RAINCHECK: A piece of paper given to a customer from a store that serves as a commitment to sell an out-of-stock item when it is restocked at the advertised price.
Rainchecks are given by all grocery and drug stores in the Pacific Northwest. This is what a raincheck from Albertsons looks like:
Some things to keep in mind regarding rainchecks:
Note the expiration date, which varies by store.
Stores will not give you a raincheck on a sale item marked “while supplies last.” They may also refuse to give you a raincheck on an item that is not advertised in their weekly ad, even if it’s tagged as on sale on the shelf.
Keep rainchecks in your coupon organization system. I have an envelope/section in my box for each store and I keep the rainchecks there.
You don’t have to buy the quantity listed on the raincheck, but you cannot buy more. For instance, if the quantity listed is 10, you can buy 9 (or less), but you can’t buy 11.
You can use manufacturer’s coupons with rainchecks.
The cashier should be able to give you a raincheck at the checkstand. Be sure to have the ad with you to make his/her job easier. It’s also a good idea to keep the ad or cut out the advertised portion and attach it to the raincheck in case there’s any questions or problems when you redeem it.
Be sure to tell your cashier BEFORE he/she starts the transaction that you have a raincheck. This comes straight from a Safeway cashier. If not, they may have to start the transaction over and they will not be happy.
You should be able to use a double coupon along with a manufacturer’s coupon and a raincheck.
You cannot get a raincheck on a Catalina promotion as stores consider Catalina promotions a “while supplies last” situation. You can, however, get a raincheck on a store sale item that triggers a Catalina. As long as you purchase the item(s) within the Catalina period, the Catalina will print.
Oftentimes, I get emails from readers who are super irritated that their store is cleaned out of a hot sale item. In most cases it’s actually reason to cheer! As an example, here’s how I scored six months worth of vegetables for FREE, all thanks to rainchecks:
A couple of years ago, Green Giant Vegetable Steamers hit the market. There was a $1/1 coupon released in addition to several fantastic store sales. Albertsons had the Steamers on sale for $1. Obviously, every couponer in Portland ran to their local Albertsons and stores were cleaned out within a couple of days.
On the last day of the sale, my husband and I both hit a couple of Albertsons, looking for the elusive Steamers. I had (4) $1/1 coupons in my hand. Because the stores were out and the sale was not a “while supplies last” sale, we asked for rainchecks. The cashier asked each of us what quantity we wanted listed on the raincheck. I could have said “4” since that’s how many coupons I had. Instead, I asked for “20” and my husband asked for “30.”
Since our rainchecks expired in 30 days, we just bought ourselves 30 days to get more coupons from friends and family. We spent the next 3 weeks stocking up on vegetables as a leisurely pace.
The moral of the story? Don’t get discouraged when your store is out of a hot sale item. It’s an opportunity to save even more with a raincheck (or several rainchecks!), especially if you have a lot of coupons. You get to fill your pantry (or freezer) and you’re not contributing to the frustrating “someone cleared the shelves” situation. Win-win for everyone!
Read more from The Ultimate Guide to Couponing in the Northwest here.
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I’ve never asked for a rain check before…going to have to start.
I was wondering if anyone else has not been able to get a rain check at Wal-mart? Is this a store policy not to give rain checks?
Hello Angela,
So I was super excited last night when I got a raincheck (since I had read this post!) for 20 bottles of the Palmolive dishsoap that was 2/$4 and I have $1/1 coupons so with doublers will be free. Sounds like doublers will be here again sunday. But on my way home I thot ok, how does this work for me to buy 20?! When I’ll only technically be able to buy 9 per trip with doublers. Can you please email me to explain how I get all 20 of my soaps at this great price? I got it at Salmon Creek Albies, will they make me surrender my rain check or just rewrite the quantity each time? I also got one for the hot dogs and one at SW for the kids yogurt that was one coupon for 1.77. I’d like to know how this actually works as I should be ordering my coupons;) Thanks SO MUCH!! For teaching all of us!
