Through the Looking Glass, Alice!

In case the tone was lost in translation, the title is a combination of Alice in Wonderland and Ralph Kramden....a mix of WTH? and Pow!

Today, the stores I usually always have trouble at - I didn't. And the stores I usually don't have trouble at - I did!

First I went to one of my favorite Rite Aids and tried to do the Covergirl deal, so that I could use the $5/$20 Rite Aid q to get some corn chips and a Duracell flashlight.
That cashier told me I couldn't use the Get a Free Face Product coupon, because one of the items was already free, so I had to buy 4 items, and I'd get three of them free, but I actually had to pay for one.
Mathematically ignorant as I am, I can't figure out her math equation on that, and anyway, it doesn't matter, because Rite Aid's Official Policy is that you CAN use coupons on a BOGO deal.

After I took my MIL to the doctor and dropped her out, I headed to Target. I called 1-800-Rite-Aid on the way, just for the heck of it. The CSR guy told me in no uncertain terms the cashier was wrong, I can use Manufacturer on a Buy One Get Deal, and for that matter, if I have a coupon for a free item, then they will give me both for free.

So after I left Target I went back to the Rite Aid and told her I had spoke to Rite Aid Customer Service, and was told I can in fact use a BOGO coupon with a BOGO sale. So she went and got her manager, who had already been told what I came and there and tried that morning, so she was already against me and not willing to listen. She told me she would call Rite Aid Customer Service and tell them how she saw it, (her exact words) and I could leave my name and number and she would call me after she'd spoken to them.

I was so aggrivated with them, I forgot to stop in Walmart and shop.~ Target ~I had an envelope full of coupons and deals for Target I've put off and put off going for, but today I decided I was going to try.
I almost decided to not go again after my good Rite Aid turned out bad this morning, but oh well, I was right there.

I found the Chef Micheals dog food first. They had 6 bags of dry and several cans of wet, but I didn't want to try too many so I got 3 dry and 8 cans.
I had Mq and Tqs for the Tide Stain Release and Bounce Dryer Bars, which weren't free, but were pretty cheap after coupons....74 cents for the Bounce and 1.25 for the Tide...or vice versa.
I had (1) $1.50 off Glade coupon so I went to see if they had any of those. They had 6 Candle tins, and they all still had their $1.50 of coupon inside. They were on sale for $1.66, so after coupon they were .16 each, and I had Get Refills Free coupons so I got 6 of those, too.

I thought they didn't have the Kashi cereal, but then I found a bunch of it on an endcap. I got 5 boxes of the Honey Sunshine I had Mqs from Vocalpoint for.

I had brought my Walgreens paper to price match the cereal, and I had read that you needed to go to Customer Service and get the difference back after you checked out. So I tried going to Customer Service first, asking if that was where I was supposed to go for the price matching, and if I could check out the rest of my stuff there.
I didn't have anything to weigh so she let me check out there, and I didn't have to mess with a cashier. The Customer Service Associate was very nice, and didn't argue with my coupons, and asked where we were geting them all, and was impressed at the end when I paid practically nothing but tax for everything I had gotten.
I gave her the link addresses to Southern Savers and Hip2Save websites, where I find most of my best deals.

I also got (2) travel size All Small & Mighty at $1.02 each; used $1.00 Mqs.
(2) Market Pantry Single Serve Cheese Sticks at .40 each. My Tq was for 1.00/2, but the register automatically adjusted the value down to .80, so no fussing and carrying on about not being able to take a coupon for more than the amount of the item.
And I got (6) packages of Bic pens at 1.00 per package. I had (3) $1/2 Mqs and (3) $1/2 TQs.

She scanned a couple of the Bic Tqs, and one of the Mqs, not sure why she did in that order, just whatever she picked up first, but it would only take 3 of the coupons and none of the rest.
Turned out reason why was, my balance was down to .43 before tax. Huh??

I don't know what happened. According to my figuring I should have had to pay something like $8.31 before tax oop.

Target receipts are so hard to figure out, I'm still not entirely clear, but it appears the wrong Chef Micheals dog food coupon attached to the wrong item.
I had BOGO for the canned dogfood, but I see that it appears only the Target q attached to the canned dog food, and the dry dog food was free plus the $1.50 Target coupon, plus she still took off the $3.00 Mq at the end.

I think?

