I was at Walmart the other day finally buying the Dentyne Gum with my $1.00/1 coupons, and as I was profiling my checkers, I noticed a few registers with this sign “Coupon Specialist”, so of course I head into one of those lines and patiently wait my turn. I was relieved to be in a line where the checker would know the rules, afterall, I had 20 coupons and I didn’t want to hear the “You can only use 1 coupon per transaction, see it says it right there on the coupon” agrument. Oh, and my gum was $0.96 and my coupons were $1.00/1 so I also didn’t want to hear the “I can’t pay you to take the gum, so I can’t let you use these coupons” agrument. When it’s finally my turn I am politely greeted and she starts scanning my items. Then I hand her my coupons and she begins scanning them in. When the register prompts her to enter the coupon value (she technically should be entering them in at $0.96) she just enters the actual coupon value at $1.00, which gives me $0.04 in overage per coupon.
Then I decide to ask her if she had to undergo special training to be a “Coupon Specialist” Checker. She looks a little confused and says “No”, I clarify and say “Well, I just wondered since you are checking at a register that has a sign that says “Coupon Specialist” if you had to doing any special to be able to checkout here”. She replied that any of the checkers can check out at that register, and that one day those signs just went up without any of the checkers knowing.
I had to laugh at this, because here I thought Walmart was actually onto something! I’ve always thought that stores should have lines meant only for customers using coupons, where the checkers know their stuff and are happy to help their customers with coupons. BUT, in true Walmart fashion, they make you think that they are on the ball and they let the details (like actually training their checkers) fall by the wayside.
Am I being too harsh? Have you seen these Coupon Specialists at your Walmart?
I personally have not seen those signs at my local WalMart (Chicago West Suburbs), but perhaps that is because I avoide WalMart like the plague! I can’t stand their “policy” on coupons and their rude and clueless employees. So now I guess I just have another reason to avoid that store! Thanks for the heads up on their new “coupon specialist” scam.
Um, wow. wtg Walmart. I avoid it like the plague too. I’m never been convinced that the few items that they actually have a better price on are worth the aggravation of attempting to shop there with a toddler.
I work at WM as a cashier. I have already graduated college and now in a masters program. Our trainers are horrible. Many things will change and we will not be told. We just have to figure a lot of things out on our own. Sometimes you’ll get a good deal on the coupon because we really don’t care to figure out and complete all the steps for 4 cents. Just remember we get paid minium wage and we don’t work at WM so we can serve people to the best of our ability. We have other plans in mind. We just enjoy the paycheck every other week for now. Sorry if we are rude but we don’t get paid or treated well enough to care.
Wow then maybe you should work somewhere else if you dont’ get paid enought to care about doing your job. This is one of the reasons why I only shop at Target and Safeway with my coupons..their cashiers actually do care enough to be polite and helpful towards coupon paying customers.
Have you ever worked retail? I mean, seriously, for more than just a few months? Do the exact same thing over and over every day? If you did you would have a very different attitude toward all of this.
I should find another job? Have you tried finding a job right now? Lol…anyways
Everyone have little respect for people who have such a crap jobs. If you knew why some of these people have the jobs in the first place you would probably feel horrible.
Just know that WM attracts everyone low to middle class. Target probably gets higher class people cuz the prices are a bit more. Customers make or break workers attitudes. It only takes so many people complaining and calling you stupid to make you not so friendly.
Not true N. Walmart pays much more than minimum wage. I truly hope you do not work for my walmart because your attitude stinks. And that has nothing to do with your job. It’s obvious that that is the kind of person you are. If you dont like your job then leave. Talking smack about the company that provides you a paycheck is very immature.
I worked 7 years for Wal-mart. Started at $7.25, ending at $9.18. I was at $9.43 but switched from cashier to the floor (cashiers make a quarter more). That 25 cent pay cut was the final straw, and I left. Tried for years to find a better job, vowing to never go back to retail, but being a full time mom with a handicapped husband and needing part-time hours, all I could do was retail. So your suggestion of “if you don’t like it get another job” does not work for everyone. I don’t think people choose to work retail because they love it. Walmart doesn’t train either. They give one hour of cashier traing before you are on your own. If you work on the floor, there is no training. If I work in sporting goods I pretty much b.s. my way through it when helping customers.
I am kinda new to couponing & after reading this I have a question, that may seem a little stupid, but here goes…..Do stores actually “pay you” when you have overages, or are they just like bragging rights? If so, I am doing something very wrong!
Thanks!
No, they never hand you cash back. But you can use your overage towards other items in your cart. Make sense?
I actually love my Walmart and have never had problems using coupons there. Target sucks! And the fact that it is a half an hour away from me gives me another reason, besides their rude attitude towards coupon users, to never go their even if stuff is free after sale price combined with a coupon.
Walmart is not a bad place to work. This is the thing guys. The coupon program is a fairly new one. It’s still in the tweaking process. I would think that people would appreciate that walmart is now taking ALL coupons from every store. It is truly one stop shopping. It is no longer necessary to go to several stores to get your groceries cheaper. True the lines may be long sometimes and your cashier who by the way is a human being, is doing a honest days work. They are not stupid or uneducated. There is a misconception that walmart only hires a certain type of person and that they dont pay well. I live in a state where they only have to pay you a little under six dollars an hour and I get paid much more than that at walmart.
