Archived ultimate coupon guest

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I had a guest come through my lane that had several separate orders all with target coupons manufacturers and cartwheel. They had a binder in the cart full of coupon ads. I don't cashier often enough to feel confident. So after the 2nd order and her getting angry b/c the register wouldn't take a coupon, I asked my savvy GsTL ( who was working a reg. cash shift )to take over b/c I was "late for break". He cut her off after the 3rd order b/c she was duplicting orders. Anyone else have this experience? What do you do?
 
No but yesterday I did have one guest come through my line with a fist full of coupons for shit she didn't even purchase. Now, we are supposed to "be bold and go above and beyond" for our guests. But come on!!! She had over 200.00 worth of stuff!! So after scanning the tenth coupon for stuff she did NOT have, I told her I could not take these coupons for items not purchased! Man did she get all pissy with me. I told her I was sorry but the coupons are not scanning and I cannot accept coupons she has no product for... LOL!!!! We are supposed to accept all coupons weather they have the item or not..Sorry GSTL not doin it!! She was trying to rip off the company!! Not happening!!!!!
 
My store has a few bad couponers and all of the leadership recognize them. We're all about being bold ... except for them (since they'll try to return everything for cash). That's one place where all leadership is on the same page in my store.

If you see a lot of coupons, ask to see them before you begin the transaction and make sure everything is correct before beginning. Getting a GSTL/GSA over is also a good idea because, at least in my store, they'll help you. If you can, try turning off your light. These transactions take at least a few minutes if you're doing it right and guests might as well wait in a line that's moving.
 
This isn't really coupons, but we had a guy at my store last night get assassins creed: black flag, a $40 game, for 40€ and COD: Ghosts, a $50 game, for $2 by price matching amazon, then buying a reservation card which took $15 off each game, and then using 20% off Cartwheel coupons.
 
I have had a few recently that I knew they were trying to scam me but you know, be bold. We have a regular couponer who comes in and knows her shit. She came through my line and got a $749 total down to $195. At least 95% of the coupons took. The ones that didn't were mostly a 5th coupon that she just miscounted.
 
I'll cut SOME slack on coupons (ie. when the coupon is for "two" and the guest only buys one) but when they try to give coupons for product they aren't even purchasing at all, I'll draw the line. Literally all it takes is something along the lines of "sorry but it looks like this coupon is for dove shampoo, was there a bottle still stuck in the cart somewhere? i don't see any shampoo at all" and the guest will take the coupon back... They just want to see what bullsh*t they can pull, and if you call them out on the completely ridiculous stuff you're completely fine.
 
We have this one woman that comes in almost every day and always is trying to do something really shady. She will insist on talking to every manager & will call corporate. She's a nightmare!
 
We get paid back for coupons. There isn't anything that ties a coupon to a specific transaction. It is in our best interest to take all coupons to keep lines moving and make guests happy and maintain their loyalty. At the end of the day even if you have several extreme couponers in your store you are talking about an incredibly small percentage of your sales. Just take the coupons and smile Target doesn't feel it.
 
We get paid back for coupons. There isn't anything that ties a coupon to a specific transaction. It is in our best interest to take all coupons to keep lines moving and make guests happy and maintain their loyalty. At the end of the day even if you have several extreme couponers in your store you are talking about an incredibly small percentage of your sales. Just take the coupons and smile Target doesn't feel it.

Actually if we take 100 coupons for something that we didn't even sell, the manufacturer could red-flag those coupons, and not payout since they were improperly used. This is info I received from when I used to do cash office.

Coupons should be enforced to proper use, selling 50 electric toothbrush heads (seemed like the coupon scammers LOVED these...) to the coupon guy with all those coupons means that is 50 less toothbrush heads for other people to buy. Also most likely 50 more items of reshop for Target when they inevitably return them.

My general rule as a GSA (and what I told cashiers), is if the number of coupons seems reasonable compared to the number of items they were buying, and if the coupons were for smaller amounts, to just push them all through and don't check. Only to carefully scrutinize when they have a LOT of coupons, and it seems like they have one for every item, and/or they are higher $ coupon amounts.
 