Total of Items Before Coupons: $73.71
Total Spent: $0.43 + 3.54 tax = $3.97 (used GC from prior deal to pay)
Got $5.00 GC for Kashi = $1.03 profit

~ Rite Aid ~After Target I went over to my other favorite Rite Aid and tried the Covergirl deal again. This time I didn't have any trouble with using the BOGO on the BOGO deal, but the regiter wouldn't accept the $1.00 off CG coupon. The cashier said that even though the coupon says ANY Covergirl, it's really only for the products shown in the picture. Of course we know that's not true, but I went along with her and tookthe coupon back. It wasn't worth arguing over.

The Covergirl Makeup was $11.82, got it free with coupon.
The Covergirl Foundation was $9.39, got it free with Rite Aid BOGO sale.
Duracell Flashlight was $7.99; used $5.00 of Rite Aid in-ad q and $2.00 MQ = .99
Fritos chips were $2.89
Halloween candy was $4.99
Used -$5/$20 Rite Aid video coupon

Total of Items Before Coupons: $37.08
Total Spent: $3.97 + 1.05 tax = $4.92 (used SCR check to pay)
Gift of Savings Certificate: $37.08 or $27.69?

~ Publix ~There is no Publix picture, because I didn't come home with anything from Publix.

I went to the Publix that usually accepts Food Lion coupons with no problem. There was no problem last week. However, apparently this week with no notice they've put a limit of ONE Food Lion coupon.
The cashier said well it's just because they are on sale (the Planters trail mix), but then the girl doing the bagging said, well the coupons DO say limit one per customer per day.
While that's true, they've never limited it before, and if they are going to limit it to one, then what's to entice me to do my shopping at Publix as opposed to the Food Lion that just opened up a few miles down the street, especially when I can do multiple transactions at Food Lion?

On top of that, turned out my Food Lion Planters coupon and my Food Lion $1.00 Catalina had expired yesterday, so she wouldn't take them.
She made the extremely helpful comment, "They only expired yesterday". What was that, like a rub-it-in? Supposed to make me feel better that I only missed using them by one day? What?

I said you know what, just cancel the whole order. I took my coupons back and went home.
All they had to do was tell me when I came in the door they didn't want my business, and saved us both alot of time.

~ Rite Aid ~On my way to pick up my kid from running practice I stopped in at our local Rite Aid. I had planned to get my J&J stuff here because this store is one that usually gives me alot of trouble with coupons, especially on BOGO deals and such. I can't recall now why I decided to try to Covergirl deal again here?

I wanted to get the Covergirl makeup and be able to use the $5/$20 coupon to get more corn chips and another Duracell flashlight, but this Rite Aid didn't carry the $7.99 flashlights, so I got the Air-Wick Ultra thing that was $6.99 half off and I had a $6.00 off coupon. I still needed to spend another dollar-something and they had these Lucky Charms cups clearanced for .49 each, so I got three of those.

She didn't say a word about me using the Free Covergirl Makeup coupon with the BOGO sale. The register didn't like it, though, and kept beeping that no matching item was found. She tried entering it manually and it still kicked it out. She couldn't figure out what was happening. I couldn't either. I had a pounding headache and was kind of out of it, so I just stood there waiting while she messed with it, until she told me no, and then I'd leave.

But she somehow got it entered and didn't give me any trouble about it.

The Covergirl Blusher makeup was $12.99, got it free with coupon.
The Covergirl Foundation was $9.39, got it free with Rite Aid BOGO sale.
Air Wick Ultra was on sale 50% off for $6.99, used 6.00 Mq = .99
Fritos chips were $2.89
(3) Lucky Charms cup at .49 each
Used -$5/$20 Rite Aid video coupon

Total of Items Before Coupons: $33.73
Total Spent: $0.35 + 1.53 tax = $1.88 (used SCR check to pay)
Gift of Savings Certificate: $33.73 or $24.34?

*When I got home I saw on the caller ID I had missed a call from the first Rite Aid I had gone to this morning, so I called back and asked for the Manager.
She said I should bring my coupons back in and she'd give me my four pieces.
I said, four pieces? No, I was only trying to buy two.
So she said well bring your coupons back in and I'll give them to you.
I said well I can't come all the way back down there tonight, and she said that's okay, everyone knows.

It was kindly a strange conversation, she was clearly trying to hurry me off the phone and avoid having to say I WAS RIGHT AND SHE WAS WRONG!!!