Safeway’s Just4U coupons can be confusing. In reality, however, the same rules that apply to paper coupons, apply to the Just4U digital coupons.
- You cannot stack manufacturer’s coupons (use more than one coupon on the item(s) intended)
- You can stack a store coupon with a manufacturer’s coupon
This can get tricky because it is hard to know which of these coupons is a store coupon. If you pay close attention to the wording in red on the Just4U site, you can figure out what type of coupon you are dealing with.
The above rug doctor coupon is a store coupon. You know this because the coupon says “$5 OFF”. The key word here is “OFF”. Usually these coupons can only be used in one transaction, but will come off for every item you purchase. For example, if you rented two rug doctors, you would get $10 off. However, this particular coupon states a limit. So in this case you can only use one coupon.
The Glad Trash Bag coupon is also a store coupon. This coupon states a price and then says “EACH” after the price. These are much like the store coupons in the ad. They usually keep you from having to remember to clip the said coupons.
You can stack a manufacturer’s coupon with the above examples because they are both store coupons.
UPDATE: The above is true when a coupon says “OFF” except for P&G coupons which also say “$ OFF”. (Thanks, DK. I had not learned this yet!)
This Ben & Jerry’s coupon is a manufacturer’s coupon. The wording in red says “SAVE $2.50”. The keyword here is “SAVE.” If you try to stack a manufacturer’s coupon with this coupon, the register will beep prompting the checker keep you from stacking two coupons.
Read more about Safeway’s Just4U program here.
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Sorry if I missed this in a comment above but is there any documentation on this so we can have it for “backup” if needed with the cashier or customer service? Thanks!
I just saved about $60 (45%) at my local Safeway. I stacked printed coupons with the just 4 u coupons and some coupons that come in the mail. I didn’t have any doublers on hand.
One thing that I haven’t seen in print is that Safeway (Tigard/King City) has a store limit of 8 on the items that do not list it. I asked a manager before I checked out.
Example:
Swiss Miss cocoa $2.99 each ($23.92 for 8)
Sale w/card $2 each
J4u Ecoupon $.71 off (says one time use, expires today) no limit mentioned
So I bought 8 for $10.32 total.
So I think that I could have used 8 paper coupons (printed and/or newspaper) stacked on top of this deal. I didn’t have any though. Bummer.
I was able to stack a manufacturer’s coupon with the card savings sale and the one time use coupon from j4u (limit of 1) for a quart of Int’l Delight creamer.
Cat,
Good to see other couponers in king city. Last week I had 2 of the $10 off /$50. I picked up $50 in king city, used all my coupons and came out at $37.55. The i went to sherwood and got my other $50 and after coupons I came out at $29.25. So I spent $67. My savings at one store (with store discounts and coupons) was about 45%. The other store was 67%. Awesome deals.
Let me know if you want to meet a fellow couponer. Maybe you can use some of mine that I don’t.
BTW, I started using a shopping cart app, so i know what my total before coupons is. Then i know when i reach $50. And i know if my receipt may not be right.
I said emailed customer service to clarify this and this is the answer I got:
Ms. Huapaya:
Thank you for your recent follow up correspondence.
Most offers in the Personalized Deals are going to be store coupons and most offers in the Coupon Center are going to be manufacturer coupons.
To clarify, ANY offer that have a specific set amount (Apple Juice for $2.49 each) is a store coupon. ANY offer that has an amount OFF (Apple Juice $1.50 OFF) is a manufacturer coupon.
We hope this information is useful and clears up any confusion. Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience you have experienced. Your comments are important to us and will be directed to our Marketing Department for further review. Thank you for your time and patience.
Just wanted to share this with you guys.
I wish they would just say “manufacturer coupon” on the e-coupons that are offered on the Safeway website. It would make is so much easier. I think it should be done, no matter who the manufacturer is, P&G or other. We would all be saved a little grief over trying to figure out how to make our deals work on our store trips.
Just wanted to add my ‘2 bits’. Today at Safeway I was able to use both a ‘save $’ and a ‘$ off’ ecoupons and stack them with a manuf. coupon. Then I tried a different ‘$ off’ ecoupon, and when I tried using a paper manuf. coupon, it beeped, and I was unable to use it because the cashier said ‘ you already used the ecoupon’. So… I
can safely say that the ‘off’ and ‘save’ wording is not 100% accurate.
