Why do people think it is okay to be abusive to people price matching or couponing?

I save a lot of money doing couponing and price matching.  Along with the savings comes abuse from other customers and sometimes the cashiers!

Today I had a good and bad experience at Walmart.   I got in line with a very full cart.  You could clearly see I had a lot of stuff.  Lady gets behind me with 6 items and two kids.



I tell her right away; “I am couponing and price matching.  It might be faster if you go through the express checkout right beside us.“

 “No, I don’t mind, I am fine!”

“Okay, just so you know, I have a lot of stuff today”

The cashier was wonderful.  She had no issues with my cart load of things to price match and coupon.  She was fast!  I had a hard time keeping up with her, and I was very organized.  Had my coupons all ready, and all my price matching was clipped in Flipp and she still had me on my toes.  My order went through quickly.

As a side note:

• I saved about 40% of my order: I spent $104, saved $69.  My order would have been $172.  I probably actually saved more because some of the items were on sale at Walmart and I did not need to price match to save.
• I had 14 unique items.  Some I had multiples of.  Mostly 2 but did have 5 of one item.
• 6 of the items were price matched saving me $38.
• 9 of the items had coupons saving me $31.

We had two issues, both to do with price matching.  She wanted to make sure I could price match my pop and had to call for a customer service manager.  Who was there right away, no waiting at all.  Quick easy question and we were off again.  The second problem was on the very last item.  She wanted to know the address of a store, which I have to admit I was not prepared for.  Flipp will only let me price match locally so I knew it was a local store but could not find the address on the flyer.  It was just too small on the screen.  I had an idea of where it was, but was not a 100% sure so I wanted to give her the right address.   Just as I found it she asked another cashier if he knew where the store was.  He did and she was off again.

The lady behind me who was okay with me price matching and couponing started yelling at me because I should have been more organized and I was holding everyone up.  WHAT?  Nope sorry, but I have no idea how much more organized I could have been.  I told her that it was going to take some time, but she decided to stay in line behind me.  I have to admit I was confused.  The cashier was so fast that it took less time with all my coupons then some of my smaller orders without coupons or price matching. 

I had one little problem, trying to find the store address.  The issue took less than a minute from beginning to end.  As soon as I let the cashier know I did not know for sure the address but would look it up she was asking the cashier beside her.  So as far as delays and issues it was a really small one.  The lady’s reaction to the whole thing was not.  Yet she felt perfectly comfortable yelling at me. 

This lady decided that because I had coupons and was price matching it was okay to be extremely rude to me.   Why was it okay for her to yell at me, because she had to wait in line behind me?  This was not the first time something like this has happened.  I have had cashiers give me attitude and make comments, even on just a small order with one or two coupons or price matching.  I have had people come up behind me and then leave in a huff because I was couponing or price matching.  Some become abusive like the lady today.  

 

Some people love watching how much I save.  Some cashiers are wonderful, nice, kind, considerate and even coupon and price match themselves.   So I know it is the individuals who have the issue, not all shoppers or cashiers.

It is still disruptive and embarrassing when someone takes the opportunity to be abusive, cashier or other customers.  But that is not going to stop me.  I save way too much money by couponing and price matching.  

Couponing and Price Matching feeds my family

There is a downside to empathy. It is hard for me to see others in need and not help.  It is hard to see the stories and videos of all the horrible things going on in the world, and my own neighbourhood.  It is hard to walk away from a child knowing they are hungry or in pain, but you are not in a position to help (not actually walking away from a child, but hearing about it is enough for me to feel as if I am).  This weekend I had one child (my daughters’ friend) ask for a drink, milk because she had not had any for some time.  I have been there a few times this last year alone, I know how hard it is when you cannot even buy milk.

Today I saw several posts from Moms out of money and food asking for help, in my town.  I get it, I have been there.  I had to change how I lived my life.  I had to learn how to budget and give up things and go without.  I had to spend the time getting the deals and going without something to stock up on something on sale because it would save us money in the long run.

The real issue is we are poor.  Even those of us with jobs can be poor.  Our income does not match with our debt load or the cost of just living.  I am lucky, I was shown how to shop, use price matching and couponing last year.  I am now able to buy more for less, sometimes even free.  In Canada it is hard work saving money that way, but it is worth it.  I joined groups that do the same thing and we all help each other find deals on food and anything else we can.

