Taken straight from one of my favorite children’s books by Judith Viorst, I had a  Terrible Horrible No Good , Very Bad Day at Walmart on Sunday!! I preach in all of my coupon classes, that everybody will have a bad experience couponing. Even ME! I wanted to share my experience with you, so you will see that it happens to everybody! You can’t let it discourage you! You just dust off and give somebody else your money!!

Yesterday afternoon, me and my 2 older daughters headed out to Walmart to do some shopping and look for some clearance deals to pass along to you (will post that later). I spent about 2 hours shopping and scoping out deals. In my buggy, I had:
40 El Monterey Buritos
40 Buddig 2 oz Lunch Meats
9 Posie Wipes & Washes
5 Got2B Hair products
4 Yo Crunch 4ct Yogurt packs
8 Yo Crunch Singles
6 2 Liters (Dr Pepper 10 & Diet Sunkist)
4 Jimmy Dean Delight Bowls
2 IHop Breakfast
1 International Delight Iced Coffee
And Many other things

Everything I had in my buggy totaled about $240 (MUCH less after coupons). My problems started after the 40 El Monterey Coupons. They all scanned fine!  At Walmart after 40 coupons, a CSM has to override in order for the cash register to continue taking coupons. I knew when the cashier HAD NO CLUE about this that I was probably going to have problems!! I told her about having to call the CSM to override after 40 coupons. She called over the CSM…and guess what…..THE CSM DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS EITHER!! WOW!!

Really Walmart!! I understand that the cashiers do not always know the coupons rules & guide lines, but your CSM’s NEED to know these rules! The CSM actually tried to tell me that she could not take anymore coupons! What! My total was still at $198!!! I was holding at least $140 of that in coupons! I was NOT about to pay $198!! So she did her little override thing and started scanning coupons!

She started with the Buddig coupons. Of course, she scans it and the register says “verify $1″ Now this happens EVERY time I coupon at Walmart, sometimes the cashier makes sure I have the item other times they just hit the enter button and the coupon comes off my total. In this case, the CSM says, that I must not have the correct item!! (Okay by this point, I am feeling the heat in my cheeks!) I pulled the bag with the 40 Buddig Lunch meats and said count them.. She proceeds to do so, LOL!!! She puts those coupons through….grudgingly!

Next up the Poise.. Once again, it asks for them to verify the coupon.. (all you got to do is hit enter, my friend) She says again.. You must not have the correct item!! WRONG! Then she continues to pull a Got2B hair product out of my bag & says see, this item is not on this coupon!! (I kid you not) Now, something really ugly comes to my brain to say at this point (yep, I am human, I have those thoughts too!) , however I just reach into the bags and pull out the Poise and say…but these are:) She puts those coupons to the side, not scanning them, and goes on to the next coupon.

Next up on the chopping block was the Yo Crunch 4pk. She scans the coupon…the deadly “verify coupon” pops up on the screen!! Oh Great, I think to myself, HERE WE GO AGAIN!! She looks at me and says, Did you get this item?? I honestly, wanted to say no, I am trying to pull one over on you, but instead, I pull out the Yo Crunch. I had 4 of them. ( Two Cookie dough and two Oreo) Keep in mind, she had only tried to scan one coupon.. Her excuse for the “verify coupon” coming up was because the coupon said “one coupon per item purchased”. First of all…that is the VERY first coupon she tried to scan!!! Secondly, I explained to her, I bought (4) items and I am using (4) coupons. (1 coupon per item purchased) So she next implies that because this coupon (good off ANY Yo Crunch 4pk) is ONLY good on the M&M ones, because that is what is pictured!  Never mind that blue box in the upper right hand corner that says 27 Varieties!! By this time, all I could do was laugh:)

My yogurt was warm…My IHops & Jimmy Dean were no longer frozen & my patience was GONE! I knew it was time for me to pack it up and go HOME!! I was not going to argue the validity of another coupon with this CSM! I told them thank you for wasting 2 and a half hours of my day and have fun putting everything back!

Today, my plan is to go back and speak the store manager, Willie.  I have known him for a while and want to show him my coupons and explain what happened to him.  I am not sure how often Walmart loses big sales like this because of uneducated cashiers & CSMs, but I am going to go out on a limb and say, it is probably more times than they would like!  Now, I know my $240 (more when you include the handling fee Walmart receives for each coupon used) order is not going to make or break a corporation like Walmart, but if it happens enough times, they will feel a pinch!

The moral of this story is this….Yes it was a Terrible Horrible No Good , Very Bad Day at Walmart !  But, I am in hopes that the CSM & Cashier, will learn a valuable lesson about coupons after it is all said and done.  And I will go on to coupon another day!  (Not at Walmart anytime soon, LOL)  When things like this happen…..Talk to the manager!  If one is not available,   leave it at the store!  Don’t get down & give up on couponing!  As long as you are following the rules,  hold your head up high and give a store that wants to take your money the business!  That is my plan:)

UPDATE: I went to Walmart to speak with Fast Willie.  He was in  a meeting with corporate.  An assistant manager came out to assist me.  I explained to her all of the above.  She understood my frustration.  She told me she would speak with the CSM’s and make sure they understood the policies and taking coupons.  I hope so…..

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