Couponing Info, Part 3: Untrained Cashiers, It's Not Their Fault

With the usual quick turnaround of cashiers at most stores, there is little time to properly train them on every aspect of the checkout process. Coupons usually take the back burner during training because not every transaction deals with them. For this reason when problems with the coupons arise, the cashier with the line full of waiting customers will usually try to handle them without knowing how just to get you out the door.

I constantly get this from the Cashiers and Managers alike: "The coupon states 'only one coupon per purchase.' You can only use one of these." What they do not understand is that a "purchase" is an "item" not the entire transaction. Each item in a single transaction IS a purchase, therefore, you can use a manufacturer's coupon on every single item in the transaction if you have one for each of them.

Another belief by some cashiers is that people who use coupons are "robbing the store" because they are not paying for the items. The truth is you ARE paying for the item, but you are not using actual money. The store gets the money for the item; they just don't get it from YOU. The store turns the coupons in to the address on the coupon to receive the money plus they get a "processing fee" (usually 8c as stated on the coupon itself) for doing this.

Now, let's pretend you are working at a store as a cashier. Along comes Katy Coupon with her binder in tow, a buggy full of items in multiples of 4 because she buys her Sunday papers four at a time (4 cans of soup, 4 cake mixes, 4 lotions, 4 deodorants, 4 bags of cat litter, 4 packs of diapers, etc.). Katy politely chats with you while you scan 4 of every item the store carries that newly has a manufacturer's coupon out. Every coupon is working until you get to the lotion coupons that, for some reason or another, is not programmed in the register to match the corresponding lotion bottles that the store carries.

This could go several different ways, but let's look at two different scenarios:

1. Katy gets upset with you when you express your limited coupon knowledge while trying to interpret the wording of the fine print on the coupon. You take a defensive attitude which only makes you frustrated, angry, and begin to have a feeling of dislike toward ALL coupon shoppers that are "robbing the store by using coupons."

2. Katy politely explains to you what the wording means in the "coupon world" and you learn something that you can apply to the next coupon transaction that comes across your sales counter. You begin to have a feeling of understanding and admiration for these smart shoppers who know how to get a lot for a little by living in the "coupon world."

Which Katy would you want coming to your checkout lane? If we all strive to be the Katy in scenario #2, the "coupon world" would be a better place.