I have to admit that couponing and price matching and stocking up on stuff has saved our butts a few times when money was short, or gone.  I don’t think I could feed my family as well as I do if I was not couponing and price matching.  Even with that the cost of meat is getting to be too much.  I am going to have to learn to have meals without it most of the time now, and less of it when we do.  So we have to change how we do things again.

I know part of it is that we getting hit with the January hardships.  We (as in most of us, not us personally this year) spent too much trying to give our kids Christmas, to celebrate and give joy, instead of going without of always feeling poor.  Suddenly the money and food are low or even gone and there is still too much time before there is going to be any money. 

I wish there was some way I could change this, make things better for people and it hurts my heart and soul to see the way people live, and are going without.  Mainly because I have been there, I grew up like that and lived most of my life that way, even when I had money I did not feel like I did, that something was going to happen and I would have nothing.  My greatest fear is to be homeless, or be unable to feed my children so when I see others unable to feed theirs I want to help.  I am feeling very sad right now. There is just too much BAD going on.  

Cashier at No Frills refused to price match!

I normally like Danny’s No Frills in Hamilton, ON.  It is usually well kept, clean, stocked and I get good service.  More importantly they price match.  So today when I was shopping (Nov. 25, 2014 at 1:15 in the afternoon) I let one lady know about a great deal on TP at Walmart.  I showed her the Flipp app on my phone and the price.  She decided to buy the TP and price match.  I told her that I would meet her at the cashier and show them the sale on my phone.  I had the actual flyer but it was in the bottom of my cart under a bunch of stuff.

When she got to the cashier I politely stood to the side with my stuff (I was still shopping) and waited to show the cashier the flyer/sale on my phone.  She very loudly told me that I could not do that.  I was surprised but said okay.  I also said that the last time I was there they let me use the Flipp app to price match.    I was told, “Unless I was paying for the TP we could not use my phone to price match.”

Okay, so I dug out my flyer and went to hand it to the other customer so she could use it to price match.  At that point the cashier told me, “No, she cannot use your flyer.  To price match she has to bring in her own flyer.”  I never heard of any one refusing to let someone use a flyer, regardless if they brought it in or someone else did.  Here is the sad part.  The customer had just purchased over a $150 in items.  She had the TP separate, and it was the only item she was going to price match.  I could have price match most of the items she had and saved a lot of money, but she only wanted to do one price match and the cashier would not let her.  To me it goes against their price matching policy.  Both the other customer and I were polite and pleasant through the whole thing.  The cashier was anything but. 

I talked to one of the staff on the floor about their policy and he said he had never heard of anyone refusing to let someone price match using a flyer just because they did not bring it in themselves.  However, the cashier was actually yelling at us that the other customer could not price match using my flyer.  None of the other cashiers said anything, and trust me everyone heard the cashier.

At this point I decided I was not going to continue my shopping at Danny’s No Frills.  I was going to buy what I had in my cart and then finish my shopping at Giorgio’s No Frills.  Needless to say I made sure I did not go to her register.  I only price matched a couple of items and used a couple of coupons, but I did not want the hassle she was sure to give me if I had gone to her.  I am glad that the other shopper I was chatting to earlier took one of my flyers to price match, I had my app and did not need it.  I am sure if that cashier had seen me handing it to her she would have tried to stop her from using it.

No Frills advertises the heck out of their price matching to bring people in.  After all, every flyer is a No Frills flyer because they will price match. Nowhere does it say you can only use the flyer (or app on a phone) if you bring it in.  It does not say you cannot share a flyer, or give one away.  

I still like Danny’s No Frills but I have to admit I am thinking about not going there anymore. Not if they are going to use silly rules to prevent people from price matching.  I had no issues at Giorgio’s No Frills, and in the past they had no problems with me sharing or giving my flyer to someone else, even if they were in front or behind me in line.  So Giorgio’s No Frills is getting my business; even though Danny’s No Frills is the bigger store with more products.  Customer service counts for a lot these days. After all I can choose to price match at any other No Frills, Walmart, Target and Freshco.