Tuesday, April 3, 2012

A little note about the new barcodes

You may have noticed that some companies have changed there coupon's to only have one barcode, called a databar. There is a lot of miss-information about this and how it works.  One thing I want everyone to know is the databar can be decoded rather easily with a barcode scanner and a databar encoding program. Another thing to realize is if your store does not currently read family codes, they are not going to just start. The computer will read the coupon the same way it always has.


You may have also noticed last week that P&G issued there coupon booklet for this month with only the databar barcode. This did upset me a little because most self checkout machines are not able to read and process these coupons. But I actually do know a way around this, all you need to do is scan a older version of the crest white strips coupon, and place the new coupon in the slot on the machine. I actually have a ton of these coupons, and may be able to send out some if needed.

If you do not have a old copy of one of the $7 or $5 coupons I have a printable copy that you can use instead. Just download the file and print the pdf. One thing that should be stressed is not to put these into the self checkout machine. The store will not get reimbursed for them, instead you should put a coupon of the same amount inside the machine that is not expired.

https://rapidshare.com/files/399959604/CWS_Coupons_2.pdf
Posted by at 3 comments:

Ideas for P&G coupons at walmart and similar stores

Just a few ideas of what you can use a P&G coupon on.


Swiffer Wetjet Liquid Refill- $5.22

Swiffer Wetjet Mop Pads 12ct $6.88

Cascade 155oz Powder $7.67

Cascade Complete Pacs 26ct $5.97

Dawn 56oz Refill size bottle $5.64

Luvs Diapers 27ct $6.97 (the prices should be about the same for the same size packages)

Pampers Jumbo Packs should be about $9.49 to $9.97 The prices will vary from store to store, but after the $7 cws coupon they should be cheap.

Ultra Downy 51oz 60 Loads $5.47

Ultra Downy 90oz 105 Loads $6.97

Cheer Laundry Detergent 50oz 32 Loads $5.97

Gain Laundry Detergent 100oz 64 Loads $9.97

Gain Fabric Softener 103oz 120 Loads $7.97 

Gain Laundry Detergent 50oz $5.97 (the prices should be the same for all of the 50oz bottles)


Tide Laundry Detergent 50oz 32 Loads $7.54 (the prices should be the same for all of the 50oz bottles)

Bounty Basic  8 Big Rolls = 12 Regular Rolls $8.97

Bounty 8 Regular Rolls $9.48

Charmin Basic 12 Double Rolls = 24 $5.77

Charmin Ultra Soft 12 Double Rolls = 24 $6.97
Posted by at 7 comments:

How the stores process coupons

This post is about understanding your stores and how they process your coupons. If you have any questions about a specific store please contact me, I will try to get you the information.

CVS Pharmacy-
Reads Family Codes
992 Coupons Beep, even if you bought the item.

Target-
Reads coupon family codes
Treats 992's as 000
Overage should go through beepless, unless cashier notices amount and manually enters the coupon.
Store Policy, is to scan the coupon first. If it goes through, they consider it a vaild coupon. If it beeps they are supposed to ask if you bought the correct item. If you say yes they are technically supposed to hit the override button no questions asked, but some may check the transaction screen to be sure.

Walmart-
Regular Checkout
Reads Family Codes
Treats 992's as 000
Overage will beep, "verify coupon amount". cashier just needs to hit the enter key for it to go though.

Self Checkout
Does not read family codes
Has a varying coupon limit.
Some stores allow 2 coupons up to $10
Some stores allow unlimited coupons up to $15, and $20
At some stores overage will go through just fine, at others it will not.

Walgreens-
Reads Family Codes
992 Coupons scan through beepless. Takes amount off your total.
For every coupon you use, you must have one item.

Harris Teeter-
Does not read family codes.
992 Coupons should go through beepless, but some stores might have different settings in there register.

Self Checkout-
Does not allow self scanning of coupons,
992 Coupons depend on your stores settings.

Kroger-
Self Checkout/Uscan
Does not allow self scanning of coupons, must be given to attendant.
Reads Family Codes
Treats 992's as 000.

At the regular checkout,
Reads Family Codes
Treats 992's as 000.

Kmart-
No longer has self checkout/uscan.
Does not read family codes, but asks cashier to select a item to match the coupon with on the screen at some stores.
992 coupons scan through as no purchase required, takes amount off the total.


There's no way for us to cover every single store. So here are a few tips to help figure out how your store handles coupons. Your homework assignment is to run these tests and report the results to us!

You need to test 3 different things at any given store - 1) do they take 992's; 2) do they read other family codes; and 3) will they allow overage. It's better to run each test as a separate order, just to be sure your results for each test are valid. Have a few other items in the order too, but choose them carefully, making sure none of those items will affect your test results.

