Walmart Policy Change Could Be Bad News For New York

Prices for everything are up these days.  You have to watch every sale and do your best to save as much as possible.  This policy could make that tougher to do.

Everything costs more these days

Americans are doing everything they can to save some money these days.  Inflation has raised the price of everything and with the holidays right around the corner, you need to stretch every dollar.  For those who usually do that by using coupons.  You should be aware that Walmart is cracking down on coupon usage at their stores.

Walmart has changed its policy on coupons

At the end of September, Walmart changed its policy when it comes to all kinds of coupons.  There are a couple of big changes that you may not have seen.  Here are some of the big updates according to their official policy.

1. If the coupon you choose to use doesn't scan at their register, the coupon cannot be used.  They have a "master file" where all of these coupons must be entered for them to be valid.  If the coupon isn't in the master file, it's not valid at the store. Essentially they're saying they shouldn't be overridden at the register if it doesn't scan.

"Manufacturer's Coupons must scan at the register, as the GS1 on the coupon must validate to Walmart’s master file."

2.  They will not allow any overage coupons. This would be something that extreme couponers would use to really take down their overall bill.  For example, if something is marked down to $1 but you have a $2 off coupon, that extra $1 would either be given back as cash, or applied to your overall bill.  That will no longer work with this policy.

"Walmart does not give cash back nor will any overages apply to the remaining items in the transaction if the value of a coupon is greater than the purchase value of the item, including WIC and SNAP.

- The value of a coupon will be applied up to the price of the item and any excess value will not be applied to the transaction total."

3. Coupons that you print at home must have a scannable GS1 barcode, not be expired, and they must validate to their master file.  You cannot scan a coupon off your phone.  If you print your coupon from a website, the print must be visible and have a barcode.

Internet coupons that display characteristics below will not be accepted

• Blurry
• Out of proportion
• Do not scan properly
• Appear to be altered in any way

You can't really blame Walmart for protecting themselves

If you've ever watched Extreme Couponers you know how detailed some of those experiences can be.  However, over the years, many retail organizations have lost a lot of money due to coupon fraud (invalid coupons being used) and people simply misusing them.

The good news is that if your coupons are valid, there is no limit to how many of them you can use (as long as they aren't identical, then the limit is 4 per day).  So you can still use them to save money, the details are just much more specific these days.