Safeway: New Coupon Policy Changes

I mentioned last week that Safeway is no longer accepting eCoupons. Well, they updated their coupon policy and you’ll want to take note of a few changes. Some good. Some not so good.

1. We will redeem coupons only for the specific items included in our customer’s purchase transaction. The redemption value will be as stated on the coupon, unless that value yields a final price for such item less than zero; if application of the redemption value yields a price less than zero, the coupon will be redeemed only for the amount that yields a zero price (our customer cannot net a cash credit or payout from a coupon purchase).

This means Safeway will accept a coupon that makes an item free. If the coupon value is more than the value of the item, the cashier should adjust the coupon down to the price of the item. So, no more overage but you can still get free items.

6. Safeway will not accept manufacturer coupons (including, but not limited to, coupons issued through a Catalina or other in-store coupon dispenser) that display another retailer’s logo or name unless such coupon is for a specific item with the same product identifiers as the product included in our customer’s purchase transaction.

This means you can’t use your Register Rewards from Walgreens but the $1 off Huggies Wipes coupons that come out of the Catalina machine at Target can be used.

12. Purchase reward thresholds (if any) will be calculated based upon customer’s final price (after deducting Club Card savings and all other discounts and savings) before deductions for any manufacturer coupons. As an example (and not as an offer), if a $10 minimum purchase is required for a customer reward, a customer’s order at full retail would be $12, a Club Card discount of $1.75 applies, and a manufacturer’s coupon of $1 applies, the customer would be given credit for a $10.25 purchase, and would be eligible for the reward (assuming compliance with all other requirements) even though the customer’s cash payment would be only $9.25. The manufacturer’s coupon would not be deducted from the total for purposes of determining reward eligibility.

This proves that the $10 minimum purchase to use in-ad coupons is AFTER your store card is swiped but BEFORE manufacturer coupons. I know many of you have had trouble with this so having it in their policy is fabulous!

22. Coupon stacking policies for manufacturer coupons apply to paper and electronic coupons that have been loaded to a club card.

You can no longer use an ecoupon AND a manufacturer coupon on the same item. This will come into play when their new Just for U program makes it’s way to Texas. But for now this is a non issue since Cellfire coupons are gone.

23. If a customer presents two coupons for the same item in a single transaction, Safeway will give the highest discount for that item, subject to the terms of the applicable offer and/or coupon.

This works with eCoupons. If you have a coupon loaded to your card and you present a manufacturer coupon, the computer will take the highest value coupon. This could prove problematic though for those of us with doubles. I’d much rather have the computer use my $.50 coupon than the $.75 coupon since the $.50 coupon will double. We’ll have to see how this goes but there could be problems.

You can see the whole coupon policy from Safeway’s website HERE.

Happy Shopping!