Dreading my trip to Ingles this week ...

[SC864]

And I've noticed that this part of the forum is not used that much, so I'm going to guess that Ingles is not on the top of many people's lists. However they have the best deals in my area on some things I use a lot of this week - deli meat, Milk Bone dog biscuits (they have B1G1 plus there are still current coupons for $1.50/2), Eggos for $2 ea, Sargento sliced cheese for $3 ea, Old Spice and Secret for $1.98 ea, and all of those I have good coupons for plus several other things on my list.

So no matter how many times I swear I'll never go back, I'm sure I'm going to break down and try again this weekend. The only nice Ingles in my area is about a 30 minute drive from my house so I have to do it on my day off. The other ones have such inconsistent coupon policies, that often change according to who ever is on duty, that I can't do all my shopping at once and have to break it up into several trips to avoid freaking out the cashiers.

I have read their coupon policy multiple times, tried to quote it back to arguing employees, and I get tired of being treated like a criminal so I just give up and only buy a few things at a time. I did see something in their coupon policy about "manager's discretion", and near as I can figure out, that means "Welcome to Ingles! Our coupon policy is whatever the H-E-double hockey sticks our cashiers tell us they want it to be at any given moment, subject to change from store to store, subject to change from shift to shift within each store, subject to change from register to register within each shift within each store, and subject to change from transaction to transaction within each register within each shift within each store.

Supposedly we double coupons, however that is a transaction of mystery that no one here will ever master, so, don't hold your breath, and CERTAINLY do not ask anyone to explain it. Don't expect any clarification from managers, who are typically one-third the ... uh ... "experience" of cashiers and terrified of said cashiers. So if you want to be an Ingles shopper and use coupons, be sure to take a potty break and a day or few off of work and gas up your car, 'cause it's gonna be a long day! Thank you for shopping at Ingles!"

Yeah, I know, I should either take a stand and make them do it correctly, or I should stop whining and just shop somewhere else. But I am drawn to the bargains. It's a sickness. I have from now until Saturday to talk myself out of it or to gain some courage to do battle. Aaaaaaaarrrrggg ...

[CurtisBeers]

Do they have a printed coupon policy that you can print from their website?

[SC864]

I don't remember finding one on their website. Seems I saw something on couponmom.com (might have been an email?) and I'll have to search for it to print it out. I definitely will be armed with that if I can find it. At the very least I'm going to call their corporate office before the weekend and make contact with someone who can help me make sense of it, or at least have my back if I get in another "manager's discretion means we can make it up as we go along" thing again.

[Bear]

Sorry for your distress. I can relate.

[SC864]

Update on Saturday - I stressed about this for a few days, then decided to heck with it, I'm going to Publix. I modified my list, because the sales weren't as good, so some things I just put off, there will always be another sale another time somewhere else. I did get all of my "must haves" this week, and several things that were at a really good price that I could stockpile and not have to buy for a while. It was really successful - I will post details and a picture (filled up the back of my SUV!!!) tomorrow, I got $170 worth of groceries (some HBA and pet food too) for $62. Not everything had a coupon, but that was the sacrifice I made to shop at Publix where they are nice instead of having to either argue or possibly have to go to three or even four Ingles to complete my shopping list. One stop, got everything, awesome price, didn't have to drive all around town, the cashier and bagger were super nice and very fast, didn't upset the person in line behind me, everything went great. Some other day I'll pull myself together to do battle at Ingles.