Rite-Aid Transaction This Week.....And a Change to the Coupon Policy

Here's my 1st trip for the week and for the February Single Check Rebate period at Rite-Aid....

1 x Nivea Body Wash=$5.99
2 x Nature's Bounty Vitamin C BOGO sale=$9.99
2 x Nature's Bounty Vitamin D BOGO sale=$4.99
2 x Hall's Refresh Drops=$4.98
SubTotal....$25.95

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $25 Purchase(available from RedPlum online)=$5.00
1 x $2/1 Nivea Body Wash ManuQ(1/3RP insert)=$2.00
1 x $2/1 any Skin Care item over $2 Wellness IPQ=$2.00
1 x $5/1 Nature's Bounty Vitamins Rewards Program IPQ=$5.00
1 x $2/1 any vitamin item over $2 Wellness IPQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Nature's Bounty Vitamins Rewards Program IPQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 any vitamin item over $2 Wellness IPQ=$2.00
1 x BOGO Hall's Item In Store Flyer Q=$2.49
Coupon Total....$22.49

$25.95-$22.49=$3.46+$.11tax=$3.57 OOP

I have $5.99 toward a $15 purchase of Nivea, to qualify for a $5 Rite-Aid Gift Card(SCR#56) and the Vitamins purchase counts toward another Rite-Aid Gift Card(SCR#550)....purchase $25 worth of products/get a $10 gift card or purchase $50 worth/get a $25 gift card.  Of course, we will shoot for the $25 card. ;-)

Things did NOT go as planned on this trip however.

I had emailed Rite-Aid Corporate back last summer to obtain a copy of their coupon policy.  This is what I've been following when I set up my scenarios.  The email I have states that with a BOGO deal, you can use a ManuQ on each item, so 2 ManuQs total.  And since Rite-Aid lets you stack a store copy(In-Ad, Wellness, AdPerk) with a ManuQ it follows that you could use 4 Qs total on a BOGO deal(2 ManuQs and 2 StoreQs)....right?

Well, when I went to check out the Night Supervisor happened to be at the register.  And she refused to let me use any Qs on the item that was free with the BOGO deal(I bought 4 vitamins and was only allowed to use 4 Qs--2 on each not-free item).  My understanding from the copy of the coupon policy was that I should have been allowed to use up to 8 Qs...or at the very least 6 Qs(since a ManuQ was allowed on the free item and if they wouldn't take the second Store Q stacked on the ManuQ on the free item). I was going to use 6 Qs--4 ManuQs and 2 StoreQs(on the 2 Not-free items)...which would have given me a $1.57 OOP.
Follow me?

The Supervisor said NO coupons are allowed on the free item in a BOGO situation! 
Period.
Since I didn't have a copy of the policy on me(stupid me....didn't have any problems with management EVER so I just stopped bringing my copy of the policy with me!)and she had no authority to make an exception nor did she seem like she would...lol...I paid and went home.

The next day I printed out the emailed coupon policy and read it again.  Since it was from last summer, before Wellness and AdPerk Qs, it didn't address some grey areas on coupon usage.  So I called Corporate Customer Service and had a loooong talk with a Rep.  Seems that the coupon policy has changed from last summer(and he said it is always changing)so he is going to snail mail me a new copy. 

Here is the new interpretation of the policy.....
On a BOGO Deal--you can use TWO Qs BUT....both Qs have to be used on the Item that is NOT free.
This means you can now only use ONE ManuQ on a BOGO Deal, not One ManuQ on each item.  Both Qs used have to be on the non-free item, meaning you can use a ManuQ(either from an insert/IP/peelie/blinkie/home mailer)and the Second Q has to be a Store-type Q and is applied to the item you pay for, not the free item.

So....if I buy 2 Vitamins on BOGO.
I can use 1 ManuQ and 1 Store-typeQ.
2 Items and 2 Qs.
Not 2 items and 3 or 4 Qs.

Seems to me that this new policy is not better than the old one when you could use up to 2 Qs on a BOGO Deal.  They haven't expanded how many Qs can be used(since the old policy didn't address non-ManuQs really), they have just changed what type of Qs you can use in a BOGO situation and not changing the number you can use.

You can however, still use a BOGO Q on a BOGO Deal and get both items free.

I have to admit I did get a tad pushy with the Supervisor....so much for flying under the radar anymore.lol

After I receive my new copy of the Q policy I will go have a private chat with this Supervisor.  If I was inadvertently in the wrong, I'll apologize for being testy with her.  She'll probably look at me like I have 7 heads and 1 eyeball but hey, at least I'll have done the right thing.

Sluggy