1) An easy way to find out about 992's is to try a wine tag. It's fairly easy to find/trade for some of the simple tags like "save $1 on any deli purchase" and most of these are 992's. There's no embarrassment involved if it beeps, assuming you did get that 1/4# of ham or whatever. Another common 992 is Mazola, that would be an easy "oops I forgot to buy it" if it beeps. Whatever you choose for your test, make it something nondescript - don't start off with the $2 Monistat coupon.

2) A fairly discreet way to test whether the store reads other family codes is to get a coupon that *almost* matches what you are buying, but has a different family code than the product you want. Here's one example: in the 4/6 Valassis insert there were 3 Lawry's coupons - marinade, spice blends, and steak sauce. All have different family codes, but the same mfr code. Try buying one of the products, but using the wrong coupon for it. (Make sure the product costs at least as much as the coupon value.) If it beeps, your store reads family codes. If it doesn't beep, then your store does not read family codes, and this means good shopping fun! Like using the Whitestrips coupons.

3) To see if your store will allow overage, you have to find a coupon whose value is higher than the price of the product. Trial sizes are great for this - for example, there are frequently toothpaste coupons that do not specify size, and the trial size costs around 97 cents.





Posted by at 2 comments:

Manufacturer Code List


Here's a homemade manufacturer code list. Keep in mind that some mfr's have multiple codes, and that some products with the same mfr name may have different mfr codes. This is a small list and I will try to add more later. When shopping at a store that does not read family codes, all you need to do is compare the 5 dights from the upc code to the coupon barcode. If they match correctly, the coupon should be accepted. 
Another thing to know is P&G has several manufacturer codes. So just because you have a coupon for one P&G product, that doesn't mean it will work on a different product since the 2 P&G items might have different mfr codes. As in, Crest 37000; Crest Spinbrush 66878; Pantene 80878; Infusium 89165; Nyquil/Vicks 23900; etc. Next example: Dove. Most Dove stuff is 11111, but the cleansing cloths are 00521 (like Vaseline) and the antiperspirant is 79400 (like Suave).
08137 Johnson & Johnson, Band-Aid, Aveeno
11111 Surf, All, most Dove, Lever 2000
12000 Pepsi
13000 Heinz
15000 Gerber
16000 General Mills, Betty Crocker
18000 Pillsbury
21000 Kraft
24000 Del Monte
28000 Nestle (some!)
28400 FritoLay, Taco Bell
29000 Planters, Parkay, Egg Beaters, some Fleischmann's
30000 Quaker
30100 Keebler
34000 Hershey
35000 Colgate-Palmolive
36000 Kimberly Clark: Kleenex, Cottonelle, Huggies, Kotex, Depends/Poise
37000 P&G: Cheer, Gain, Tide, Joy, Dawn, Cascade, Swiffer, Ivory, Zest, Safeguard, Downy, Febreeze, Bounce, Dryel, Mr Clean, Charmin, Puffs, Bounty, Pampers, Always, Luvs, Head & Shoulders, Pert, Secret, Sure, Crest, Scope, Metamucil, Thermacare, Pringles, Torengos, Fixodent. (Quite a list, and that's not nearly all the P&G products!)
37600 Hormel, Spam, Chi-Chi's
38000 Kellogg's
39000 Ortega
40000 M&M/Mars
41000 Lipton, Wishbone
41500 French's, Frank's
42000 Dixie, Northern, Brawny
43000 Post cereals, Jello, Maxwell House, GFIC, Minute Rice, Stovetop, Koolaid, Cool Whip
44000 Nabisco
44600 Clorox, Tilex, Fresh Step litter
44700 Oscar Mayer, Claussen
46500 Glade, Shout, Pledge, Grab-It, Armstrong, Brite, Raid, Edge, Skintimate
48001 Hellmann's, Best Foods, Skippy, Knorr
49000 Coke
50000 more Nestle, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Chef's Blend, Come 'n Get It, Mighty Dog
50100 Healthy Choice, Banquet Homestyle Bakes (what a combo!)
51000 Campbell's, Swanson, Franco-American, V-8, Prego
79400 Suave, Rave

Posted by at 50 comments:

