Coupon Shopping at Dollar General Can Be Frustrating
I absolutely LOVE shopping at Dollar General, but have an issue with Dollar General coupons NOT working correctly and the employees being unable to correct the problem! I shop DG more heavily than any other store in our limited shopping area, mainly because of the $5 off $25 offers, but am very frustrated because I often lose value on my coupons. I was THRILLED to come home and blog about my purchases. Unfortunately, my thrill turned to sheer frustration as I tabulated my savings and compared it to the value of the coupons that I actually used in making my purchases.
Today was a $5 off $25 coupon purchase day at Dollar General. Last Saturday night, I checked with my local store manager regarding their $3 off $6 purchase of Tostito’s and/or Pepsi products (use the gray tab on the right to get yours). I couldn’t find anything that excluded stacking the $5 off $25 with the $3 off $6 purchase coupons. She even commented that we needed to use the $5 off $25 coupon before the $3 off $6 and any manufacturer coupons that I intended to use. When I entered the store today, I found her again, showed her the Coca-Cola coupons I had for free 12-packs (from MyCokeRewards) and made sure that there was no problem with them. She looked them over and said that they were fine because they were MFG coupons. Since a friend had his coupon refused at a different store, in a different state, I wanted to double check before shopping tree today.
My store manager is great. She is very friendly and is working hard to make our local store a welcoming place to shop. She always has a smile on her face and is friendly toward all customers, no matter what area of the store she is working in. Soon after she became our local store manager, I introduced myself to her as a coupon blogger and she even recommends my site to other customers. Until she met me and realized how heavily I shop their $5 off $25 days, she didn’t realize that their $5 off $25 coupons needed to be used before manufacturer coupons. Obviously we have a mutual respect for one another. 
If you’re familiar with the $5 off coupons, you know that the Dollar General registers automatically print them during the week prior to a $5 off day. Since this lady became the manager, she and the other cashiers now ask people if they plan to use their $5 off coupons. If they say no, they collect them at the register and then voluntarily use them on customers orders on $5 off coupon day. This speaks volumes for the level of customer service being given at this store. I’ve witnessed the cashiers applying the $5 off coupons to unaware customers and the shock expressed by the customers. There is no doubt that these great workers are building their customer base by this simple act of kindness in these tough economic times.
Bless my manager’s heart, she earned her extra pay (I’m sure it’s very little extra pay though) tonight. Another cashier began checking me out, but ran into trouble with my coupons not being recognized by their computer system. The manager stepped in as the store was busy and she was more experienced than the other cashier. The poor thing was more frustrated than I was because she tried and tried to get all of my coupons to work correctly. At one point, I even asked if it was the print quality of my coupons or if it was their system. She assured me that it was their system as she jiggled the cord on the handheld scanner, trying to get it to work. On she went, trying to work with their system. She did the best to correctly price items for me, but was greatly restricted due to the crazy way Dollar General’s system handles their $5 off coupon.
The $5 off $25 purchase store coupon must input before any manufacturer coupons. If the $5 off coupon is used after MFG coupons, the system won’t allow it to be used if the final price drops below $25. When the $5 coupon is applied first, it seems to randomly apply a store discount to each item on the sales receipt. The problem with this system is that it doesn’t allow the shopper to receive the full value of the free item. An example of this was my Tostistos Con Queso dip. The dip was $3.25 and it automatically credited me with $0.65, but would not allow the manager to give me the full value of my coupon of $3.25. This is unacceptable and needs to be changed.
