each item. So for Rite Aid to only accept one “cents off” coupon on a B1G1 deal makes no sense.
Why the Change??
One can only guess why they would go backwards. My guess, they are actually choosing to step down and wait out the coupon craziness that is going on right now. With the changes above you will find better deals on B1G1 items at CVS and Walgreens who both allow the use of B1G1 coupons and (2) coupons on a B1G1 deal. I’m thinking for right now Rite Aid prefers a non couponing clientele and this is there way of quietly going to the back of the line.
Maybe when things in coupon land quiet down we’ll see them come back their senses.
(To be sweet to Rite Aid, they do have good deals with their +UP Rewards system so you’ll still be there, just don’t buy B1G1 deals.)
