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Starting June 1st Bi-Lo is updating their corporate coupon policy. You may find though that stores are already educated and running on the new policy this week so be ready. Before you panic there are only two changes to the policy that are bad, and all the rest are awesome additions!
I’m a get the bad over with kinda girl… so lets go there first.
Negative Changes
“To ensure product availability for all customers, BI-LO limits redemption to (5) five like coupons for the same item in the same transaction. For example, if you have six of the same coupon and have purchased six items, we will only accept five of the coupons.”
Note that this isn’t 5 will double, this is 5 like can be used. What does that mean? If you saw a great deal and wanted to get 6 of it, you would only be able to use 5 coupons. You are still able to buy other things and use coupons on them, just no more than 5 of any one item. They are not the first store to make such limits. Kroger only allows 2 like printable coupons, and Harris Teeter only takes 3 like coupons.
Possible Room for Interpretation:
What if I have 6 coupons but they aren’t all alike in discount or where they came from. Ex: I have (2) .50/1 (2) $1 off and (1) $1.50/2.
“Coupons may only be used for products that are currently on-hand at the store location.”
You are not allowed to use coupons on a special order and possibly with a rain check? This one have a lot of grey area at the store level on what it means. Odds are you’ll each find that your store interprets it differently.
Problems Here:
Yeah, I have a lot of issues with this one. So many that in writing this I rewrote this paragraph 5 times. My biggest issue will be if they don’t allow coupons on a raincheck. There is no longer reason to every denying using a manufacturer coupon so I’m not sure what the plan is here. In general their hope is to decrease special orders and people that are buying tons of the same item. (Also not logical to care if they are special ordering it and not reducing in-store inventory).
As a whole for those of us only getting enough for six weeks (remember it will come on sale again…) the 5 limit is probably fine. There are moments that I may get more than 5 of Pop Tarts and other items, that will take some getting used to or multiple trips.
Positive Changes
They have put a lot of effort into really spelling out the competitor coupon part of the policy which is awesome. Before you could only use a competitor coupon on a specific item that they sold.
Now you can:
- Use a house brand coupon on a house brand item. Ex:
-$1.50 off Ball Park franks, 12-24 oz AND Publix hot dog buns Publix Grilling Season flyer - Use a coupon off your total purchase. Think of the awesome $10 off $50 grocery coupon from the Target flyer last week…
They have also made an addition to the stores accepted. First they added “Competitors may include but are not limited to” perfect because it means your store can add to the list if you have other stores in your area. Second it clearly added Family Dollar and Dollar General. These were not accepted by many stores under the old policy. They put out coupons every week for $5 off any $25 purchase!!
In the end I’m happy. I may be slightly annoyed a few times by having to do more than one transaction or trip, but having more competitor coupons to use completely makes up for it!