Good luck to all!
I loaded a $3.00 off two Starbucks coffee bags to my card-Can I use two $1.50 manufacturers coupons to that purchase also??
Jim
Jim,
I don’t have the same $3/2 coupon on my account so I can’t say if it’s a store or manufacturer coupon. However if the digital coupon is worded exactly like you have it “$3.00 off 2 Starbucks”, then I would assume it’s a store coupon and you could stack your paper manufacturer coupons with it. If it states, “Save $3.00 off 2” then I would assume it is a manufacturer coupon and you wouldn’t be able to stack your paper coupons with it.
Another idea would be to have the cashier ring up the items and see if all of the coupons came off correctly before you pay.
In addition to Howard’s comment about loading e coupons to his card versus clipping out paper coupon (ie ss,p&G,rp ect..) you can always check which has the better deal..takes more time. If it’s a good deal and you have only a couple clipped out coupons you may want to load the e coupon, for additional savings or save your clipped manufacture coupon for another store that may also have a good deal.
Great points. But remember that some of these deals are good only on one item and some are unlimited. (That’s what Safeway corporate wrote to me recently.) When I complete my Ph.D., I might be able to figure out which are which.
Thanks-I was avoiding this for a long time-took too much thought,
but after reading this-I looked at the just4U & I can see the store brands-like Open Nature bread & roasted chicken do say OFF-also
items they give you a certain % OFF on. These obviously are store
savings.
Now to figure out the SAVE-a little more tricky. P&G items do say this-but also sometimes other non-store brands-I will have to cautiously try this a few times & see what happens.
I always use the self check to see how my coupons are deducted. If you scan a paper mfr. coupon while a mrf. e-cpn was already deducted. The e-cpn gets cancelled. Sometimes I prefer the paper ones if it’s higher value or so I can double it.
Doaa,
This has happened to me a few times at the regular checkstands. When none of my paper coupons beep I assume that everythng went according to plan only to discover that the e-coupons I expected did not come off.
Thanks for this info; I thought it was the other way around (an e-cpn would prevent a paper cpn from scanning, and therefore prevent a doubler too). For now, I am not downloading anything for which I have a paper cpn, just to be safe.
Well I am going to have the million dollar question tomorrow. I just walked out of Safeway after getting annoyed at the cashier and couldn’t take her anymore. Than it dawned on me that even though I didn’t cash out she ran my j4u coupons. Now I am concerned if I will be able to get those off again being one time only coupons. I guess I will see if I screwed up and should have stayed around and dealt with her for cheap muffins.
Stacy,
That is an interesting question, please let us know what you find out. I’m sorry you had such a rotten experience with the cashier.
They were at least nice and gave me a $10 gift card for my troubles. I have had so many issues with the cashiers at that store.
It did work luckily. The one time only deals if you run your card but don’t cash out. They will still be there for next time. My issue today though was the $5 deals saved to my card didn’t come off. I had to get the soda adjusted.
Oh good, I’m glad it worked out for you and they were able to help you out.
I basically have quit shopping at Safeway because of the hassle of needing to figure out and understand all the rules they have. It just isn’t worth it to me. Winco has become much more appealing to me recently – simple, straight- forward pricing and I can use whatever coupons I have in my hand!!
Thank you so much for this information!
I’m not usually one for conspiracy theories, but I can’t help but wonder if part of this is planned on Safeway s part. With no one sure what coupons will come off or how many times I feel like my deals are more of a crap shoot. A deal MIGHT be really good (enough to buy multiples) or might be so so but your never sure until your at the register (and for me usually home to devote the time to looking over my receipt to figure out what just happened, lol) and by then either A) it worked out great but you can’t do more because it’s a one time useor B) didn’t work as planned…And do I REALLY want to go back to town to save a couple bucks?
Aside from the lack of planning I’ve noticed some deals have worked in my favor and some in Safeway s. They rarely go as predicted for me. Oh well. Adds excitement I guess.
Lindsey,
I’ve thought the same thing at times. I’ve never been a lucky person so I’d rather not gamble at my savings! More likely, they are still figuring things out as the new program goes on. Hopefully, they will clear things up soon or they will be losing customers who are just too fed up with everything.
One thing you can try with the “one-time use” coupons: Have the cashier scan them one at a time, slowly, to see if multiples will show up on the register screen at the coupon price. I did this a couple weeks ago with Hormel lunchmeats, and once the 2nd one went through at 79 cents, I had her add the other 8 I’d put in the cart.
