With all the talk of the Princess and the Frog and Toy Story coupons, I was wondering what was the logic of denying coupons in which the store will get reimbursed? I can understand a store denying stacking coupons for the same item because, technically, the manufacturer can deny reimbursement.

But it seems that some managers go out of their way to deny coupons if you use them effectively to get a good deal. Like saying store promos can't be combined with coupons. Is that a restriction that the manufacturer has or is it just an excuse not to "devalue" the product?

I've never been part of retail management, so I have no idea.

Anybody have any insight here?

1) There are often issues with getting full reimbursement
2) The trouble of doing the paperwork
3) They don't feel like it.

4) Cash is always better than coupons

What "other issues".

Every other reason I've seen so far is poor customer service or them just being assholes.

Oh please. Go somewhere else then.

I gotta say, the only problem I've had using coupons has been an over-zealous cashier thinking this is their great chance to prove that they've learned about detective work from watching Law & Order marathons. So, if the question was meant to ask, "Why can't customers always use legitimate coupons?" I think the answer is that retailers aren't doing enough to educate their employees about the kinds of coupons that manufacturers are circulating.

However, I think the OP really wanted to know why Toys "R" Us's official corporate policy is to not accept any coupons except the ones they circulate themselves. The only thing that I can think of--and it's a stretch--is that someone in accounting determined that they were actually losing money. How does this happen? you ask. Here's the only way I can see it happening, and it's specific to TRU because coupons from toy manufacturers aren't nearly as prevalent as they are for household goods and groceries:

I assume that stores send coupons to the manufacturers at the end of each week, and that they're shipped in an ordinary envelope. Coupons don't weigh much, and they're getting 8 cents apiece to cover handling, so TRU could actually come out ahead by a few pennies on the dollar for the week. On the other hand, if they're not processing a minimum of seven coupons per manufacturer per week per store, they're (theoretically) losing money - based on 44 cents USPS shipping per envelope, divided by 8 cents handling reimbursement per coupon.

I don't think I've ever seen a coupon for a stroller or kids' clothes, and I don't know that I've ever seen a coupon for any of the kinds of books they stock, with the exception of some Dr. Seuss coupons once or twice a year. So, really, how many manufacturers coupons are in circulation for merchandise they actually stock? I would think not a lot.

Wow. That was a very well forumlated response.
I was gonna say something about the tremendous volume of people that misuse coupons due to sharing them on the internet, but your answer sounds a hell of a lot smarter.

I bet you say that to all the online posters who ramble about corporate policies! It's worth noting, I think, that the only things in my entire response I know to be true are that manufacturers reimburse 8 cents for handling to the vendor, and that USPS stamps are 44 cents apiece.

I think the managers and/or employees think they are getting scammed when you are getting a very great deal. Especially when customers have been coming in all day and just buying this special deal and nothing else.

I'd think coupon abuse is a big part of it... sometimes it's due to a glitch in their own system (like the Hello Kitty Target coupon, which was the first time I've seen a store post signs specifically about a fraudulent coupon). But otherwise, if their system isn't set to automatically take the coupon price off, so they have to manually enter a discount, how do they know it's not fraudulent? I'd think chances of rejection are much higher if the amount of the discount is pretty high or the item is going to be free.

Target does stack their own coupons with manufacturer's coupons, though.

This touches on the larger issue of retail employees not being better informed about store operations. The business gets the full price in the end; they just get some of it from the manufacturer afterwards. Aside from the time delay aspect, it's no different than if we go in together and I hand them some of the money and you cover the rest. In either case, it's really none of their concern as a business and certainly none of their business as individuals where the money comes from as long as it's legit.

I think another part of it is that, for most people, coupons are things you cut out of a newspaper ad that get you $35-55 cents off on a grocery item. They're not something you print at home and use for several dollars off a Blu-ray or a DVD. It's a psychological barrier for a lot of people, especially people in their mid-30s or older.

methinks one big reason why a manager may be overzealous to deny coupons is because his boss demanded him/her to minimize coupons usage. and that is because that persons supervisor or district manager or whatever said the same. and so on. from my understanding, all large corporations work more or less this way.

and why? maybe because:

- coupon abuse happens all the time and retailers get denied compensation from the manufacturer. for example, if disney really really wants to deny a retailer 20% of the coupons submitted, what is toysrus going to be able to do?