We get paid back for coupons. There isn't anything that ties a coupon to a specific transaction. It is in our best interest to take all coupons to keep lines moving and make guests happy and maintain their loyalty. At the end of the day even if you have several extreme couponers in your store you are talking about an incredibly small percentage of your sales. Just take the coupons and smile Target doesn't feel it.

Actually if we take 100 coupons for something that we didn't even sell, the manufacturer could red-flag those coupons, and not payout since they were improperly used. This is info I received from when I used to do cash office.

Coupons should be enforced to proper use, selling 50 electric toothbrush heads (seemed like the coupon scammers LOVED these...) to the coupon guy with all those coupons means that is 50 less toothbrush heads for other people to buy. Also most likely 50 more items of reshop for Target when they inevitably return them.

My general rule as a GSA (and what I told cashiers), is if the number of coupons seems reasonable compared to the number of items they were buying, and if the coupons were for smaller amounts, to just push them all through and don't check. Only to carefully scrutinize when they have a LOT of coupons, and it seems like they have one for every item, and/or they are higher $ coupon amounts.

Most often the coupons we are talking about are for commodities like detergent, toothpaste, deodorant, paper products, things we sell thousands of dollars worth of each day. Sure, we take some coupons from people who didn't actually buy them. But most target stores range from 1000-5000 transactions a day. There is a very high chance that someone else bought this product and didn't use a coupon. It all evens out. At the end of the day, what is the difference between taking a $3 coupon and changing a price for a guest from $15 to $12? It is company policy that all team members are empowered to make a price change under $20. This policy is there to make your life easier. This isn't your money. Don't offend guests who are using legitimate coupons. The scammers are in the minority so we shouldn't be treating guests like they are criminals. Should you take a printer paper coupon for an electric razor that is $50 off without question? No. There is always an exception, but when in doubt coupon it out.
 
This isn't really coupons, but we had a guy at my store last night get assassins creed: black flag, a $40 game, for 40€ and COD: Ghosts, a $50 game, for $2 by price matching amazon, then buying a reservation card which took $15 off each game, and then using 20% off Cartwheel coupons.

Your store misapplied the price matching policy in this instance. We do not price match items if Target has a buy one, get one (including the reservation card sale mentioned) or a free gift card.

In addition Cartwheel is not to be used in conjunction with price matching. This was a big deal when Best Buy was having a deal on Bose Speakers the same week we were doing a 50% cartwheel for them. You can apply Cartwheel before the price match and still match if the competitor price is lower, but you are not supposed to use Cartwheel after lowering the price.

Both of those examples are listed in the restrictions for online price matching. Target.com actually has the same policy as workbench for this: https://corporate.target.com/about/shopping-experience/shop-with-confidence#q5391
 
This isn't really coupons, but we had a guy at my store last night get assassins creed: black flag, a $40 game, for 40€ and COD: Ghosts, a $50 game, for $2 by price matching amazon, then buying a reservation card which took $15 off each game, and then using 20% off Cartwheel coupons.

Your store misapplied the price matching policy in this instance. We do not price match items if Target has a buy one, get one (including the reservation card sale mentioned) or a free gift card.

In addition Cartwheel is not to be used in conjunction with price matching. This was a big deal when Best Buy was having a deal on Bose Speakers the same week we were doing a 50% cartwheel for them. You can apply Cartwheel before the price match and still match if the competitor price is lower, but you are not supposed to use Cartwheel after lowering the price.

Both of those examples are listed in the restrictions for online price matching. Target.com actually has the same policy as workbench for this: https://corporate.target.com/about/shopping-experience/shop-with-confidence#q5391
Thanks for the info, thats good to know. I'll have to pass it on to guest services next time I work. I don't think that it's just my store that messed this up though, because the guest said he found this "trick" as he called it, on youtube.
 
We get paid back for coupons. There isn't anything that ties a coupon to a specific transaction. It is in our best interest to take all coupons to keep lines moving and make guests happy and maintain their loyalty. At the end of the day even if you have several extreme couponers in your store you are talking about an incredibly small percentage of your sales. Just take the coupons and smile Target doesn't feel it.

Actually if we take 100 coupons for something that we didn't even sell, the manufacturer could red-flag those coupons, and not payout since they were improperly used. This is info I received from when I used to do cash office.

