This is a guest post by my buddy John! He sat down and wrote a phenomenal article on what he does in preparation for his Publix shopping trip. John and I employ very similar methods but I typically have a two year old and a three yeard old in tow 🙂 I think this would be a great read for new couponers and may even offer the seasoned couponers a few tips too!!
1. At home, I usually prepare my shopping list. I do it in an Excel spreadsheet as I can note the item cost, qty, coupons, etc. My spreadsheet allows me to know what I am planning on buying and how much the bottom line will be. I then use that spreadsheet as my record-keeping for how much I spent/saved each week/month/year. I sync it to my mobile smart phone so I can use my phone as my shopping list and check off items as I put them in my cart. It also helps to know how much my pre-tax total should be so I know if there is an issue with an item price or coupon not scanning. Also, a great tip offered by sariah3110 is to shop at off hours. I do this too. I rarely shop on Sunday morning unless very early. I prefer to shop midday during the weekdays as it’s not as crowded. Sariah3110 shops later at night as the cashiers and customer service seem more laid back and less busy.
2. I usually bring my coupons in an envelope when I shop….just the coupons I am planning on using in that trip. I also bring my own bags. So I take my coupons out of the envelope when I get there and lay them on the bag in the child seat part of the shopping cart. I then put each coupon in the envelope after I place the matching items in my cart. This avoids the mistake I made when first couponing — handing over a handful of coupons which included things that I ended up not buying b/c of price or no stock. This way, I ensure no coupon is put in the envelope until I place the item in my cart.
3. If I have a coupon that is a questionable match, I ask customer service before getting in the checkout line. They will be the arbiter if the cashier questions it and I want to know that I won’t have any coupons rejected.
4. Before getting in line, I usually order my coupons all MQs first, then Publix Coupons, then Competitor Coupons. Two reasons for this: First, because most cashiers I know like to scan coupons in this order and second because I like to separate those coupons that are stacked that cause overage as it makes it less obvious that there is an overage when the coupons are “far apart” in the pile vs. right next to eachtother. Also, a great idea offered by jderosa and christinef is to call out any “free” coupons (like BOGO) by placing the coupon on that item, making it easier for the cashier to manually enter the coupon value.
5. I choose a line that has my favorite cashiers. Even if this means burning another couple mins going up and down the ailses getting blinkies. I have no kids so this may not work for those with kids in tow and just want to get out asap. Most cashiers where I shop are my favs but there are a couple I’ll avoid because they are either rude or they habitually forget to scan some coupons. If I am at a Publix where I don’t know the cashiers, I’ll just gravitate to the youngest cashier. Call me an agist but I find the older the cashier, the less happier they are that I am getting a good deal.
6. When I get in line, I place my bags at the front of the conveyor belt and take the coupons out of the envelope and on top of the bags….up front. Some cashiers will just put them aside until the end of the transaction, others will quickly scan them first so they can mentally match as they go, while others lay them all out in their work area as they like to match and scan as they go. In this last case, I try to help and point out each one as they scan the item. While the last approach is the most time consuming, I really don’t mind when they do this…if anything me be assured each coupon has been properly deducted from my total.
7. I have the luxury to usually not be in a rush when shopping so if someone gets in line behind me with only a few things, I offer to have them jump in front of me since I may take a while with all my coupons. If they have a lot of things, I just let them know that I have several coupons so it may take a bit longer (in case they want to jump to another line). Some stay and watch in amazement as my total drops to 10% of the before coupon total. At my regular coupon-friendly Publix, some of the baggers who are available gather to see how much I saved this time.
8. I personally don’t usually use fillers when I have more coupons than items….I just let the supervisor over-ride (they all know me and don’t seem to mind). But when I plan my list at home I count the item/coupon ratio and if it’s off, I have $x/2 coupons that result in free item that I can use to balance the ratio. This week, it’s carnation evaporated milk $.50/2 (which doubles for me) making it free…so that can be a filler. Other weeks, its the J&J $3/2 blinkie that I get travel sized band aids with. It’s a money maker and balances my coupon/item ratio. But most times, I don’t knock myself out trying to avoid the supervisor over-ride.