It did not work with the frozen Van de Kamp fish, so I bought only 1.
That’s a good idea!
Next time I’m questioning a sale, I’ll be sure to try it out.
I really appreciate this information as I was really starting to wonder. I WILL definitely go back in with my receipts when I’m over-charged on the price, or when my J4U deals didn’t ring up. I have found some big errors before. One time I bought 8 Lunchables that were supposed to be really cheap on my J4U list ($1.79 I think), plus I had $1/2 coupons and 4 doublers x $0.50, so they should have come out about $1.04 each. Well instead they rang up full price, which over-charged me by $16! I missed it during checkout thanks to kids and several other items in my cart, but it was well worth it to take the receipt and my J4U savings list on my email from that day. My Safeway has awesome customer service, so they fix it with a smile every time there’s a register glitch or boo-boo. 🙂
So next time leave your kids at home with a bowl of frosting and some spoons. They won’t get into too much trouble, and you’ll spend less $$ on stuff they nag you about! Or bring them with you and offer them as payment for your groceries. (I’ve tried that, though, and it doesn’t work.)
I think the whole key here, for me anyway, is to PRINT THE LIST OUT. Then if you have any trouble with things not ringing up the way we expect, you have proof of what you loaded. I just experienced this on Friday with the Safeway juice Personalized Price of $1.38 and the $1.00 Off coupon. There were no limits posted when I loaded them to my card and printed my list on Thursday but when I bought them it only gave me the Personalized Price for 2. I had my printed list and they gave me the money back and then later that day Safeway corrected the offer to Limit 2. My SIL did the same . thing but did not have her list printed out and when they looked up her Just4U in the store it showed Limit 2 so she had no grounds to argue. You can load the offers in the store and print your list right there if you don’t have a printer, can’t afford the ink, or the paper. Use Safeway’s, HTH
Was this for the apple juice? This happened to me! I saw the deal and planned to go on my lunch break. There weren’t any limits on it (and I didn’t have it printed) and when i got to the checkout it didn’t ring up right. When I looked on my phone, it said limit 2 per day, but I could only use the $1.00 of coupon once. It was lame.
What do you mean by “Use Safeway’s, HTH”
For what it’s worth, here is the answer I got from Safeway last week. It did not answer all my specific questions.
Mr. Groopman:
Thank you for your reply regarding our coupon policy.
You are able to stack manufacturer coupons with the Personalized Deals. Please note that some coupons have an amount of products limit, the Hormel for example did not have a limit but the Van de Camps offer did. It does not matter if the product is a national brand or a Safeway brand product.
We appreciate the time you have taken to provide additional feedback on this issue, and we can certainly understand your concern. Your comments are important to us and will be directed to our Marketing Department for review and corrective action.
Mr. Groopman, should you require further assistance, you may reply to this email or phone us at 1-877-723-3929 and reference Contact ID 22648990. One of our associates will be happy to assist you.
Thank you for shopping at Safeway.
Sincerely,
Safeway Customer Service Team
–Original Message–
Thank you for your reply. This regards Contact ID 22648990.
Your attached coupon policy did not answer my specific questions, which are at the very bottom of this page. Those of us who subscribe to frugallivingnw.com are keenly interested in doing the right thing and being consistent. This is not possible without a concrete response and policy.
Again, if a J4U item is listed/downloaded for $2.49, may we add a mfr cpn/doubler to it?
If the offer is a “Save $…” or a “$… cents off” product, may a coupon/doubler be stacked with it?
Does it matter if it is a Safeway brand or a national brand?
Additionally, some of the J4U deals state “One-time use.” Last week I was able to buy 10 Hormel lunchmeats that had a $1 one-time use cpn, and had no problem. Today, however, I attempted to buy two Van de Kamp frozen fish boxes using a $1 one-time use cpn, and only one dollar was subtracted. This appears to be inconsistent policy.
I hope they provide a better response to your questions, thanks for inquiring about it. I think you made the perfect point about this whole mess. It’s not like we are trying to find loopholes around their program, we just want to take advantage of all the savings we are able to.
This is a very rough estimate on how to tell the difference. There are exceptions to these rules, such as:
– P&G Qs
– “Save $x” Qs on Safeway products, can be tricky to tell due to branding under names like “Organics O”, “Open Nature”, etc.