- particular retailers (or maybe a district of 30 stores for a retailer) are not set up to easily handle large quantities of coupons - for example, the corporate policy may be for all stores to send all coupons to a certain location by a certain time and processed a certain way. but things go wrong, especially when you normally have 100 coupons per month, but all of sudden take 2,000 within a week.

anywho thats what i can think of

That's how i feel about rebates after having to fight to get them (FYE) or not at all such as Panasonic's 2 Disney Blu-rays deal. (I ended up returning my player for a full refund because I never got my discs.) It's interesting that the stores also can get burned by a rejected/ignored submission to the powers that be.

First off, because these coupons usually can't be used online, it's more of an incentive to go to a particular store. Retailers would be better off thinking about it that way. I got my friend and my gf to go to TRU to get the movies. That's 3 sales of 2 movies each, and a total of $60 in coupons they would have gotten back. If they didn't give the three of us problems at three separate occasions, we all would have had a good experience and kept buying movies at TRU.

Instead, my friend is going back to amazon and my gf and I are going back to BB.

But usually I've found it is store employees who take it personal that you're getting a good deal. One cashier told me she'd only take 1 coupon. I explained that they get refunded on these by Disney, but even that logic didn't help because she was looking at the total I would be paying and she thought it was too low.

One of the main problems is coupon fraud. With the internet people can scan legitimate coupons and then try to use them over and over again, or post them on certain websites to share with other. There were fraudulent coupons out there recently for free 100 oz. bottles of Tide and 12 packs of Pepsi. The original coupon was valid and sent from the manufacturer, but then someone scanned it and it was distributed to unintended recipients.

With any internet/computer coupons there is a higher chance of fraud than with ones you get out of the newspapers. It's much harder to reprint a coupon from the newspaper using the same glossy paper than it is to get one off the internet. The recent K-mart one is a good example of that.

Also retailers won't always get reimbursed for all the coupons if they don't scan at the register. If the retailer has to overide a coupon by typing in the amount and hitting a generic coupon key, they won't be getting reimbursed for it. If it didn't work this way, retailers could just take a bunch of Sunday newspaper inserts, clip the coupons and make a fortune.

I don't think any individual stores send in the coupons to the manufacturers. From what I've been told, and common sense, it's all done on a corporate or at least regional level.

Also, many similar coupons for the same manufacturer get sent in for reimbursement to the same place. And they don't immediately have to send in each coupon type separately, they can wait and send in multiple types.

So it's not like 500 different TRU stores are sending 8 different envelopes each to Disney for reimbursement. It could be more like one big package being mailed to Disney from TRU corporate. One large package is a lot cheaper than 4000 individual stamps.

Done correctly, retailers should be making a small profit on coupons.
This isn't true.

In all my experience and questioning, stores do not have to send in anything but the coupons themselves. No copies of receipts, no inventory, etc. So yes, they potentially could be scamming the manufacturers by clipping their own coupons.

I do acknowledge that fraudulant coupons are a big problem, and if stores are getting lots of copies of one-use coupons and not getting reimbursed, then stores will get more and more stingy in accepting coupons. And rightfully so.

In this case, Walmart is out $20 from Disney on our account because the Toy Story coupons didn't scan, and another $16 from Universal because the New Moon coupon also didn't scan. I'd feel bad, except this isn't something over which I had any control and besides...it's Walmart. Their U-scans have failed to give me the correct amount of change numerous times over the years and I've let it go each time because it wasn't worth the hassle at the time. I doubt it's accumulated to $36, but now I can feel better for the next several times they cheat me.

Over-zealous employees who are scared shitless by their employers on the threat that they'll lose their jobs if they accept coupons or get "scammed" by the customer. The same reason why they sometimes refuse to do price matching. They feel that if the customer is getting too good of a deal, then there is something wrong and at the employee accepting it will lose their job.

Because they want you to shop at Target/Walmart.

