A couple of weeks ago, I bought 2 bottles of Juicy Juice apple juice for $1.79 apiece at Kroger as part of their buy 5 get $5 off event. After I was finished checking out, a catalina printed out a $1.50 off coupon. (Catalinas are the coupons or offers that print along with your receipt after you check out.)
At first glance, I thought it was $1.50 off more Juicy Juice, so I made a mental note to go back to get this same deal and apply this coupon to get an even better per-item price on this apple juice.
But as I looked at it more closely, I saw that it stated that it was $1.50 off your next purchase, compliments of Juicy Juice. I then looked at the top of the coupon and it said, “manufacturer coupon.”
Here’s what this told me. (1) off your next purchase means I don’t necessarily have to buy that item, and (2) manufacturer coupon means I don’t have to use it at Kroger, despite the logo being there.
So here’s what I did. A few days later, I went back to Kroger and bought 2 more bottles of Juicy Juice (along with 3 other items in the Buy 5 Get $5 off event), and I did not use the coupon. Why? If I had used the coupon on the Juicy Juice, it wouldn’t have printed out another coupon (same rules as Walgreens Register Rewards). After my purchase, it printed off another “$1.50 off your next purchase compliments of Juicy Juice” coupon.
So what did I do? I used the coupons at my next Wal-Mart trip! And no, I didn’t buy Juicy Juice there. I was simply able to apply this $3.00 to my Wal-Mart purchase. They scanned with no problem because they were manufacturer coupons.
I basically got Juicy Juice Apple Juice for $1.04 apiece, which is far cheaper than even the generic brands. It paid to know my coupons!
UPDATE: Today (6/25/12) I went to Kroger to get the same $1.79 deal on Juicy Juice. I printed a coupon of $1 off 3. Even after using that coupon, the catalina printed off a $2.00 off your next purchase. That ended up making the Juicy Juice $0.79 apiece! Even better!