Coupon Policy at Rainbow Foods

I think it's interesting to hear about other people's experiences in shopping at Rainbow Foods. Each store seems to have it's own personality and policies. What goes at one store doesn't often work down the street. Here is a post about Rainbow Foods from PocketYourDollars that I thought was informative. Remember that your experience might be a bit different than what you read here.

Coupon Policy for Roundy’s Stores: Rainbow Foods, Copps, Pick n Save

I am a firm believer in using coupons appropriately and in line with the manufacturer’s and retailer’s rules. Because I post shopping lists that match Rainbow’s sale prices with coupons, I thought it would be helpful to share their coupon policies as I understand them. These policies apply to all Roundy’s stores including Copps, Pick ‘N Save and Rainbow Foods.

General Policies
Roundy’s general coupon policies are as follows:

Internet printed coupons
Coupons printed from the internet must be legitimate, printed in color or black and white and have the following:
§ “Manufacturer coupon” printed on coupon
§ Bar-scan code
§ Current expiration date
§ Website where printed from must be on coupon

Manufacturer’s coupons for purchased products only.
Manufacturer’s coupons will only be accepted for purchased products. Items received for free through store promotions (“meal deal” or “buy one, get one free”) are not considered purchased products; therefore, manufacturer’s coupons can not be used for these products.

Maximum value of coupons.
Coupons are accepted only for products of equal or greater value; they do not give cash back on coupons. Sales tax is paid by the customer at full retail.

Free product coupons.
Free or “buy one, get one free” product coupons printed from the internet will not be accepted at Roundy’s stores; free or “buy one, get one free” product coupons from the newspaper will be accepted.

Maximum value of internet printed coupons.
There is no limit on the value of an internet printed coupon.

Right of refusal. The store has the right to refuse any coupon printed from the internet at any time.

Stacking store coupons with manufacturer-issued coupons.
A store coupon can be redeemed with a manufacturer’s coupon for the same item.

Doubled Coupon Policies
Roundy’s stores doubles coupons (a “doubled coupon” means that a $1 off coupon is equal to $2 off):Weekly.
Every Wednesday – even when it is not explicitly advertised in the paper. Right now, through April 10, 2010, Rainbow Foods stores are also doubling coupons on Saturdays.

$25 threshold.
Roundy’s formal corporate policy is that the sale price value of the groceries in your transaction must be at least $25 for your coupons to be eligible for doubling. However, the registers are currently programmed (as of March 18, 2010) to double coupons when the shelf price (the highest price listed on the shelf tag, which is usually the full, pre-sale price) before coupons is $25. If you plan your transactions using the shelf price versus the sale price, you do so at your own risk that the registers have been modified to align with their formal corporate policy.

Only five.
Up to 5 manufacturer’s coupons can be doubled per transaction.
It’s automatic. The registers automatically double the face value of the first five eligible coupons scanned if your groceries meet the $25 threshold. All that to say, the cashier does not push a button or manually “approve” you to have doubled coupons. The register just does it.

The first five.
The first 5 eligible coupons scanned will double – that means you should hand the clerk your 5 highest value coupons first.

Up to $1.
Only coupons valued at less or equal to $1 off will be doubled.

Exceptions. “Buy one, get one free” and “try me free” coupons are not eligible for doubling.

Coupons that say “Do Not Double.”
Some manufacturer-issued coupons say “do not double” on them. Roundy’s formal policy is that they will not double these. Before I realized this was part of their formal policy I asked specifically about these coupons at my local Rainbow Foods. I was told that the store where I shop will allow these coupons to double if they double automatically when scanned. Note: I cannot tell which coupons have the “do not double” wording on them when I put together the weekly shopping list, so you will need to check them yourself.

Transactions.
Roundy’s official policy is that customers are encouraged to make one transaction to double their coupons, but again, this will vary from store to store. Most shoppers at Roundy’s stores will find that they are allowed to make more than one transaction.

Any questions? I'd love to hear your experiences at Rainbow!