Coupons wtf?

[mbz321]

As others have said, paper coupons have greatly diminished over the last few years, and those that do come out are usually for new products or products that are already greatly overpriced to begin with like name brand health and beauty type items. That being said, I used some Persil paper coupons last week at Target which combined nicely with a deal on my Target app. I used the self checkout and the coupons went through fine, but prompted for assistance where an employee had to enter the number of coupons used (which didn't make sense, the system can't figure that out itself?) and then drop them in the slot before continuing. I'm pretty sure it used to all be on the 'honor system' not too long ago.

[storewanderer]

As others have said, paper coupons have greatly diminished over the last few years, and those that do come out are usually for new products or products that are already greatly overpriced to begin with like name brand health and beauty type items. That being said, I used some Persil paper coupons last week at Target which combined nicely with a deal on my Target app. I used the self checkout and the coupons went through fine, but prompted for assistance where an employee had to enter the number of coupons used (which didn't make sense, the system can't figure that out itself?) and then drop them in the slot before continuing. I'm pretty sure it used to all be on the 'honor system' not too long ago.

Target thinks that by having the employee enter the number of coupons used it will ensure that the employee collects all of the coupons from the customer.

Self scanning of coupons/inserting into coupon box without employee help continues to be allowed at Safeway, CVS, Rite Aid, some Wal Marts (some prompt for employee on a .50 coupon...), Save Mart, and various others though. I think if you go above $5 or $10 at some of these stores it may prompt for assistance. At CVS it prompts for assistance if the value of paper coupons scanned exceeds 40% of the transaction amount (amount as computed at the time you scan the coupons... so you want to scan the coupons before scanning the loyalty card).

[BillyGr]

Target thinks that by having the employee enter the number of coupons used it will ensure that the employee collects all of the coupons from the customer.

Self scanning of coupons/inserting into coupon box without employee help continues to be allowed at Safeway, CVS, Rite Aid, some Wal Marts (some prompt for employee on a .50 coupon...), Save Mart, and various others though. I think if you go above $5 or $10 at some of these stores it may prompt for assistance. At CVS it prompts for assistance if the value of paper coupons scanned exceeds 40% of the transaction amount (amount as computed at the time you scan the coupons... so you want to scan the coupons before scanning the loyalty card).

Seems the Target one has done that for a bit (has to be pre-2020, due to not using self checkout for a time as they failed to allow any of them to take money).

That CVS must be only for Mfr.? - I know I've had ECB that were far above 40% and never asked for anyone (and yes, those are paper coupons as well).

Then you get the silly ones, like the ShopRite chain around here in NY - they ask for an employee to help when you have coupons (sometimes even just for one) - the employee has to scan their card and then touch the screen to approve the coupons, but never actually SEES them, as you've already dropped them in the slot! It does list them and amounts on the screen, but even then they rarely look at that, so they aren't really doing anything to verify what you did.

[ClownLoach]

Target thinks that by having the employee enter the number of coupons used it will ensure that the employee collects all of the coupons from the customer.

Self scanning of coupons/inserting into coupon box without employee help continues to be allowed at Safeway, CVS, Rite Aid, some Wal Marts (some prompt for employee on a .50 coupon...), Save Mart, and various others though. I think if you go above $5 or $10 at some of these stores it may prompt for assistance. At CVS it prompts for assistance if the value of paper coupons scanned exceeds 40% of the transaction amount (amount as computed at the time you scan the coupons... so you want to scan the coupons before scanning the loyalty card).

Seems the Target one has done that for a bit (has to be pre-2020, due to not using self checkout for a time as they failed to allow any of them to take money).

That CVS must be only for Mfr.? - I know I've had ECB that were far above 40% and never asked for anyone (and yes, those are paper coupons as well).

Then you get the silly ones, like the ShopRite chain around here in NY - they ask for an employee to help when you have coupons (sometimes even just for one) - the employee has to scan their card and then touch the screen to approve the coupons, but never actually SEES them, as you've already dropped them in the slot! It does list them and amounts on the screen, but even then they rarely look at that, so they aren't really doing anything to verify what you did.

Target had serious coupon fraud issues. Someone had figured out how to get their system to discount virtually anything with a manipulated barcode and people were walking out with free game consoles and such. They subsequently locked down coupon acceptance and added a database of valid coupons. These problems were 6-7 years ago.

[storewanderer]

Target thinks that by having the employee enter the number of coupons used it will ensure that the employee collects all of the coupons from the customer.

Self scanning of coupons/inserting into coupon box without employee help continues to be allowed at Safeway, CVS, Rite Aid, some Wal Marts (some prompt for employee on a .50 coupon...), Save Mart, and various others though. I think if you go above $5 or $10 at some of these stores it may prompt for assistance. At CVS it prompts for assistance if the value of paper coupons scanned exceeds 40% of the transaction amount (amount as computed at the time you scan the coupons... so you want to scan the coupons before scanning the loyalty card).

Seems the Target one has done that for a bit (has to be pre-2020, due to not using self checkout for a time as they failed to allow any of them to take money).

That CVS must be only for Mfr.? - I know I've had ECB that were far above 40% and never asked for anyone (and yes, those are paper coupons as well).

Then you get the silly ones, like the ShopRite chain around here in NY - they ask for an employee to help when you have coupons (sometimes even just for one) - the employee has to scan their card and then touch the screen to approve the coupons, but never actually SEES them, as you've already dropped them in the slot! It does list them and amounts on the screen, but even then they rarely look at that, so they aren't really doing anything to verify what you did.

Target had serious coupon fraud issues. Someone had figured out how to get their system to discount virtually anything with a manipulated barcode and people were walking out with free game consoles and such. They subsequently locked down coupon acceptance and added a database of valid coupons. These problems were 6-7 years ago.

This was an issue at a lot of retailers but it hit both Target and Wal Mart the worst due to the larger mix of items sold. This was also a big issue for P&G coupons being misredeemed and some other vendors who liked to issue high value coupons (like Norelco). This is why the coupon barcodes changed to the weird barcodes you see now instead of a standard UPC type code.