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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Deal of the Week and Rant of the Week


I know I haven't blogged in a long time! I'm still getting great deals and playing the drugstore game. I took a little time of from shopping altogether during the summer as I was busy enjoying camping and conventioning. Now that Treklet is back to school, I'm getting serious! I have to make up for all that money I spent at Comic Con and the Star Trek Khan. ;-)

My deal of the week is also my rant of the week.

The last couple of weeks I've been paying close attention to the Staples and Office Depot ads, among others, because there are screaming deals on school supplies. Even though Treklet went back two weeks before most schools, I am stocking up for next year, mid-year teacher requests, and Operation Christmas Child. BTW...I used Staples rewards and CVS ECBs & survey ECBs to get all of Treklet's supplies for FREE back in July!

This week's Sunday paper Staples insert showed Kodak 4x6 photo paper in 100 sheet packs for ONE DOLLAR after easy rebate. Now THAT is a screaming deal! I made my list (composition book .10 ea, 8pk of pencils for .25, 3 pk of Scotch tape for .99 minus coupon, etc.) and headed to Staples.

I went to the photo paper aisle, and there were no shelf tags to indicate the sale item. I asked a clerk which Kodak paper was on sale for $1 and she didn't know. She produced an ad and thumbed through it, not finding the item. I looked through the ad, too, and it was not there. That's when she told me the store ads are different from the newspaper ads. WHAT?! Doesn't that seem ridiculous? How do the employees know what items are on sale if they are not given the ad with all of the sales items and coupons in it?

Not wanting to give up on such a great deal (the regular price was $13.99) I found a manager. He verified that the ads in-store are different than the newspaper ads. (From now on I will bring my ad with me!) He had to go to his computer and look up item. I was shown to the Kodak Premium Photo Paper, Gloss, 100 pack and told an easy rebate form would print out at the register for $12.99. When I asked what the limit was he didn't know. He had to go look it up again. The limit was two.

I am happy about the deal. I got 2 packages of premium photo paper for $1 ea after rebate. I am NOT happy about the hoops that had to jumped through in order to find it!

Get a clue, Staples. Your employees, including managers, need to know what deals you are advertising. If I were the manager, I'd bring a Sunday insert to the store and run copies for the registers and post it in the break room.

Now that you know exactly what to look for, get on over to Staples for your deal of the week!

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