I would think that the claims would acutally be electronic w/ the coupons being the backup "proof" of their claims. Hand entered coupons could still be entered "specially" into the system. Also, if there are never any copies of receipts, there is NO WAY that true coupon abuse (like using 2 $10 coupons for the SAME item) could ever be discovered.

There does seem to be a mentality that you should not get too good a deal. This goes back to the fact that it seems to "devalue" the product. Disney pulled the upgrade coupons for the Pirates movies. There was speculation that this was b/c Target had a Temporary Price Cut which would allow you to get the movie for $5.

I understand the problem with coupon abuse. I would think by now though that at least managers of large corporation retail outlets would be informed of sites that print coupons and how they should look (w/ vaild bar codes and such). I guess this still doesn't take care of the problem of making a copy of a valid coupon w/ a unique bar code.

The other reasons stated (like corp. discouragement and cost in handling the coupons) seem to be ridiclous (not flaming the posters -- flaming the companies). With all the money spent on trying to get someone in the store to buy a product, why would a corporation then try to discourage someone from purchasing something? In the end they will get their money and will get a satisfied customer who will look favorably on their experience and shop there again. I got screwed by BB on a $10 rebate ten years ago. I have also had bad experiences with them in trying to get them to accept coupons and PM items according to their stated corporate policy. They have FLAT OUT LIED TO ME. (Though this has changed a bit in the last two years) But the sting has persisited and in the last 10 years, I have bought very little from them and would never consider buying any large electronics from them at all.

I think my questions were legitimate. However your response was unneeded and useless.

Regardless, it definitely looked like a good response.

I tried to use the $16 off NEW MOON coupon at Target for the 3-disc edition and the cashier looked at me like she didn't know what to do - she asked me where I got the coupon from and I answered honestly (after all I had nothing to hide), she then called for the manager and this guy who didn't look like he worked for Target not to mention supposed to manage the store walked over and tried to say the fine print states you must buy 4 of the movies pictured which it clearly did not. I fought back but in the end I said it wasn't worth my time and walked out - went across the street to Walmart and they honored it with no questions asked.

Same goes for price matching at this particular Target... They won't honor Target or Best Buy's ad for price matching electronic items. Yes, they may be cleaner than Walmart physically but their customer service and policies suck.

I have managed retail outlets for large companies. Manually entered coupons aren't reimbursed and come directly off on the weekly P&L statements. Corporate is very strict about how we handle coupons that do not scan at the register. If they are not accepted when scan, we type in the bar code number. If both of those 2 methods do not work, we check to make sure the coupon matches the item being purchased. If it does we can type in as a generic manu. coupon, but we won't get reimbursed for it. simple a customer service issue.

Out of curiosity, do you know the prevailing reasons why neither method would work? I can't help but flock to a source of information, especially when it concerns a subject where I am frequently at the disadvantage of someone who I am certain knows no more than I. It would be nice to better familiarize myself with how this all works for the next time I'm being treated like a criminal for trying to use a coupon.

unfortunately, this is not accurate a lot of the time. coupons, sales, promotions, limited time offers, etc...
- they happen all the time, so both employees and managers get tired of learning all the aspects of each and every promotion
- they get lazy
- they dont care any more
- they missed the meeting
- the memo was sent late
- i could go on lol

i dont know what the percentage is, but im guessing the statistics for toysrus receiving the full-face value of coupons submitted for the recent toy story offer will be nowhere near 100%. id guess more like 60-70%. my understanding is disney can dispute the validity of some of the coupons and ask for documented proof that the discounts were valid. toysrus will just chalk it up as a loss methinks.

again, a large number of bargain shoppers will just go to where the deal is. for example, lets say 20,000 customers went to toysrus just for the toy story deal. how many will actually return for a second visit unless its another crazy disney deal?

another example - i read on this board from time to time about how dd sucks. then a great sale comes along the way (argento $14.99 daily deal) and people who swore off dd end up buying.

i can relate. but prolly 95% of the population can too its sad really. but a point id make is that people always remember longer the bad experiences. the good experiences everyone tends to forget real fast. meh human nature.

i hope i dont seem like im picking on your posts specifically. i hope im not coming off as a corp prick either. im just trying to make points on the other side where appropriate