PS Just a thot …wondered if you all that have sites maybe could do posts on the Etiquette of Couponing for those that seem to lose their manners at times making it more difficult for all the rest of us that would like to have some fun couponing while feeding our families. I agree with Stepanie that we all want to get a good deal – but I belive 60 cans of fruit cocktail in one trip is way excessive! Which I’m sure you do too! There’s no need to clear shelves, maybe the lady did a special order. If she didn’t, she should have;) The girl at customer service last night didn’t have a problem giving me three sets of doublers from her drawer but she did tell me they have to keep them all back there because there were people coming in who would literally TAKE THE WHOLE STACK of them!!! WOW!! Where is some people’s common sense and common courtesy? I guess even a post on Etiquette prob isn’t gonna reach this type of person either but maybe it’ll make a few of them think about what they do – “Use your coupons right and legitimatly and don’t make our stores irritated at couponers!!! Some of us actually need to do this in this economy and what a bonus that it’s so fun! Please don’t ruin it for everyone else!!!” Thanks for letting me get that off my chest;)
I’d love an email explaining how the rain checks work. And also everyone I encountered at the Salmon Creek Alb last night were SO PLEASANT!!! Made my trip all the more fun:)
jmwsaves {at} gmail {dot} com
60 cans of fruit cocktail is excessive (that’s a 2 month supply if she eats per day), but 20 bottles of dishsoap is not excessive (that’d last my family of four 10 years)? Just a thought…
I recently started following different blogs and getting in on deals for my family for products we use already or would like to try. I “cleared” a shelf of Scott bathroom tissue at Rite Aid this week, but when you consider the shelf only holds 8, whose fault is it that its empty? They advertise incredible deals so they should expect that people are going to take them up on the offers. I purchased 5 – 12 packs of tissue and 2 boxes of Kleenex for $8.30 out the door for items my family will use up in no time and I don’t feel bad or like a hoarder!
What happened to the Walgreens Catalina Lesson? It is not listed in the links at the bottom of the post.
I’ll check with Angela to see where it’s linked to, but in the meantime, here’s the store guide.
http://www.frugallivingnw.com/walgreens-store-guide/
I have gotten a few rain checks for some sale items, and by the time the stores got stock back in, my coupons had expired. It is frustrating to know that you HAVE to go to some stores the morning of a sale to get the good deal. I guess the rain checks are a gamble. Depending on which store you get the rain checks from, they may or may not get the items back in stock before your coupons expire.
P.S. If a person has a reasonable amount of food why in this world would you hoard, I was in line a woman had about 60 cans of fruit cocktail she bragged about them all being free, it was just her in her household..someone asked her if she gave food to the poor, she said no I am poor how could 60 cans of fruit cocktail constitute a balanced diet???? I see it all the time, ridiculous you would have to eat a can of that each day, I doubt she does that..wiped out any kind of fruit cocktail for anyone else..so your site should help people to get a little of the bargains not for the hoarders which of course there seem to be an enormouse amount of people doing that shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t know of anyone associated with this blog who would condone this behavior. Yes, we do get free items – because we work at it! And this woman probably wasn’t planning on eating only fruit cocktail. It certainly isn’t going to go bad and she will be able to eat it whenever she wants because she got it at such a great price.
Please don’t get upset that people utilize the sales and coupons that companies offer in an effort to save money over the long haul.
Hope your experiences in the future are better!
Blessings to you,
Stephanie
That is all fine and well if you have the time to go to the store and actually get the item before the date on the raincheck, even at that when Purex detergent was on a uber sale at freds, they never got the product back into the store in time to get the detergent for free minus the tax here where I live, I quit doing that unless I am positive the store will get the item in before 30 days as in Safeway, they are great about honoring the item sometimes substituting a better size for the deal, otherwise you are so out of luck for people who hoard shop which to me is a lot of people these days, they don’t let anyone else get any deals, they just shop and hoard, bad bad bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I benefitted today from a similar scenario. Albertson’s had their Tony’s Crispy Crust pizzas on sale 4/$5 a few weeks back and I was bummed when they sold out. However, today I came back with both my $1/2 coupons and was able to use doublers! My $.75 pizzas turned into $.25 pizzas!
Impressive. I hope store policies will change to make these sort of transactions easier on their cashiers… (maybe consider tipping a good cashier. I don’t think it defeats the point.)
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Same question as LaDessa, you say you stocked up at a “leisurely pace”, did they not make you redeem the entire raincheck at once? did you just buy what was in stock and then ask for another raincheck? if so, is that a standard practice?
Keep on wirintg and chugging away!
At Salmon Creek Albertsons you can only get the rainchecks at the service counter. The rainchecks are good for 30 days at Albertsons and Safeway’s rainchecks are good for 90 days.
Ok this is where I get confused- Do you have to buy the quantity listed on the raincheck all at once? Also, if you get a raincheck for 10 items, but need to do them in a few transactions to use doubles, how does that work best??
@ LaDessa & Jessica: You don’t have to buy as many as the quantity on the raincheck says, BUT, in my experience, you often have to surrender your raincheck when you use it no matter if you bought up to the quantity or not. Some places (like Riteaid) let you keep the rain check until you have exhausted the quantity and just change the quantity on the raincheck by hand. I’m not really sure how prevalent or consistent that policy is, though. HTH
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