And the money-saving saga continues… We’re up to retailer #8 in our series about how to save money at the nation’s largest retailers, including CVS, Kroger, Walgreens, Target, Safeway, Rite Aid and Walmart.
This time, we’re looking at shopping strategies for Albertsons, a North American grocery chain with more than 240 stores located in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida. The ”Albertsons” name is used under license from SuperValu, which operates 463 grocery stores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Louisiana, Nevada, Southern California, Florida and certain parts of Utah. Here’s what you need to know about Albertsons before shopping:
Sales Cycle: Albertsons’ sales cycles run Wednesday through Tuesday, meaning that advertised sales prices change on Wednesday. Albertsons also offers a monthly ad called the “Big Book of Savings,” which you can find inside the store or online.
Bonus: Top 5 Places to Find Coupons
Rewards Program: By filling out a short form at the customer service desk, you will receive a Preferred Savings Card. You can also apply online. Use this card every time you shop to get advertised sales prices on hundreds of products in the store. You’ll also receive discounts at Albertsons Sav-on and Osco Pharmacies, in addition to exclusive offers on the products you use most. And, you can start saving money for college by registering your Preferred Savings Card with Upromise.
Bonus: Secrets of Extreme Couponers
Coupon Policy:
- Albertsons accepts the following types of coupons: Albertsons store coupons, manufacturer coupons, Internet printable coupons and Catalina coupons. Albertsons does not accept competitor coupons and will not match competitor prices.
- Albertsons allows you to stack one manufacturer coupon and one store coupon per item. You can then use Catalinas in addition to these coupons.
- For promotional “Buy One, Get One Free” (BOGO) sales, you can use two manufacturer’s coupons, resulting in two free items, so long as the coupons do not exceed the amount of purchase.
- Albertsons does NOT offer “overage,” meaning they will never pay you to take an item out of the store. So if the coupon value exceeds the purchase price of an item, the cashier will adjust the price of the item to match the coupon amount.
- All Internet printable coupons must have a bar code and expiration date.
- Albertsons does offer rain checks – a piece of paper that you’ll get when the store is out of an item on sale – unless the coupon says, “while supplies last.” Once the item is back in stock, you can use your rain check to purchase it for the sale price, including any coupon offers. At Albertsons, rain checks expire 30 days from the issue date.
- While Albertsons does NOT double coupons, they do have in-ad coupons that are “twice the value” coupons or doublers, which are good on any manufacturer coupon up to $1 in value. So, if you have a $1 off manufacturer coupon, the doubler coupon will take off an additional $1. But you cannot exceed $1 with a doubler and only three doubler coupons are allowed per transaction.
Bonus: The Coupon Dictionary: Your Guide to Coupon Lingo
Extras: Albertsons has two more promotions that it runs regularly. The first is the “Save instantly promo,” which is usually something like, “Spend $20, save $5 instantly.” If you use this promotion, $5 will be deducted from your current order and you can use this promo multiple times in one transaction.
The second promotion is the “OYNO promo,” which is usually something like, “Spend $20, save $5 on your next order (OYNO).” With this type of promotion, you don’t save anything extra on your current order, but you will receive a Catalina coupon worth $5.00 off your next order. When you come across an OYNO promo, the best way to use them is to “roll” them. In other words, do one transaction and receive the Catalina. Then, do another transaction, pay with the first Catalina and receive a new Catalina. And so on.
Bonus: 4 Great Money-Saving Books
Final Tip: Sign up for Albertsons email and receive a coupon for $5 off your next purchase of $25 or more. Tell up to five friends and get an additional coupon for each friend that registers for the Albertsons email savings program.
Whether you’re a money-saving expert or couponing newbie, you can learn new ways to save money at Quizzle.com, including how to lower your monthly mortgage payment and improve your credit for the best deals on life’s largest purchases.
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Photo credit: DSC_3451 by hectore on Flickr