Coupon Value Code Table



Code     Face Value

00        "BEEP" Manual Input Required
01        Free Item
02        B4G1
03        $1.10
04        $1.35
05        $1.40
06        $1.60
07        B3 $1.50
08        B2 $3.00
09        B3 $2.00
10        $0.10
11        $1.85
12        $0.12
13        B4 $1.00
14        B1G1
15        $0.15
16        B2G1
18        $2.60
19        B3G1
20        $0.20
21        B2 $0.35
22        B2 $0.40
23        B2 $0.45
24        B2 $0.50
25        $0.25
26        $2.85
28        B2 $0.55
29        $0.29
30        $0.30
31        B2 $0.60
32        B2 $0.75
33        B2 $1.00
34        B2 $1.25
35        $0.35
36        B2 $1.50
37        B3 $0.25
38        B3 $0.30
39        $0.39
40        $0.40
41        B3 $0.50
42        B3 $1.00
43        B2 $1.10
44        B2 $1.35
45        $0.45
46        B2 $1.60
47        B2 $1.75
48        B2 $1.85
49        $0.49
50        $0.50
51        B2 $2.00
52        B3 $0.55
53        B2 $0.10
54        B2 $0.15
55        $0.55
56        B2 $0.20
57        B2 $0.25
58        B2 $0.30
59        $0.59
60        $0.60
61        $10.00
62        $9.50
63        $9.00
64        $8.50
65        $0.65
66        $8.00
67        $7.50
68        $7.00
69        $0.69
70        $0.70
71        $6.50
72        $6.00
73        $5.50
74        $5.00
75        $0.75
76        $1.00
77        $1.25
78        $1.50
79        $0.79
80        $0.80
81        $1.75
82        $2.00
83        $2.25
84        $2.50
85        $0.85
86        $2.75
87        $3.00
88        $3.25
89        $0.89
90        $0.90
91        $3.50
92        $3.75
93        $4.00
95        $0.95
96        $4.50
98        B2 $0.65
99        $0.99


BxGy = Buy x or more, Get y free (same product)
Bx $z = Buy x or more, Get $z off
Codes that are reserved for future use are not listed
Posted by at 2 comments:

Coupon Decoding 101

Welcome to my Blog 

I was given this when I first started couponing seven years ago. It is probably the most important post you will find on this blog. I am also adding additional information as well, to help you understand the magic of decoding coupons. If you have any questions just leave a comment below, or post a question on our facebook wall. 

Look closely at the barcode on the coupon. That is what tells the POS (point of sale) computer how much credit to give you. The barcode does not always agree with the printed words. You may be able to save money by using the offer that's encoded in the barcode instead of the wording.



Anatomy of a coupon barcode:
5-12345-67890-0

5 - a 5 or 9 (sometimes 99) for mfr coupons (& not followed by 00000). A coupon that starts with a 5 can double, even if it says "do not double" (dnd) on it. A coupon that starts with a 9 will not automatically double, but of course it can be done manually.

12345 - five-digit manufacturer code

678 - three-digit family code; when used with the mfr code, it tells which item(s) the coupon is good on.   Often the coupon's family includes many items that are not listed on the coupon, but the POS will recognize them.

A trailing zero digit in the family code is used like a wildcard. A family code of 000 has 3 wildcards, 100 has 2 wildcards, 110 and 010 have one, and 001 has none.

So, if you know that Product Z is in the 146 family, then you could use any of these family-coded coupons on Product Z: 146, 140, 100, 000. If the family code is 000 then the coupon is good on ANY product from that mfr.

Family code 992 is for "no product verification". Technically, the 992 is a message to the *computer* to not verify whether you bought the item. Its intended use is for things that don't fall into a 'regular' family - like '$1 off any Heinz X or Campbell's Y or BallPark Z'. Wine tags are often 992's because if you get to save off *any* seafood, there's no way to know which seafood you will choose, and no other way to encode it.

90 - two-digit value code. This tells the computer how much credit you get for the coupon. The one value code that always raises a flag is 00, which is specifically for checker intervention. No matter what, this coupon will beep - even if it's a 992. Many stores will also flag frees (01) so that the actual price may be written in. There is at least one chain that flags ALL frees, even b1g1f (14), b2g1f (16), b3g1f (19), b4g1f (02). There will be a link to a coupon value code sheet at the bottom of this page, Print this out and keep it in your coupon binder, it's a great reference tool.

Often the value code does not match the printed words. As you look through the table you just printed, you'll notice there are NO codes that require a purchase of more than 4 items. The next time you see a coupon that tells you to buy 6, check the value code - chances are good that you only need to buy 3 or 4 for the POS to give you the credit.

There is no way to encode "buy this, get that free" unless it is in the offer code (see below). Those coupons are encoded as "get that free" (or "checker intervention"). Again, frees may be flagged at your store.

0 - single "check" digit, used by the computer to help it verify that it scanned the barcode correctly.

Keep in mind that different stores may have programmed their POS systems to handle coupons differently. What works at Store X may not work the same at Store Y. It will probably take some experimenting to determine what your store's POS does.

Coupon Value Code Sheet http://www.glondon.com/coupon-value-code.pdf
Posted by at 4 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)