Target has amended the coupon policy recently and there are two changes:
1. You can not purchase 2 items and use two Buy One Get One Free coupons to get both items free. Do people actually do that? I can’t think of any scenarios I have ever posted suggesting people buy 2 items and use (2) Buy One Get One Free coupons to get both free.
“BOGO coupons cannot be combined (i.e. you cannot use two BOGO coupons on two items and get both for free). Unless stated otherwise on the coupon, the use of one Buy One Get One Free coupon requires that two of the valid items are presented at checkout of which one item will be charged to the guest and the 2nd item will be discounted by its full retail price.”
2. And:
A second cents-off coupon of the same type cannot be redeemed towards the purchase price of the first item.
o If a Target BOGO coupon is used, one additional manufacturer coupon maybe used on the first item.
o If a Manufacturer BOGO coupon is used, one additional Target coupon may be used on the first item.
So I see this as a bit of a bummer but the policy does not specifically say that you can’t use a Buy One Get One Free coupon on a Buy One Get One Free sale. I would expect that doing a transaction like that in the future will become difficult though and I am sure they will probably make another amendment soon to address that situation.
This does make BOGO sales and coupons a little more tricky. It looks to me like you can purchase 2 items. Use ONE BOGO coupon against both of those items. You may use one additional coupon only depending on the type of BOGO coupon used. If it is a Target BOGO coupon, you may use one manufacturer coupon. If it is a manufacturer coupon, you may use one Target coupon.
So that is a little confusing but there is actually a sale this week that might make this easier to understand:
DEAL: Buy Dove or Degree Deodorant $3.49
*Get a free Dove or Degree body mist with purchase
So although the coupon policy does not specifically say you can not use a BOGO coupon on a BOGO sale (it would look like this):
DEAL: Buy Dove or Degree Deodorant $3.49 or 2pk Deodorant $4.00
*Get a free Dove or Degree body mist with purchase
Use B1G1 Degree Premium Deodorant or Body Mist, exp. 6-19-11 (RP 05/22/11)
Final Price: 2 for Free!
The policy does say “Unless stated otherwise on the coupon, the use of one Buy One Get One Free coupon requires that two of the valid items are presented at checkout of which one item will be charged to the guest and the 2nd item will be discounted by its full retail price.”
So I am reading that little section to mean that if you want to use a Buy One Get One Free coupon, you will need to pay full price for the 2nd item.
What do you guys think? I think the way this is worded is pretty confusing and thank goodness Target has a sale on Ibuprofen this week because I know I have a headache now.
See the updated Target Coupon Policy here.
(Thanks Penny Pinchin Mom)
Amy says
Just 2 hours ago, I did the Degree deal at Target. The system accepted my BOGO mc’s just fine, making them all free. Perhaps if I’d read this ammended policy beforehand, I might not have done it…but shouldn’t their system reject it if it is against their policy?
Rachel R. says
It is worded very confusingly (is that even a word?). The changes seem very similar to Rite Aid’s recent coupon policy change. I say BOO!
Carli says
Hi Charlene, i don’t understand how you can get 2 for free in the above scenario and pay $0 OOP? Thanks!
laura says
I haveused many BOGO Free coupons for Gillette bodywash and have used an additional $2 off any one Gillette bodywash. I have also combined a $1 Target coupon for a Gillette product to pay 24 cents for both bodywashes. Most of the time I have had no problem using all of them because the policy never said I couldn’t. However, sometimes I was told a strict “No” about using $2 off with the BOGO Free. Many cashiers get really nervous when scanning all the coupons. Almost every time I shop at Target many of the coupons have to be manually overided due to the computer not accepting the coupon, even though it is a perfectly honorable coupon. This new policy seems like alot to swallow but it is understandable after reading it a few times. Thank you for the update. I printed and filed mine in my coupon book…
Charlene says
Carli here is how it looks:
Target sale advertised in the weekly ad:
Buy 1 Deodorant $3.49
Get a Body Mist free instantly at checkout
Use a BOGO coupon for a free deodorant or body mist when you buy a deodorant or body mist
Since you “bought” a Body Mist, the BOGO coupon should take off the price of the deodorant.
That means your total before coupons was $3.49 for both items. You used the coupon to get the deodorant free- so take off $3.49 from your bill and you have 2 free items.
Does that help?
Charlene says
Amy, I guess my thought on the matter is that is doesn’t matter what the computer will do or not do. I think people should just follow the policy and follow what the coupons say and that is that 😉 I know you were not trying to do anything shifty at Target but I hear the excuse “well it worked” all the time when people use coupons deliberately in ways they shouldn’t. It is just my opinion that you should do the right thing because there will always be some way to get something over on a computer or on a cashier. I don’t know a lot about bar codes and about how all this works technically but my guess is that is isn’t a quick or inexpensive fix to change a computer system. I know there is a system wide change that is happening right now in the way coupons are read at cash registers but I can’t say where Target is on that front.
I guess I look at it like I could sneak over to the neighbor’s house at 4am and take the Sunday paper off their porch. Most likely I won’t be arrested or caught for doing that- so just because it works does that mean that I did the right thing?
So again nothing against you personally because it is a reasonable question, but that is just how I look at it.
Amy says
I agree with your “well, if the system takes it theory.” I am typically quite vigilent about this. Unfortunately, this deal was posted on 2 blogs I regularly check, so I assumed that it was w/in Target’s policy as acceptable. I guess I need to not assume such things anymore…and make it my responsibility to read all the fine print. Thanks for the update and helping to keep us all in line:)
jmartcougar says
So does this mean I could use a BOGO coupon and pair it with a cents off coupons as long as one is a target coupon and the other a manufacture coupon?
