Internet coupon woes

[RammsteinGirl]

For the past few months, the same two women have been hitting my store 2-3 times a week with STACKS of Internet coupons for FREE merchandise, and not cheap shit either.. $20 Gilette razor systems, Prilosec, etc. Cashiers have been taking them because they look legit if you don't look at them closely. Kmart doesn't accept Internet coupons, for those of you that don't know. The reason being that we don't get reimbursed for them.

The difference with these coupons is that these ladies are real pros and it is difficult to tell they are Internet coupons unless you look closely at the print on them, which is obviously from a home printer. They are double-sided and cut nearly perfect. Our loss prevention manager says that we have lost close to $1000 from these coupons. I'm guessing that these women are reselling the free merchandise on Ebay or somewhere else.

I work in the cash office at Kmart usually one or two days a week. Well, I had to count one of our cashiers $106.04 short today because she accepted a shitload of the coupons. I felt bad about it, but oh well. I'm guessing she was not informed about the coupons. I relayed this to my manager, and she agreed, and said she'd talk to the girl. Hopefully she won't get into too much trouble.

My question to y'all is.. do your stores accept Internet coupons? I had one woman snap at me when I told her I couldn't accept her Internet coupon, "Well WALGREENS accepts them!" Good, that's Walgreens, and you're in Kmart, bitch.

[XXDarrienX]

Wouldn't it be great to respond to that with this.

CSR: Is this wallgreens?
SC: No.
CSR: Then what relevance does it have here?
SC: ...

The look on the customers face would be worth it nontheless.

[Bright_Star]

The trouble with internet coupons is that if you really are a computer wiz then you could create coupons that look like they're legitimate & only an expert could tell the difference.
Wal-Mart sometimes accepts them & sometimes they don't. That depends on which CSM comes to your register to help you with a coupon related question.

[RammsteinGirl]

I'm sure those women are going to pitch a hissy fit when they come through again and get told they can no longer use their free coupons. Hopefully they won't come through my register.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I do not believe our cashiers take internet coupons either.

[purplecat41877]

The grocery store I work at doesn't accept internet coupons either. We used to have signs up about but they somehow got taken down.

[Trishlovesdolphins]

I used internet coupons at the grocery store. I also use ones from the newspaper, and their ads... I'm a HUGE coupon fan. I've saved up to $40 at a time. I try to make sure I stick to the coupon and get exactly what it says, if I can't find the item, I don't use the coupon. In all my coupon clipping, I've NEVER seen "free" items for anything over a couple bucks. I would wonder if they're scammers.

[powerboy]

I used internet coupons at the grocery store. I also use ones from the newspaper, and their ads... I'm a HUGE coupon fan. I've saved up to $40 at a time. I try to make sure I stick to the coupon and get exactly what it says, if I can't find the item, I don't use the coupon. In all my coupon clipping, I've NEVER seen "free" items for anything over a couple bucks. I would wonder if they're scammers.

I do the same thing. I love using them. I could be Bill Gates, and I would still be using coupons. I have never seen items that was simply free. They always have a buy however many, and receive one, free. But never free ones

[RammsteinGirl]

I wonder where the hell they're getting them from?

[disneyfav4ever]

We'll take internet coupons, but not ones for free items. We used to, but have quit taking them due to fraud. I wonder why.

[Becks]

Disney, can't imagine.

[Seshat]

I wonder where the hell they're getting them from?

They're probably making them up themselves. It's not that hard to do if you're skilled at photoshop.

Tell your cashiers to look at the paper. If it looks like office paper, and not slick magazine glossy paper or cheap newspaper, immediately be suspicious.
Also, get them to be suspicious of any coupon they've not seen before, or of coupons that are 'free' rather than such-and-such percent off, or free (trivial) gift with purchase, or whatever.

(Oh, and tell your cashiers NOT to say anything about what they're looking for to the women.)