Publix, Publix

Stopped in at my old favorite Publix to catch the last of last week's sales, hoping they would be out of Nestle Tollhouse Morsels so I could get a raincheck and order some more coupons to buy them with later. Of course they were well stocked.  Oh well, the cookies have gone on sale a couple of times already, hopefully the morsels will again, too.

I had more coupons to get free potatoes and Special K, and I wanted to get some more graham crackers at $1.00 a box. I want to make some of these for Christmas.

The Knox, Yakisoba, and Bear Naked bars paid for the rest of the cost of the crackers.

I did EarthyMama's suggestion of buying a $25.00 gift card along with my groceries, to make my oop seem higher than it really was.  Since I had $24.43 worth of Kraft rebate gift cards left, although my total came up to $25.03, my oop was really only .60 cents. 
I don't think that would have phased this cashier, who I know is experienced with couponers, but my next shopping trip probably would have freaked the girl out.

Next I went to my old first favorite Publix - which has apparently been suffering some coupon abuse (real or imagined, I don't know).  The last time I was there, a few weeks ago, the cashier guy told me they were limiting purchases to (2) BOGO deals, because "Convenience Store Owners" were coming in and clearing the shelves and reselling the stuff.  Since I drive an hour to go there, it's not worth me going for (2) BOGO deals. (Or cleared shelves either, for that matter, so either way...)

In the meantime I have read some posts on shopper's blogs that they've been changing what competitor coupons they take and such.

So, today I do my shop and go to checkout and the cashier asks for my coupons up front. So I give them to her and she proceeds to spread them out all over the counter.  She asked the cashier behind her something about the Target coupons, 'doubling up', I couldn't hear her very clearly, but I guess she was told it was okay.
But then she starts telling me that they can only take one manufacturer coupon per item and I couldn't 'double up' my frosting coupons, so which one did I want to use (I had 2 printable coupons and 1 insert coupon).  I told her I didn't understand what she was talking about, and she asked how many frostings did I have. I said threeeee (which she would have known had she rang my stuff up before trying to sort and pick through coupons, or at least at the same time).
So then she was like, oh, then that'll work. I said, I'm not trying to cheat you. She said she knew, they just had a new coupon policy, they have to make sure it's done right.

So I don't know what's happened to this place to make it change so drastically, so suddenly. Not even a month ago this was the best Publix I ever shopped at. Everyone was majorly friendly about coupons, welcoming, and the store is just beautiful.   The Publix stores I've been shopping at lately are good about taking coupons, but the stores just aren't beautiful like that one.

I only got (2) BOGO deals on everything except the Rice Krispies, and the cashier didn't say anything about a limit of (2) deals. So I don't know if that's still in effect or not.

I got another $25.00 gift card here. I handed it to her when she asked for my coupons, so she rang up the $25.00 first and gave me the card.  I think she probably forgot about it by the time she went through all the coupons and everything, so my $22.45 balance didn't freak her out.

$1.89 Betty Crocker Frosting BOGO
-  .50 (doubled) IP Q or SS 10/25

$2.39 Green Giant Steamers BOGO
-  .50 (doubled) IP Q

$1.89 Chinet Dinner Napkins BOGO
-1.00 IP Q

$3.99 Rice Krispies BOGO
-1.00 RP 11/08
-1.00 Target Q

$1.29 Marshmellows
-1.29 Peelie wyb 2 Rice Krispies

$ .79 Softsoap
-  .40 (doubled) IP Q

Total Value Before Coupons: $36.96 (or $61.96 w/ $25.00 Gift Card)
Spent: $21.29 +  1.16 tax = $22.45 from previous Gift Card

Remaining on previous Gift Card $2.55
Still have $25.00 Gift Card

Help! What did I spend/make? 
*After my first purchase, I had $23.83 of my Kraft Rebate Gift Cards left.

After this purchase, I have $2.55 left on one gift card, and a $25.00 gift card, so a total of $27.55.
Subtract the $23.83 I originally had, I think I've increased my rebate amount by $3.72.

Right?