Sunday, March 13, 2011

CVS Trip 3/13 AKA My Best Trip Ever!

I was pretty exciting perusing the CVS deals for this week, but I did not realize just how much I was going to be able to walk away with until I sat down and started planning my trip after church.  I had a $5/$25 coupon that I had gotten by email.  I was thinking that I had the $16 in ECBs from my previous trip (I skipped last week).  I had forgotten that when my husband picked up his prescription, my $5 ECB reward for reaching $50 (before coupons) in the new Beauty Club printed on his receipt, so I actually had $21 in ECBs to spend!  I was wanting to try doing the deal on toilet paper on the front page of the ad, since I can never seem to stock up on that stuff, but there were also several other things in the ad that I wanted to get and I didn't want to pay too much out of pocket.  Somehow, I had the idea of what if I did two transactions?  I hardly ever do this.  I know many people go through 3-4 every time they go into CVS, but I can never keep that much stuff straight in my head, so I just do it all at once, hand over all my ECBs, get a bunch of ECBs back and be done with it.

In my planning this week, I had already made it to my $25 mark to use my $5/$25 coupon without any of the Charmin products, so I wondered how much I would end up spending if this was my 2nd transaction, and I spent my $21 ECBs on the Charmin deal, and then used the $10 ECBs from that for the trip I had already planned.  It actually worked out much better than I had hoped.  I went in, did my first transaction, brought it to my car, and then went back in and did the second round (just to keep me from getting too confused).

Here is everything I got:

Total Shelf Cost:  $91.78
Total Sale Price:  $60.35
Total After Coupons:  $32.87
Price Paid After $31 ECBs and Tax:   $2.09     98% Savings  and I still have $12.50 in ECBs for next time!

Here is how I did it:

*Transaction 1*  (all the P&G coupons I used came from P&G rebate booklets I had or that I had gotten inside boxes of other P&G products)
2 Charmin = $20
2 Charmin Freshmates= $5
(this completed the $25 purchase requirement for the $10 ECB)
2 Gain Dish Soap @ $0.97 =$1.94
Purex 3-in-1= $3.99
--Used 2 $1/1 Charmin (inside a Prilosec box)
--Used 1 $1/1 Charmin Freshmates (from a rebate booklet)
--Used 2 $1/1 Gain Dish (from a rebate booklet)
--Used 1 $3/1 Purex 3-in-1 from 2/20 RP
--Used $21 in ECBs
Paid  $2.09 OOP

*Transaction 2*
2 SoftSoap on sale 2 for $6 (Get back $3 ECBs)--no coupons
2 Herbal Essenses (shamp/cond.)  on sale 2 for $5.97 (get back $2 ECBs)
--Used a $1/1 from a rebate book AND a BOGO Free coupon from I believe it was from today's paper (perhaps last Sunday's?)  I do not recall where I clipped it from and I'm getting two different dates when I try to search for it.  Anyone know for sure?
1 Irish Spring Body Wash  $2.99 (Get $2 ECBs)
--Used $0.50/1 from this mornings paper (there was also a $1/1 Deodorant that is also included)
1 Purex Crystals on sale for $3.99 (Used my FREE coupon that I told you about here)
1 Crest Pro Health Toothpaste  $3.49 (Get $2.50 ECBs)
--Used $1/1 coupon from 2/27 PG
Dial Nutriskin $4.99 (Get $3 ECBs)
--Used $1/1 from this morning's paper
3 Dove Dark Bars on sale for $0.99 and B2G1 Free
--Used $0.50/1 that printed from the scanner when I walked in.
Also used $5/$25 coupon and $10 ECBs from above.  My total came to $0.00 and I got back $12.50 in ECBs!

Now if you are doing the math, this is not at all what I expected.  I had figured that I should owe about $3 for this second transaction.  My total actually came to $0.53 and as I was handing over my change I remembered the $0.50/1 Dove bar coupon, so she scanned that and it zeroed out my total and she handed me back my change.  I was confused, but there was a long line so I walked out to the car and checked out my receipt.

When I handed her my FREE Purex and BOGO Herbal Essence coupons, she looked back over the register to find the price.  I wasn't really paying attention I guess, but I assumed that she had gotten it correct since she was scrolling back through the transaction.  However when I got back out to my car, I noticed that she had taken off too much for them.  The only explanation I have is that she scanned my CVS card mid-transaction after these two items had been scanned, so perhaps the non-card price is what was visible on her screen?  I'm not sure what happened with that, and I wouldn't even know what to do to make it right especially since the coupons I used are floating around somewhere inside the register drawer.  I feel a little bit bad though because I had a conversation with a cashier there a few weeks back, and he told me that several of the cashiers at that store had been fired recently over incorrect coupon redemption, so I do hope that the poor girl doesn't get into trouble!

Has this ever happened to anyone else?  What do you do in this situation?  It's just so foreign to me because usually issues with coupons do not go in our favor! ;)

9 comments:

Dragonfly Sweetnest March 14, 2011 at 1:38 PM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown March 14, 2011 at 2:28 PM  

Thank you both for stopping by. I am now following you both. =)

Anonymous March 14, 2011 at 2:44 PM  

New follower from Meet Me Monday. Please stop by A Little of This and a Little of That and follow back. Also following you on Facebook. Have a great week!
http://alittleoftheother.com

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxes March 14, 2011 at 2:57 PM  

I'm with you on stepping away to keep from getting confused. I use a couple of the little red baskets and separate the items. You did great!! You have really learned.

About the coupon, that is so confusing. If I catch it there I tell them right away, sometimes I have went back, but they usually say they can't do anything then. And if you mention it to anyone but the cashier who did it the cashier could get into trouble. My husband always encourages me that there are times I don't get the full amount of qs and there I times I get over and they probably even out.

I can see why you are excited on this trip. Thanks for linking up your CVS shopping trip at Simply CVS.

Unknown March 14, 2011 at 3:15 PM  

That's another thing..i didnt want to get her in trouble, especially if they are cracking down on their cashiers! It probably does all even out in the end, and I suppose it isn't my fault and they probably would tell me there was nothing they could do about it anyway! I just don't like to think I didn't do the right thing. This one I think was out of my control though.

Kelli Guilbeau March 14, 2011 at 4:20 PM  

I am following you, won't you follow me :) @ www.letsstartsavingnow.com. You can always find great blogs on these blog hops.

Holly March 14, 2011 at 4:39 PM  

I found you from the Simply CVS link-up. You did a wonderful job this week! All that stuff for practically $2!? If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about the cashier who took off too much money. You didn't do it maliciously and you didn't notice the issue until you'd already left the store. Hopefully she'll just get a warning if she's censured at all.

Taika Maris March 17, 2011 at 1:39 PM  

As a CVS cashier, don't worry about the coupon. I've only had one customer that was honest enough to tell me I put it in for too much. My mistake, we'll live. I've learned to read them carefully and be fully aware of what's on sale. (Sales flier in hand if necessary.) No biggie. Live and learn.

Unknown March 17, 2011 at 2:58 PM  

So Taika, if you scan the card afterwards, do the non card prices still show up on your screen? That's the only thing I can figure. Because, one I know she even put in for over the max allowed by the coupon, and thats the one that really worried me. I wish more people were honest, but there isnt really anything that can be done afterwards is there?

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