9. If any question comes up on a coupon and there isn’t a manager readily available, I offer to skip that coupon and I’ll just take it up to CS after the transaction is tendered for a final judgment. This keeps things going smoothly when things are busy at the supermarket. If the judgment is in my favor, they can pay me then the value of the coupon(s) in question. If the judgment appears unfair or inconsistent with the store policy as I understand it, then I go home and write a letter to the store manager. This helps me calm down and gather my thoughts and state my case. This has helped me change store policy on things like giving overages, including target as competitor. Managers are open to feedback and are certainly trained to make you satisfied so it can’t hurt. If I get nowhere there and I really feel the judgment is unfair, I write corporate. I tell them I’ve already spoken with the store manager as they typically just pass you to the store manager…so this will get the district manager. If all else fails, I can choose to shop at the many other Publix or other supermarkets within spitting distance of my house.
10. For times I have an overage for the entire transaction, I add a Publix gift card in there. That get’s my total in the positive and is a win-win since I’ll spend the money at Publix anyway. Some slick cashiers know I do do this and why and while raised with CS once, it was blessed since buying a Publix card is no different than buying an item to fill the overage. Of course,it can be any gift card….not necessarily Publix. When I have a gift card, I include it up front with the coupons so they can ring it up first. This avoids the possibility that they ring up all other items, then ring up coupons, encountering a neg balance (and hence supervisor over-ride needed). It also helps because the gift card ties up the communication line used by the keypad so if I am using a card to pay, I have to wait until after they ring up the card (else I just need to swipe anyway).
11. During the checkout I like to bag myself. This positions me in direct line of sight of the cashiers screen. I prefer this as I can watch them scan the items, see the price, see the cashier scan the coupons and see that they haven’t missed any coupons. I know there is a screen facing me too but it’s harder to there to keep an eye on both the screen and the coupons. But when baggers are there, I will usually let them bag if I know the cashier.
12. When I get home, I reconcile the receipt with my spreadsheet to ensure no coupons were missed. If missed, I usually don’t take them back for credit (although you can) because I just feel it’s hard for them to know if you used the coupon or not. Exceptions to this for me are Publix coupons (as those are clearly marked on the receipt with the name of the item the coupon is for…so it’s obvious it was not rung up) and for exceptionally high value coupons (like the $7/2). I try to mentally note any high value coupons when shopping and ensure they are on my receipt before I leave as it’s easy then for them to know if it scanned or not and if it’s in their coupon bag. I reconcile because this helps me keep track of my spending/saving and it also helps me identify cashiers who consistently “miss” coupons so I can avoid them.
Thanks so much John for allowing me to share this wealth of information with all of my readers!!
Thanks John.
Great tips! Thanx for sharing w/all of us! 🙂
Wow! It really looks like you’re a true pro at this! I long to be this organized! Thanks for the great tips 😉
Very nice article indeed. This is very similar to how we shop, as well, but there were definitely a couple of things I picked up on 😉 Thanks for sharing with us!
Wow! 🙂
I am a cashier at Publix and this is a great article! I love it when people put their free item coupons with the item, as it makes it easier for me. I tend to not question anything, but please note that the only expired coupons we take are Publix ones. And we do not get any credit for it, it is just out of courtesy. The only thing I would change is please remind us of your coupons before we total out your order. I wait until the end, and sometimes I am faster than my bagger making it easy for your items to hide the coupons, and thus I have to pay you cash for them. The younger the cashier, the easier the transaction, as we tend to not question unless we don’t remember the item at all. =) Happy Shopping guys!