Because of the way that the Dollar General’s computer system handles their $5 off coupon, I paid $17.54. This is still a great price considering the amount of merchandise I took home. Had the system worked correctly or allowed the store manager to correctly price my coupons with the merchandise, I would have only paid $6.75 + tax or $7.07 if i correctly figure the tax. This means that I overpaid by more than $10.
| Items Purchased | I had the following coupons: | Comments: | Should Have Been: |
| $5 off $25 DG Purchase | DID NOT WORK AT ALL | $5 off $25 DG cpn | |
| 3 – 12 packs of Coca-Cola – $4.25*3=$12.75 | 3 x $4.25 for Coca-Cola – $12.75 | Worked Correctly | $12.75 Coca Cola Coupons |
| 4 – Tostitos Chips – $2.75*4=$11.00 | 2 x $3 off $6 Tostitos/Pepsi DG cpn – Only $3 | The store manager and I both read the details. The coupon did not limit it to one per customer and did not exclude stacking with the $5 off $25 or other coupons. | 2 x $3 off $6 DG cpn |
| 1 – Tostitos Con Queso – $3.25 | Buy 2 Tostitos Chips, Get 1 Tostitos Dip Free – DID NOT WORK AT ALL | The store manager is WONDERFUL! She attempted to override the price, but actually ended up not being able to deduct the coupon even though she thought she did. |
$3.25 |
| Total: $27 | Total Paid: $9.78 | Total I SHOULD HAVE PAID: | $0.00+tax |
| Items Purchased | I had the following coupons: | Comments: | Should Have Been: |
| $5 off $25 DG Purchase | Worked | $5 off $25 DG cpn | |
| 2 x 2 Nacho Doritos – $2.50 = $5.00 | $1 off 2 Doritos | $1 | |
| 4 – Tostitos Chips – $2.75*4=$11.00 | 2 x $3 off $6 Tostitos/Pepsi DG cpn – Only $3 (Took off $6.60) | See above. My manager attempted to use the previous $3 off $6 coupon that wouldn’t work. She manually over rode the prices, but I only received $6.60 credit | 2 x $3 off $6 DG cpn |
| 2 – Tostitos Con Queso – $3.25 x 2 = $6.50 | Buy 2 Tostitos Chips, Get 1 Tostitos Dip Free – DID NOT WORK AT ALL (Took off $5, not $6.50) | The store manager is WONDERFUL! She attempted to override the price, but actually ended up not being able to deduct the coupon even though she thought she did. |
$6.50 |
| 1 – Bean Dip – $2.50 | |||
| Total: $25 | Total Paid: $7.76 | Total I SHOULD HAVE PAID: | $6.75 +tax |
Even if I was supposed to use each of the $3 off $6 Tostito’s/Pepsi coupons individually, I would have done that if needed and would have still spent less money. This is how that set of transactions would have worked with the same merchandise. If I had broken this into five separate transactions, I would have purchased an additional jar of Tostito’s Con Queso dip and two more 12-packs of Coca-Cola, but left off the Bean Dip. Even with these changes, the total would have only been $11.79. No matter which way you look at it, I paid too much money.
| Would Have Purchased | I had the following coupons: | Comments: | Should Have Been: |
| $5 off $25 DG Purchase | Transaction #1 | -$5 | |
| 5 – 12 packs of Coca-Cola – $4.25*3=$21.25 | 5 x $4.25 for Coca-Cola – $21.25 | -$21.25 | |
| 2 x 2 Nacho Doritos – $2.50 = $5.00 | $1 off 2 Doritos | $1.25 | |
| Total: $26.25 | $1.25 + tax | ||
| 2 – Tostitos Chips – $2.75*4=$5.50 | $3 off $6 Tostitos/Pepsi DG cpn | Transactions #2 – #5 | -$3 |
| 1 – Tostitos Con Queso – $3.25 | Buy 2 Tostitos Chips, Get 1 Tostitos Dip Free | -$3.25 | |
| Total: $8.75 | $2.50+tax (x4) | ||
| Total: $25 | Total Paid: $7.76 | Total I SHOULD HAVE PAID: | $11.25 +tax = $11.79 |
Will I continue to shop at Dollar General? Without a doubt! Do I expect something to be done? Without a doubt, but the change MUST come from somewhere above my local store level. Interested in the next $5 off $25 coupon day at Dollar General? It’s on Saturday, February 9. Next week’s coupon isn’t available to print yet, but check back starting on Sunday or Monday and it should be there.
Thanks to Who Said Nothing in Life is Free for $3 off $6 coupon!