Coupons should be enforced to proper use, selling 50 electric toothbrush heads (seemed like the coupon scammers LOVED these...) to the coupon guy with all those coupons means that is 50 less toothbrush heads for other people to buy. Also most likely 50 more items of reshop for Target when they inevitably return them.

My general rule as a GSA (and what I told cashiers), is if the number of coupons seems reasonable compared to the number of items they were buying, and if the coupons were for smaller amounts, to just push them all through and don't check. Only to carefully scrutinize when they have a LOT of coupons, and it seems like they have one for every item, and/or they are higher $ coupon amounts.

Most often the coupons we are talking about are for commodities like detergent, toothpaste, deodorant, paper products, things we sell thousands of dollars worth of each day. Sure, we take some coupons from people who didn't actually buy them. But most target stores range from 1000-5000 transactions a day. There is a very high chance that someone else bought this product and didn't use a coupon. It all evens out. At the end of the day, what is the difference between taking a $3 coupon and changing a price for a guest from $15 to $12? It is company policy that all team members are empowered to make a price change under $20. This policy is there to make your life easier. This isn't your money. Don't offend guests who are using legitimate coupons. The scammers are in the minority so we shouldn't be treating guests like they are criminals. Should you take a printer paper coupon for an electric razor that is $50 off without question? No. There is always an exception, but when in doubt coupon it out.

AAAAAAAmen!!! Couldn't have said it better myself!!
 
Thanks for the info, thats good to know. I'll have to pass it on to guest services next time I work. I don't think that it's just my store that messed this up though, because the guest said he found this "trick" as he called it, on youtube.

Also, we do not price match items when the item is part of a game reservation card promotion.
From the Target website
Item exclusions:

  • Items part of movie/game reservation card promotion.
  • Non-branded items (e.g., produce not marketed under a specific brand name).
  • Product services (warranties, assembly, etc.).
  • Target Portrait Studio, Optical and Clinic offers.
  • Contract cell phone plans and devices.
  • Items out of stock at a Target store at the time the price match is requested will not be issued a rain check.
  • Target team member discounts may not be used with online competitor price match.

I had someone today actually try to price match amazon with this deal but said sorry I can't. She told that her friends did it and that she didn't see that policy posted anywhere. So I asked her if she wanted to see the policy which we have printed out straight from the target website. And all she had to say was "Oh, there it is". I had to tell her to either take the price match or the promotion.
 
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thanks to you all for your comments! My cashier training was the token 1/2 hour and I rarely have cashier shifts. A lot of the stuff here I didn't know!The guest I was talking about came into my lane and started unloading her cart and dividing things into groups of about 6 each. she had coupons divided into groups and paid for some with ebt. that red flagged me she was the 1st Ive ever had refer to it that way and even told me which # to select on the register.lol anyway...1st one went fine. 2nd one she argued when a coupon was rejected b/c it excluded hosiery. she had leggings . we gave it to her. then the orders started getting a bit bigger and her coupon piles for each larger... and some of the orders were for the exact same stuff.. thats when I had the gstl take over. he limited her. She didnt know he was the Gstl and asked for a supervisor.... lol she gave up.
 
think of it this way:

My store is very coupon friendly and very "bold" in general. Our STL does not want a single guest leaving the store angry so we do what we can. At first I thought this was going to be a nightmare but it's actually pretty great and makes my life a lot easier as a gstl. Now the store up the street is NOT coupon friendly at all and does nothing to try and make guests happy.

In the past 4 months since we've really started this our sales have gone up and up. We are killing sales every single day. The store up the street? not so much. We have a lot of couponers tell us that they won't go to any other store now because we treat them with respect and don't roll our eyes at them or instantly call a manager over to "Assist". We are number 1 in the district and group for sales and service. So, i'll keep my couponers and I'll keep saying yes because it's best for the store.

I will say this though, we don't let people clear the shelves and we don't take coupons for items not bought but the legit couponers get this and they appreciate that we allow everyone to get a good deal.
 
Redand, that's great for the majority of couponers. However it doesn't excuse the minority that try screw you over.

