I recently visited the Fry’s grocery off of Main and Dobson because my partner was going to school over there and she’d been in there a few times, coming home with stories of the incredible clearance section.
Fry’s was doing their “case pricing” and since I had coupons for Progresso soup and Libby vegetables I wanted to make sure I got stocked up. I had 12 coupons for each item and I was a little nervous because in order to get the discounted “case price” they all had to be purchased in the same transaction but to get all my coupons doubled that would mean breaking it all up in to separate transactions; Fry’s only doubles the first three coupons so I wasn’t sure how it would work.
I had other items in this mix and when I went up I told the cashier my predicament. She explained that she’d been working for Fry’s for many years and that I would have all of my coupons doubled; I almost fell over! She made sure each and every coupon was doubled and we joked about how it was like being on “Extreme Couponer’s”. She even told me stories about other customers she had that saved 99% on their total bill; it was a wonderful experience. I ended up saving 74% on my total bill.
My mother had also had the same experience at this particular Fry’s location and she had saved 71% on her total bill. We actually had the same cashier as well. I thought this had to be a fluke but a member of my coupon meetings went to a different Fry’s location in Chandler and she had the exact same experience and ended up saving 79% on her total bill! I checked the Fry’s coupon policy and didn’t see anything regarding this in their information; it still showed that the only double the first three coupons. I went back to the Fry’s at Main and Dobson a few days ago and the cashier only doubled the first three coupons.
So what does this say about Fry’s? It tells me that they really do have good people working for them; people that want to see us saving as much as possible. It’s great when you have a cashier that gets excited for you to save and it really matters who you get when you go through the checkout line. In all honesty it makes so much more sense from a business prospective for Fry’s to simply double every coupon presented and here’s why.
If I’d had to stand there in line and split my order up in to four separate transactions that would have taken a lot more time. For any business, time is money. Customers that are behind someone using coupons and splitting up orders sometimes become frustrated and may even just walk out without making their purchase; this can potentially cost the store money. If Fry’s didn’t force couponer’s to split up their order in order to get heir coupons to double then the lines would move faster, the couponer would be happier and the customers waiting would be happier. It’s a chain reaction and something they may want to re-think.