– Qs that have neither “Save $x” or “$x OFF”, such as “FREE”, “BOGO”, etc.
This post is definitely a good starting point to learning the intricacies of Safeway shopping, but try not to get too frustrated if you run into exceptions.
May I ask where you got this information? Was it directly from Safeway Corporate?
This is just from trail and error. It is definitely subject to change.
*trial
Since they have a tab for Personal Deals and a Tab for Coupons. Couldnt they just have a Tab for Store Coupons and a tab for Manufacturor Coupons. Duh, would be so easy then. If I saw a Personal deal on $4.99 Widgets, and under Store Coupons $1.00 off Widgets. Then I found my newspaper had a $1 coupon on Widgets…then I would pay $4.99-$1-$1-$0.50 (doubler) $2.49 for my Widget that might normally be…$5.99.
🙂
I love that idea and hope they will make their site more user-friendly.
When the manager checked me out at my Safeway, she asked how I liked this new program. I told her that I liked it except for keeping track of everything. She then asked, “You mean figuring out what is a manufacturer’s coupon and which are store coupons?” So Safeway is obviously aware of this. Maybe they will make a change to make it even more clear on their site. I hope so.
Also our local Safeway here in Salem, OR will not let you use a doubler on printed coupons.
Is that the one on Lancaster? I don’t even try. I don’t think they are the friendliest Safeway in the world!
Wow. Okay, I want to make sure I understand before I run to Safeway and grab 2 Cascade dishwasher detergent. I have a $3.99 each, limit 2 and also have a $1.00 off any Cascade, one-time (no mention of limit so should work on 2 – expires Saturday) and I have 2 sunday paper $1.00 off P&G expire 9/30 which can be doubled. So, if I’m following correct, $2.98 for both Cascades?
Laura,
Pleaes see DK’s note above. In my experience the P&G coupons are the exception to this. I don’t believe you will be able to stack the manufacturer coupon with this transaction.
Weird. I had no idea you had to watch sunday paper coupons for the word “off” vs “save” Well, I’ll try it and see what happens. Worst case, I return the detergent if do not like the final outcome. Thanks for the warning and posting all of these great tips.
I think they are pointing out that this comparison in verbiage (“OFF” vs. “SAVE”), is ONLY applicable to the Just4U program with Safeway, since the digital coupons don’t have all the text that paper coupons do, noting “Store” coupon or “Manufacturer” coupon. So if I understand this right, paper coupons have not changed. I just need to pay closer attention to the words on the J4U deals so I can maximize my savings. And it sounds like I can stack a printed cents/dollars off coupon from the paper/internet, WITH a cents/dollars off J4U digital coupon, as long as I’m not looking at a P&G product. Am I right?
Based on what was written in this article, you cannot add a paper/internet cpn to ANY J4U cpn that reads “SAVE $…” OR to any of the P&G J4U cpns.
As noted by others, Cascade is a P&G product and, as I understand it, you cannot remove the $1 cpn from your card and try to replace it with a $1 newspaper cpn and a doubler. P&G repeats their monthly newspaper cpns all over the internet, not just on J4U–they’re at coupons.com and I think sometimes at bettycrocker.com and its affiliated sites. I rarely use a P&G cpn at Safeway, but if I did I’d use the newspaper one which can be doubled and not the online/J4U ones which most Safeways won’t double.
Thanks for posting this, it is very helpful!
I have removed deals and coupons from a list using the button on the list. Are they still there, just not showing?
As someone explained a couple months ago, you can remove items from the list, but NOT from your Club card. In fact, when I go back to the J4U page, it will tell me that something is on my card and asks me if I want to add it (back) to my savings list. So I rarely download anything to my card for which I have a paper cpn that I can double.
I may rethink part of that once I am confident I can tell the difference between store and mfr cpns.
You are brilliant! Thanks for making it sound so simple. I will be sharing on my FB wall.
I agree with your post, but be careful. The P&G coupons are an exception. They also use the “Off” wording.
DK,
I found this out also. The P&G coupons – no matter what they say are manufacturer coupons. I’ve tried several times on different product and have yet to be successful.
Thank you for mentioning this.
Finally someone figured this out! Thank you.
still too confusing
Ah, that seems so simple how come I couldn’t figure that out??
Thanks for the helpful tips!