It can be very overwhelming to try to please every customer in the way that they would like. We all have diff. conceptions of how our check out experience should be. Running those registers may “seem” easy. but believe me there is a lot you have to know. It’s amazing to me that people are always quick to jump on the anti-walmart band wagon. In this day and age and during this difficult time that so many people are having trying to put decent meals on the table for their family’s I would hope that more people would appreciate what walmart is trying to do to help people do that.
Amen. I completely and 100% agree with with your assessment of Wal-Mart. I, myself,have gone head to head with Wal-Mart’s “management” over there inability to follow their own guidelines. In my case, I had to go above store management to have the issue resolved. Rather than take the time to evaluate the photocopies of fraudulent coupons that the corporate office had faxed to said “manager”..he decided to tell the cashiers not to take ANY interenet coupons with the clearinghouse address 1 Fawcett Dr., Del Rio, TX. To my dismay, that included just about all of my coupons printed from coupons.com. Furthermore, he informed me that ALL coupons with that address were fraudulent. To his dismay, I wrote Wal-mart corporate, coupons.com and the local Sunday paper..to let them know their coupons were fraudulent. See, the coupons inside many of the boxes of Quaker Oatmeal boxes (purchased at Wal-Mart)had that same address, along with tear-off pads placed throughout the store. AND, many of the coupons in my Sunday inserts had the address as well. While I knew that the OBVIOUSLY were not fraudulent, I felt compelled to let them know, that’s what I was told. I received the following email from our local Sunday paper’s VP of marketing in regards to my email concerning the said “fraudulent coupons”:
I checked with our coupon vendor and we have notified Wal-Mart that there is an issue with their stores.
Here is the email from the coupon vendor regarding communication with Wal-Mart.
I am sorry to hear you had trouble using your coupons. I have attached some information regarding our online coupons.
We are working with Wal-Mart Customer Relations group to clear up all misunderstandings about redeeming our coupons at Wal-Mart stores. They have directed us to ask you to contact them directly about any coupon redemption issues you are having at their stores. The following quote was provided to us by Wal-Mart.
“It is important to us that we address any customer concerns that are brought to our attention. We prefer to hear from the customer who is directly involved. If they would like to contact us, we would encourage them to do so by any of the following means:
1) Call 1-800-Wal-Mart
2) Log on to http://www.walmartstores.com , Click on Contact Us (located at the top right hand corner of the screen)
3) Write to us at the following address:
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Attn: Customer Relations
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716
Thank you,
Wal-Mart Customer Relations”
Thank you for your patience in this matter.
Client Services
Coupons, Inc.
_______________________________________________________
Needless to say, the issue was resolved and the manager is, well, let’s say, better, at resolving issues with coupons and properly training his cashiers.
I hate walmart. Not even because of the rude employess (Yes, who are rude even though you just have a question and you’re being NICE). But I hate being in a long line, using a coupon and having me wait there in front of everyone while the employees are looking at me and talking to me like I’m a criminal trying to use a fraudulent coupon! I am an HONEST person and would never copy a coupon and try to use it. Thats just wrong. I do understand that there are people that do that, but I am not one of them. And its EVERY TIME I TRY TO USE A COUPON AT WALMART! Anyways, done with my rant now
I love target, the store in my area is very coupon friendly, and they don’t treat me like a criminal.
Hi I am new to this site. I live about 3 blocks away from a Super Walmart and I enjoy it there. The workers are friendly and say hi to me and chit chat, like they are my acquaintance. They never have issues with my coupons, or any other issue like that. But OTOH I go late at night usually. It’s open 24-7 and I love going at like 3am, it’s like the store is open only for me to shop there because I rarely see another customer. But yes I always have a positive experience there. Sometimes I just go to window shop, to see what they have and what prices. So not all walmart’s are bad, just some are.
Also working with the public is a hard job. You get burnt out eventually but feel that is your only job you can get. Just because the person is rude it doesn’t make them a bad person, they might of just had a rough day. There are customers that are never happy and they have to tolerate that. I wouldn’t take someone’s rudeness personally, they are obviously that way because of something that you didn’t do, because you just met them.
I worked at wal mart for over 7 yrs and i have to agree the training is awful in most all areas of the store. The pay really does suck unless you move to pharmacy or vision center which i finally did. They don’t put any time into trainin u properly, just kinda have u watch someone else for an hr then u have at it. Most of the mamagment doesn’t even know proper company policy and u get 10 different answers or ways of doing things.
I have seen this sign at my local Walmart and I went through the line once (just because it was the shortest) and the girl actually knew a lot about coupons and gave me some websites to look up for more coupons on things I was purchasing and id not have a coupon for.
I can tell you something is being done. The company sent down a memo to all stores about comments left on websites such as this. They stated how a CSM is always needed, and that they feel it is always a hassle. So, I know personally the company does notice. The fake coupons we post at cashier meetings so they know what fake coupons are out there. For instance, free Velveeta, Doritos etc. We have also discussed to call CSM’S over less not just for coupons but also for any other situation. So, as a MALE coupon user and employee I hear you. If something doesn’t work out at a particular store you can talk to the store Manager first. Let them work it out. Than if nothing is done go to the market manager. The contact info is posted at the service desk. If nothing is done there than contact home office. We prefer to be notified at store level first instead of hearing it from a letter to president. Not that we are scared about the president letter but we can most likely address it at store level.