My time is as important as my money. So, I have had a dilemma, when there are weeks that there are multiple items at multiple stores. This last week Tori and I decided we would do the price matching game at Walmart. Everything went great but I want to give some tips.
TAKE YOUR ADS-- this is how the price matching system is able to work- they want to see the price in the other stores ads. There are some sales such as 10 for 10 that they will not price match. Click here to read the Walmart store policy.
When we were walking the rows the thing that I found funny was that I was looking for the sale tags. When I am at the store that has the item on sale it is usually marked for me. This makes finding the right sale item super easy. While price matching I was checking my list multiple times per item to get the right item. This is something that you want to be doing no matter what store you are at to make sure your coupon works with the product (and is what makes the Grocery Smarts lists so nice). What made me laugh is that I realized there is a "lazy" part of me does enjoy the little sale tag helpers that I get at other stores though.
The other difference being that some sale items that I know would have been gone at other stores were still sitting on the shelves- because they are not on sale at walmart- but would be after price matching.
BE CAREFUL when finding the right size! Stores offer different sizes of products. Some stores might carry a medium size bottle or box while another only the large or small. This is one difference that I ran into while trying to price match. The size of item that was on sale at another store was not necessarily the size that Walmart stocked. In order for the coupon to be valid make sure you are buying the right size.
and last but NOT least. This is the most important part of ALL!
LEAVE PLENTY OF TIME TO CHECK OUT. I dont think I was planning on it taking very long. I am used to just handing over the coupons at the store I pick to shop at that week. When you price match they will need you to show them the item in the other stores ad and then they manually over ride the computer to give you that price. I had a full cart of items and it took me 23 minutes to CHECK OUT. I did get all the deals at one store though where it would have taken me probably even longer to run around to the seperate stores collecting the deals.
Here is a picture of what I ended up coming home with. I went over my budget this week. Summer has been kind of crazy and due to family vacations I have missed some weeks of sale shopping so we have run out of a few items that we normally have in our s.p. I would like to be able to say that I NEVER EVER buy something at regular price BUT I would be lying if I did. If there is something that my family needs, or I REALLY REALLY want I buy it. So, in the picture there are some items that were not fantastic buys (such as baby formula or beef jerky) that I purchase any way. I figure that I am generally getting every thing else for SOO cheap that its ok to pay full retail once every rare while. I will be honest with you-- I woke up early saturday morning to go shopping. I left my house in a MESS! So, the pictures are taken at an odd angle so you dont have to see the messy kitchen that surrounded this pile of groceries.
What I came home with:
1 bag tyson chicken nuggets
1 bag tyson honey chicken
8 boxes nature valley granola bars
8 bags of quaker quakes
8 boxes of assorted sizes Ziploc Bags
1 bag beef jerky
1 large can baby formula
1 jar of strawberry jelly
Totinos Pizza Rolls
2 boxes of Go-Gurt
2 boxes BC fruit snacks
1 pkg Hefty cups
1 pgk Hefty plates 4 boxes of Kleenex
1 nail polish
1 shamp/conditioner with free styling product
1 almay makeup
2 boxes of apple cinnamon cheerios
1 Bag tostitos chips
1 tostitos Salsa
1 tostitos spinach dip
1 bag of sugar
1 bag potato chips
1 3-pack of gum
MY LEAST FAVORITE PART of this trip is the reciept. I love, love, love, love, love seeing the "YOU SAVED" section on my reciept at other stores. My rec. did not say that. So, I have some math to do-I will have to go thru the ads and check prices again. I will work on getting a real total but with a rough estimate I saved at least 55%. I dont know about you, but when I can buy the products my family needs for at least half price I am willing to smile about it. There were some items that I know I saved over 80% on. Not all that shabby huh?... and I got all the items at one store -no running around town.
4 comments:
How come the Walmart list only tells you what printable coupons to use, and not what coupons to use out of the paper? I hate that.
I actually work at a Wal-Mart in New Mexico and our policy is that we match any competitors advertised price, excluding b1g1f or a % off an item. You DO NOT need to show them the ads. Trust me, ask a co-manager or the store manger, they will back you up. That is not policy to show the ads, and it's a big waste of time. I don't know why the cashiers are so overly sensitive about price matching. So, if you happen to get a not so friendly about price matching cashier then just politely ask for a manager so that the manager can inform the cashier that the custoer does not need the ad. Wjho knows, maybe that will prevent checking out, etc. from taking so ling in the future! Just a thought!
I do a lot of price matching, here are some tips that might make it easier. I use the small post-it notes and on the items I want to price match, I write the name of the store and the advertised price and stick it to the item. I then circle it in the add. When I go to check out, I tell the cashier that I would like to price match some items and that they have the "sticky" notes on them, and that Yes, I do have the adds. Most of the time the cashier does not want to see the adds, in the off chance one does, I have all the items from the same store grouped together and circled in the add. I have found that the cashiers love the "sticky" notes and it doesn't take as long to check out that way.
Wow! These are some amazing tips! Thank you!
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