That is very frustrating for sure!! We aren’t coupon people in our house. Actually I would use them, but hubby does the shopping, and hates coupons, but when I do use them myself I get upset if they don’t put it in right or won’t take them.
Just so you know, I sure wouldn’t advertise that the manager and cashiers at your local Dollar General SAVE the $5 off coupons from the receipts because……………………that IS NOT TO BE DONE!! I worked for $G on and off for 9 years and at first we did that but then a “decree” via an email, that that was not to be done. I think what they are looking at is how many customers they get because of the $5 off coupon but if everyone whose total is over that is given a coupon, that certainly skews their numbers.
We don’t shop Dollar General often because it is not really close. However, we were excited about the $3 off $6 Frito Lay Super Bowl cpn, so my daughter and decided to go. With DD’s cpn, we were going to buy 2 Lays chips and 1 Dorito’s, because the ad (and store display) looks like the Dorito’s are in the buy 2 get 1 free promo (they are right behind the Lay’s in the ad), but they aren’t. included. The cashier was exceptionally nice and let us know this and that we could get a free bag of chips instead, so no big deal – our mistake.. We were limited in time and didn’t really want 3 of the chips, so just decided not to make that purchase. I went ahead with my transaction and used my cpn to get 5 2L of Pepsi and get $3 off, which made them 5 for $3 plus tax – great deal! It also printed a $5 off $25 cpn for another day on the receipt.
After that, I was able to print two $1 off 2 Diet Pepsi manuf cpns,, so of course my mind went to work on seeing if I’d be near a store so I could use that $3 off $6 store cpn we hadn’t used with it. I was heading to a Kroger that had a Dollar General across from it on the same day the $5 off $25 would be valid – perfect! The store was very small and was out of many things, so I decided to forget about using the $5 off $25, but did get 5 2L of Diet Pepsi. I gave the cashier the $3 off $6 Frito Lay cpn, which brought my total down to $3. I then handed him the 2 $1 off 2 Diet Pepsi 2L and he told me I couldn’t use that many cpns on the same items. I reviewed that the $3 off $6 was a Dollar General store cpn and that I had $6 in pepsi products that qualified for that. I also pointed out that the 2 $1 off 2 – 2L cpns were manuf and that I I had 5 two L, so clearly had purchased enough for that. I reminded him that one was a DG store cpn and the other 2 were manuf and that Dollar General allows a store and a manuf on the same item. He said he understood, but, once again said I could not use that many cpns on the same items! In the middle of this, he was on the phone, which didn’t help communication and took more time. Finally, he said he’d have to check and see if this was permitted, but he did take them off manually (he said cpns do no come off automatically w/ their system).
Truthfully, I got a killer deal on the 5 2L, but if I was doing it again I wouldn’t have used my time that way. I’ve had issues previously with their system not taking cpns off correctly and this just discouraged me more.
BTW, Meijer has a similar register system that takes money off each item if it is a “basket cpn” that doesn’t permit the full value of free items. VERY frustrating! I found that out when I used a buy one get one free cpn and a $XX off $XX (“basket”) cpn. The register did not deduct the full price of the “free” item. I even had well over the minimum I needed to use the basket cpn. Now I know to use these w/ free or B1G1 free cpns or deals separately, if possible.
I am confused about their policy. I have used multiple coupons for the same item, for example, laundry soap and when I check out on coupon doesn’t work. They always tell me it is one coupon per item per transaction or somthing to that effect. So I have to do another transaction to get the discount. That sucks especially if I am using the $5 off on $25-$30 coupons. Has anyone every had this problem. The policy doesn’t specify how many items you can buy at one time and use a coupon with that item. I realize “stacking” is allowed.
I need a little more info to clarify, but if for example you have a bottle of Tide you can only use one Tide coupon per bottle. If DG has a Tide DG store coupon, then you could use both the Manufacturer (MFG) coupon and the DG coupon for the same bottle. You should still be able to use the $5 off $25, but it would come off first.
Hope this info helps.