Charlene says
Exactly jmart.
Ducky says
Okay I am confused. Coupons are getting to be more of a job lately. I think I need the sale for headache meds too.
Amy B. says
Where can I print the updated policy???
Charlene says
Ha, ha Ducky. Hopefully I can keep it all straight for you 😉
Charlene says
Amy, at the bottom of the post it says:
“See the updated Target Coupon Policy here.” you can click that to go directly to it on Target.com.
Amy B. says
Thanks…lol…i must have skipped right over it…sorry
Amy B. says
How do I print it tho??? There isnt a spot for print…sorry again for bothering you…
Zoe says
I just did the Target Degree deal about 10 minutes ago and I was charged for one item even though the receipt says -3.49 for mfg and -3.49 for promotion which should equal 0 the total listed is 3.49. I didn’t notice until I was in the car. Do you think I have a leg to stand on to go talk to customer service??
Smita Arun says
Thanks for posting this.
Charlene says
Zoe, you can try because the policy does not specifically say you can’t combine the sale with a coupon. My guess is that you are going to want to just return the items though 🙂
Ruby says
I also tried using the BOGO manufacturer Gillette bodywash coupon along with the manufacturer $2.00 gillette bodywash coupon and the Target $1.00 Gillette bodywash coupon last week and was told I could only use the manufacturer BOGO and Target $1.00 coupon. It was a bummer at the time but not it makes sense reading their new coupon policy.
Charlene says
Amy either cut and paste it into a word doc or click CTRL + P to print.
Charlene says
Well Amy I almost posted this deal on Sunday but I changed my mind. I heard there was a change specifically on BOGO coupons and so I decided to wait and see what happened. Sometimes bloggers just don’t care what they post- anything to get people excited and thinking they have the best site ever regardless of whether the information is accurate or ethical and regardless of whether that freebie will give people malware etc.. etc…. Sometimes they just rush and post whatever everyone else says because that is a heck of a lot easier. Sometimes we just make mistakes. There is so much floating in my brain at any given time, I mess up a lot. In fact I posted something against Rite Aid’s new policy just last week because I wasn’t paying close attention and trying to do too much at once. So I would always try to read things critically because there are a lot of hustler and turdy bloggers these days (for lack of a better term) and there are a lot of people like me that are just stretched thin and make mistakes. 😉
Smita Arun says
BOGO on the BOGO is very simple to understand, when you give a BOGO Coupon on Store’s BOGO deal the Manufacturer pays for the Paid Product instead of the Customer so any way the Store gets the money for the first product. That’s called smart couponing
But it is wrong to use two BOGOs when there is no BOGO deal in Store. I didn’t know people would try to do this type of deal.
I also got my two Degree Products free, totally legit and beautiful deal.
Ashley says
Glad I scrolled down far enough to see this post today. I just used a cents off and a BOGO at Target today (both manufacturers) and it didn’t even prompt a beep. That’s really suprising considering the new coupon policy and the fact that about 75% of my coupons prompt something since my Target updated it’s system. Thanks for the info Charlene. Sad to see this change but glad to know!
Charlene says
Smita, it depends on how you read the policy. I think I went through this in the post. Target doesn’t say you can not use a BOGO coupon on a BOGO sale in the policy. They do say that in order to use a BOGO coupon you need to pay full price for a 2nd item:
“the use of one Buy One Get One Free coupon requires that two of the valid items are presented at checkout of which one item will be charged to the guest and the 2nd item will be discounted by its full retail price.”
So as we see over and over again, the person writing these policies is not as clear on using coupons as one would hope. I don’t think the deal in the post is necessarily unethical BUT it could go either way depending on how you read the policy. Personally I feel like deodorant is free almost every day of the week at tons of stores, so I guess this deal is easy for me to skip. From what I am reading, I don’t think Target intends for this type of transaction to continue even though they didn’t actually spell it out properly. I know a lot of others feel differently so I would say that you should do what you feel is right.
Amy says
I will say this–I don’t believe the system wide change updating the reading of barcodes will resolve this particular issue. If I understand that correctly, it is to ensure that the exact item the coupon is for is indeed included in the transaction (for example, you can’t use a Huggies 60-ct mc for a Huggies 36 ct). In this case, even under that new system, the coupon would still recognize 2 correct items in the transaction (even if one is free), so it would still allow the BOGO mc. In fact, it better, because Walgreens clearly ALLOWS the use of BOGOF mc’s in a BOGOF sale. This type of thing can only be fixed by each individual store’s system. Like I said, that is assuming I am understanding correctly…it will all become more clear in the future.
Charlene says
Amy- you are probably right the current changes might not affect BOGO coupons specifically. But don’t you typically find that a Buy One Get One Free coupon beeps and requires a cashier to enter in the price? I am not sure how they can change things to forbid a BOGO coupon’s use at the register.
Laura says
Regardless of their policy they will not get reimbursed by the manufacturer for any additional coupon used with the B1G1Free coupon. The manufactures only allow one coupon per purchase. Target loses money. The same at any store. The manufacturers coupon policy has always been that way. At least in the 20 plus years I have been couponing. I have always avoided using another coupon with a B1G1 as I feel it is dishonest. However using a store coupon with the manufacturers coupon is fine if the store allows stacking which Target does.
Amy says
Charlene-I agree with you. I wasn’t aware that it is so difficult to update the store’s system. I guess I should have clarified-my point being that even after improvements have been made to the barcode system, that doesn’t mean we let down our guard. It’s not going to fix everything. And it is still up to us to use our brain and maintain our integrity by not taking advantage of the loopholes. I truly appreciate bloggers like yourself who bring changes and policies to our attention, to make my job easier.