I also use envelopes to keep my coupons in while shopping. I find it helpful to use clothes pins to attach the ‘to be used’ coupon envelope and the ‘to redeem’ coupon envelope to the cart. I pin the envelopes to the child seat section of the cart–where the child’s back would be. At checkout, I just take everything that I moved to the ‘redeem’ envelope and hand it to the cashier. This has eliminated the problem of forgetting to hand over coupons that I kept tucking into pockets.
I love the gift card idea.
I had to find out the hard way that some cashiers don’t scan all coupons. Now I just give them a few at a time. Thanks for all the great tips 🙂
Ohh and if you have rain checks, make sure you give them to us before we scan the product. It can delay your checkout if you don’t! =)
Is there a way to get a copy of the spreadsheet John uses so that I may be as organized? I am not as computer-savvy so I don’t know how to do the spreadsheet formulas so that all of my figures calculate themselves. Thanks!!!
ditto Leahs comment
I do almost the exact same thing as John, except I just print out my spreadsheet to take with me, then check off the items as I put them in the cart…makes shopping so much easier. And like John, I reconcile my receipt after I get home and keep a record of my spending/savings. It’s also useful if you need to refer back to find a price on something when you run across those high-value coupons!
Great ideas. My only difference is I always have problems with missed coupons. So I always hand over the coupons at the end grouped together. I hand all soup coupons, then dog food, ect. This way I know they all scan.
Great article. I have used many of Johns ideas, but I have never been so prepared as to have a spreadsheet. Way to go John!!!
I just have to know why some of the older cashiers take the savings so personally. It was so nice to hear that some of you have noticed the same thing. I have always looked for the young cashiers because they are so cute about the amount of money saved. I have had some of them gather around and cheer me on. One adorable young girl said to me once, “That is a lot of money you saved. You must be so proud.”
Great info John! I put the BOGO coupon with the item today, and used the idea of placing the coupons on the reusable bags at the front of the order. The cashier commented how helpful that was. Great checkout for all.
I thought I was the only one having issues with “older cashiers”. I’d say nine times out of ten, if anyone gives me problems, it’s a more mature employee. They seem to be disgusted that I’m saving money. The younger cashiers get excited and gather around to see. I get irritated when cashiers seem to make you feel like a criminal for stacking coupons. I’ve never intentionally passed an expired coupon or a coupon for something I didn’t buy, but some of cashiers constantly make me dig through my bags and justify my purchases, whether it was 10 ounces, etc. But the majority of Publix employees are very pleasant in my experience. Thank you for your notes, John. Very helpful!
I AGREE with EVERYTHING said here. Older cashiers can have nasty attitudes, and I, too, look for the younger ones. They seem the most helpful to me. I usually copy and paste what Michelle has written for the ads into a spreadsheet using microsoft. Plus I put the info on how many Q’s and how much the item should cost. I also use the envelope idea as well. It’s amazing how so many of us have the same strategy without ever talking with each other. John..I LOVE the gift card idea!!! 🙂
This was a really great article. I already do a lot of what was mentioned, but there were some ideas that I am definately going to start using. The comment above made by Whitney was very enlightening – I did not know that the only expired coupons Publix will take is their own. All along I have been throwing them out. Good to know this – I will now be saving them…..
This was very helpful. However, I don’t think I would have the gall to stand next to the cashier and watch as they scan them. I think sometimes men are just better at getting a great deal and knowing how to do so. But, I did learn a lot from this. I copied it and saved it to wordpad to help me in the future. I would love to have the spreadsheet too…Do any of you guys use couponclippers.com for coupons you don’t have?
