Other Customers Might Want to Buy Those Also

[Stryker One]

I wonder how many people on eBay, Craigslist, and garage sales actually pay sales tax? If this was really so awful a thing to happen, why not just simply refuse to sell to him? Don't you "reserve the right to refuse service to anyone"?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

If this was really so awful a thing to happen, why not just simply refuse to sell to him? Don't you "reserve the right to refuse service to anyone"?

That's what the manager did. He sold the guy his shampoo and deodorant and asked him not to return.

[bainsidhe]

I can appreciate the frustration, nevertheless when someone is using valid manufacturer's coupons I say let 'er rip. I'd understand it if they were online coupons and duplicated (photocopied) which is against the coupon's intent, but if someone is just taking advantage of an awesome deal where no limits are in place? Good for them.

As to the customer's angry retort, I'd be pretty annoyed myself if a cashier just told me I was banned because I used a lot of coupons.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I'm going to come right out and say it. I hate coupons. I really do. On a day-to-day basis, there's nothing that causes more headaches for the front end than coupons. This is because our policies on the damn things are always changing and never communicated clearly.

For example, we used to not accept internet coupons. Then corporate decided we were going to. They sent out a memo about this, but half the stores seem to not be aware of it. Thus there are all kinds of complaints about people wanting to use internet coupons in our stores and being told no.

And next we have the people who will want to do separate transactions so they can use all their coupons, and we will actually do this >.< So then we get checkout lines backing up to Timbuktu, additional cashiers needing to be called off the floor, nobody available to help customers on the floor, etc. All this because "we're not going to argue with the customer over a few cents."

And then we have those fucking loyalty coupons we send out to all our loyalty card members. Or at least used to, because corporate has evidently started sending coupons only to certain loyalty card members based on their purchase history. I'm guessing the people who aren't getting coupons any more are the big spenders because we don't need to give them a coupon to get them in the store.

So then people with the loyalty card come through the register with their stuff, and the cashiers ask them if they'd like to use their loyalty coupon because we're supposed to be encouraging use of the loyalty card. So then the customer is all "Coupon? What coupon?"

Then you have the people who'll have, say, a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase. They buy $60 worth of stuff and use the coupon. Then they return a $15 item from that purchase. Guess what happens next? They want their coupon back, because the way they see it they spent only $45 and thus wouldn't have been able to use their coupon. And we always give it to them because "we're not going to argue over $10." I swear some people must get three and four uses out of one coupon. >.<

The other day there was a coupon from the Grocery Store of Awesome for soda I always buy for my lunches--6 24-ounce bottles for $2. But their coupons require you to buy $5 worth of stuff without a coupon for it to be valid. My co-worker told me to go to a different grocery store because they'd take that coupon without the separate $5 purchase.

I didn't. I can find $5 worth of stuff to buy at the Grocery Store of Awesome standing on my head. Plus I like that store better.

[Raveni]

Then you have the people who'll have, say, a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase. They buy $60 worth of stuff and use the coupon. Then they return a $15 item from that purchase. Guess what happens next? They want their coupon back

That sounds like a great scam.

[ravevolution]

Prior to my position at the autocenter i worked Loss prevention and while we are trained on looking for suspicious behavior while manning the closed circuit cameras there was this one lady who got my attention quite a few times but she wasn't doing anything wrong like stealing.

She would come in, grab a cart and go through the heavily mark-downed/clearance clothes, mainly womens/young womens fashions, pile up her cart, go to the price checker machine, check the prices, weed through anything she didn't want and then go the cashier and pay for the piles of clothes. It was assumed with the prices she was paying at the mark downed prices she was then intern taking them to the swapmeet or who knows and selling them a bit below the original marked price.

We didn't care, as long as she wasn't stealing stuff, and im sure the company didn't care either, the items weren't selling at the regular prices and they were glad to be rid of the inventory.

[evilhomer]

Then you have the people who'll have, say, a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase. They buy $60 worth of stuff and use the coupon. Then they return a $15 item from that purchase.

My understanding of that situation is that the purchase no longer qualifies for the $10 coupon, so your $15 return only nets a $5 refund. This is sound, reasonable business to me, but I'm sure not to an SC, and I'm not the spineless assclowns who bow down before them.

[phoenixv07]

At my store, we get about a dozen serial returners who'll buy carts full of deodorants, toothpaste, etc. Then they'll come back later, claim they "forgot" to use their coupons, and have us apply them after the fact. Then, once they've done that, they'll return the coupon items, so that they're basically converting the coupons for cash.

It's really an impressive scam, and it aggravates us to no end. Our managers have said they're not going to do anything about it, because it's not the store taking the hit financially (since they're all manufacturer coupon), it's the manufacturers. We're being reimbursed either way.

[Dave1982]

I do not understand why a store cares what a customer wants to do with the products they buy.. or why they care how many they want to buy.

<SNIP>

"He's gonna resell them for a profit"
So what... that's what YOU do!

"If he buys them all then we will be out... "
That is the objective. The goal everyday is to increase sales... So why complain when someone wants to buy what you have for sale?.

Many retail stores have policies that state "none sold to dealers/resellers."

There are a variety of reasons for this (though not all will apply in every situation)

-Profitability. In some cases, sale items are sold at or below cost in the hope that customers will buy other items with the sale items that are profitable and will not only recoup the loss, but result in a larger net profit than would be the case without the sale. When a reseller comes in and cleans you out of the sale items, you lose money.

-Coupon limits. Not only can the store set a limit on coupons, but in the case of manufacturers' coupons, they often set limits as well. Again, accepting too many coupons can lead to lost money.

-Limited stock. Certain sale items may only be available in limited quanties for reasons beyond the store's control (supplier constraints, demand outstripping supply, etc) and it is not in a store's best interest to let one person buy all of them. This is because you'll have that many more unhappy customers to deal with. And frankly, I'd rather have 20 happy customers and 1 unhappy customers than the reverse.

-Lastly, stores have the right to limit quantities, and the right to refuse service to anyone.

[Android Kaeli]

Random craft store does not take manufacturers' coupons, because we won't get that money back --- at least I think that's the reason anyways. I'm not sure about that. We also have a policy where we don't give out coupons to anyone and we don't return coupons back on items that are being returned, either.

The biggest complaint about coupons is that it no longer applies to books, that's been like that for a year and a half now. It's not the company's decision but the book vendor -- there's not a damn thing we can do about it.

[mattm04]

That sounds like a great scam.

It is. I have see that happen. In our case MOD had a spine and said no because they had done it before. SC complained to Corporate and was given gift cards and we were to told to accept their coupons no matter what.