Lessons Learned at Walgreens Today

I actually had a pretty bad experience at Walgreens today, and I thought I would share the lessons I learned:

1. Don't shop with a fussy baby (okay, that's a given). But, really, she started fussing right when I was checking out, which made a confusing coupon transaction even more confusing.

2. Always have a list of the item you're buying, the coupons that you are planning on using, and what the final price for that item should be. This will keep you organized...something you must be when trying to buy 15 items with two coupons per each item.

3. Know your store's coupon policy. Today the employee would not take a coupon if it exceeded the value of the item. I have never had this problem before. Normally, they will just take off the full amount of the coupon, or they will take off the item's value. For example, I was purchasing Sambucol. This month's EasySaver catalog has a coupon for $10.00 off. The item was $10.99. I also had a manufacturer's coupon for $4.00 off. She told me she could not use the $4.00 off coupon since the total of the item after the IVC coupon was $ .99. I have seen the Walgreens coupon policy online before, and it states that they should just take the value of the item off for that coupon. (BTW, I have e-mailed the Walgreens corporate office telling them about this situation, and asking them to send me a copy of their coupon policy. I will let you know what it says when I receive it.)

This brings me to my final and most important lesson learned...

4. Don't be embarassed to have them remove an item...I should have had her take the Sambucol off once I realized that she was not going to use that second coupon (making it free). Instead, I went ahead and bought it for $1.00. Now, that is not a bad price, I agree. However, the only reason I was buying it was because it was going to be free. I should have told her that I did not want it.