Thanks for all the wonderful comments. A few folks have asked me for my spreadsheet. I’ll warn y’all….it’s not pretty but it meets my needs. It has the following columns:
1. Final Price: This is auto-calculated field which determines what the item costs after all coupons/discounts.
2. Item: self exaplanatory
3. Qty: How many items
4. Price: Price per item
5. MQ Qty: How many manufacturers coupons used
6. MQ: The value of each MQ used
7. Qty SC: How many store coupons used
8. SC: The value of each store coupon used
9. Other Disc: Any other discount such as a Register Reward, Extra Bucks, or Rebate
10. Date: Date of transaction
11. Store: Store where transaction took place
12. Coupon/Item Ratio: This auto-calculates the item to coupon ratio. This is useful since POS systems are triggered to beep when coupon count exceeds item count.
13. Purchase Flag: Place Y in this column once purchased to grey it out. Useful to reconcile with receipt and distinguish planned shopping trips vs. completed trips.
14. Price Total: The auto-calculated Price multiplied by the Qty (before coupons). This shows the “actual retail value”
15. OOP: Only fill in for Transaction Totals to keep track of how much money actually left my pocket. I also put in negative values when money comes in (such as rebate checks)
16. Amt Owed: An auto-calculated running cumulative total of what my OOP should be (accounting for all coupons and discounts)
17. PC Total: An auto-calculated running cumulative total of the actual retail value (before coupons). This is helpful when you need to spend $x before coupons like for mystery item or $10/$50 coupons
18. RR: Any Register Rewards earned for this purchased (or ECBs). This is used to determine actual OOP so you know how much you’ll owe.
A partially filled in (just a few transactions to give you the idea:
http://home.comcast.net/~johnfdeluca/PurchaseLog.xls
I would personally recommend placing the corresponding coupons with the item itself, that way there is no discrepancy as to what they are applying to and avoids the whole “Did you get this item?” interrogation when handing the coupons over at the beginning or end of the transaction. This also allows you to see, on you receipt, where the coupons applied in relation to the items as it simply displays varying generic text based on the coupon.
Jenny…yes, coupon clippers and couponsthingsbydede are two of my favorite coupon sites. They both have minimum order totals and charge a small fee, but if you don’t have the coupon that is needed, and if it’s a high value coupon, it’s worth searching their site. I haven’t had any problems with either one of them.
I am just happy to see that I am not the only one who has issues with older cashiers! There is one in particular that I flat out refuse to get in her line. I too, like to go to the younger cashiers. They just seem to be nicer about coupons for some reason. Now, I know I’m not alone 🙂
Great post!!!
I have just started the publix couponing experience and have a hard time believing cashiers don’t scan in all the coupons…what happens, do they stick together or they just refuse to scan them? How do you keep this from happening…after all that hard work of clipping and pairing everything together it’d be awful to not get them scanned if you hand them over and lose them!
Great article. My husband & I chuckled at the difference in men vs. women in their coupon planning (especially the part of syncing it to his smart phone). That is something my husband would do! 😀
I do my transactions similar to John, except the order I give my coupons. I have had trouble with coupons getting missed, so I hold onto my coupons until the end. Then, I hand them over in this order:
1) Any $/$$ coupons
2) Competitor coupons
3) Publix coupons
4) Mfg coupons
If I have enough overage in my total & don’t want to go into the negative, I can hold onto my extra Mfg Q to be used another time or do the gift card.
Love this article, I do allot of planning myself before I go shopping. I write everything down (old fashion way) :-). This allows me to list all the items I am going to buy, total before coupons, total after coupons (OOP) if there is overage I try to get something to offset it. The cashiers already know me most of the time they have a manager stand near them because 9 times out of 10 I will need an overide. The best part of my lists I know if there is a mistake and I will point it out and try to figure it out right there before I leave. I have had a few issues with missed coupons, but when I know my OOP is not correct I will try to help by going back to my list. My lists have allowed me to know exactly how much I am going to spend, and if there are errors it is very easily caught.
Hey, Michelle! This article would do well in your BASICS or FAQ tab. A good resource for people who are just starting out.
Thanks, these are really great tips. I divided up my coupons in MF coupons and Publix coupons, and it helped with the cashier not agonizing over the overrage. Thank you!