If you’ve been to a grocery store lately you may know of this new trend that some stores
have: point of sale coupons. If you aren’t sure of what these are, they tend to be a
type of coupon that prints out at the same time your receipt does. Supposedly you get
coupons that some how relate to what your purchase was.
Tonight at the store I purchased some deli style sliced corned beef, saur kraut, swiss
cheese, spring mix salad in a bag, sliced mushrooms, green onions, rye bread, and diet
Dr. Pepper. Nothing more, nothing less… just those items. Upon leaving the store, however,
I discovered that my point of sale coupons offered me a great deal on Always feminine napkins
and money off of my next purchase of shampoo.
Now, the first thing that scares the hell out of me about this is the nagging wonder
about what products triggered this suggestive sale combinination? Is there something
inherintly feminine about the green onion, or was it the Diet Dr. Pepper? Do sliced mushrooms
imply that I have unclear hair (what’s left of it anyway)? Does this food combination some
how imply I might be experiencing my “regular monthly visitor” and that’s why I got this
particular coupon? What gives?
I think the other part of this whole thing that bothers me is that I used by “club card”
when I made my purchase. If you don’t know what a club card is, it’s a meaningless piece of
plastic that let’s them know who I am, what I buy, and becuase of this they offer me
token savings on items that are supposedly at the great “club price” even though I’m sure
they are actually marked up prior to the reduction (but I digress). So, I use the club card
and some how, some where, they know that I am a GUY that is doing the shopping. I’m the one
that is there in the store, not my wife, just me. So, why can’t their computers cross reference
my club card and know I’m a guy and not offer me this coupon?!?!? Then again, when we come
down to the truth of the matter since the chore of shopping is mine in the house I have
made these types of purchases before and maybe they do cross reference the card, see that
the items I currently have don’t match any coupons so they go into my sales history to offer them.
As far as I’m concerned it is just another waste of damn paper. If I wanted coupons I’d buy
the Sunday paper and clip them, OK? Keep your coupons to yourself and save a freakin’ tree all ready!
-WW