Had a black woman come to electronics, grab 4 $20 phone accessories, and she had 4 $20 off "Belkin Accessories" coupons that seemed super sketchy, so I did my usual call the GSA over (hey its great I don't have to do it anymore!), and they got turned away. Why should we give shit away for near free? No point being bold there....
 
Yep, we're killing sales as well by being overly bold. The Spot down the street (which is a Super) is down....and they don't like to be bold.

That said, couponers who are clearing the shelves, clearly buying items they are going to return for cash, etc, get sent on their way pretty quickly at my store.

As for the price match with the games and reservation cards....we had a gentleman try that. Since the price match difference was so big, she had to call me over to approve it. As soon as I saw what was up, I found every fine print reason to turn him down, and he left empty handed.
 
My store is bold to a point. I myself am pretty lenient with coupons (i.e. accepting recently expired ones, ones that they may not have had the right # or brand of) but we often get hit by trial size scammers. They'll use regular coupons, get everything for free and then return it all for gift cards.
 
Yep, we're killing sales as well by being overly bold. The Spot down the street (which is a Super) is down....and they don't like to be bold.

That said, couponers who are clearing the shelves, clearly buying items they are going to return for cash, etc, get sent on their way pretty quickly at my store.

As for the price match with the games and reservation cards....we had a gentleman try that. Since the price match difference was so big, she had to call me over to approve it. As soon as I saw what was up, I found every fine print reason to turn him down, and he left empty handed.

This is....spot....on. (sorry) Our store is similar and I personally get to know the extreme ones, educate them, and politely request they not clean out the shelves for the sake of other shoppers.

I have to step back to calm myself multiple times a day when I see people get $200 in items, spend 45 minutes at a register, receive $50 in giftcards and pay $20, though. But, we get that $180 back from the manufacturer at some point and they have to come back and do it again to spend those cards!

On that note, I do strictly enforce the policy on those that I see setting up 8 separate transactions and generally cause delay to other guests, my cashiers, and myself. I genuinely wish I had the patience and time to plan these out. I suspect the hours and hours of prep to save a few bucks on things I won't use until 2045 will keep me "un-extreme".

We do have those that know the policy, stick to the 4 max per day, 1 store/1 manufacturer rules and still save an incredible amount of money without wasting our time. Thank them for that and realize they are some of and most loyal and sales-driving guests you have.



Biggest advice: roll with it and use your best judgment. We're not on commission so unless it's ruining the experience of others or outright fraud then what's the issue?
 
I can see both sides of it. We used to be super bold and super vibe but we got burned one time too many by scammers and we have to be a lot harder on couponers as a result. Is it fair? No but the people who use coupons correctly get the utmost respect from us and so do the scammers for the most part.

I do my best to give everyone the benefit of the doubt but we don't do multiple coupon transactions for the guest anymore. We read every coupon and do not accept expired ones and we reserve the right to not take your coupon. We seem to get fake coupons more than anything so if we take those we don't get reimbursed and that's loss of revenue.
 
Sometimes we have couponers who clear the shelves, try to divide things into separate transactions, and who then probably return them all for cash. And they NEVER will fucking sign up for a Red Card. They are time-wasters, they always cause Red scores, and they hold up the line for legitimate guests. I hate them. We had some ****s at my store tonight pulling that shit. I wouldn't let them use more than four identical coupons in my lane, so they just went to another lane after I'd taken all I would take! So disrespectful! How in the world do they get 20 copies of the same coupon anyway?
 
They buy them.

As for target not reporting sales to the manufactures, don't be to sure about that. Your local store wouldn't do anything, but back in my old day job I had to deal with sales reports using EDI (electronic data interchange). EDI got its start in the grocery area, it is a very exact, technical data format (aka, PITA). We had to transmit all sales of products to our manufacturers, and were issued various things from those reports. We were taught this was how coupon reimbursement happens too, the transaction with the coupons are sent and analyzed, and paid. Even if they are just lump summing the coupons, that data and mix is probably still being sent/sold.

It's why when a cashier told me we didn't need a coupon for something, but they don't do anything I just said I was never told that. I have no tolerance for my fellow team members that are trying to scam the store. Legit is fine, but scamming is scamming.
 
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