Here’s why coupons beep at the store

I was recently asked by a cashier, who was relatively new to the trade, to explain to her why coupons “beep” even though the item someone is buying matches the coupon perfectly. I sheepishly had to admit that I had no idea why this occurred, but assured her that I would find out for her. So, I wrote to some companies and asked some questions and so Terri, here is your answer.

Coupons “beep” for a variety of reasons.

One of the most common instances is when you use a coupon on a clearance item. Fred Meyer (the most notorious offender I’ve run into) system will always beep if you use a coupon on a clearance item, but it is legal to do so (you will run into cashiers who will tell you otherwise, but it’s simply not the case). The reason the coupon beeps is because when stores mark something down on clearance, most stores put a new “discount bar code” on the item for their inventory system. Thus, the bar code the coupon reads as the right bar code for the item will not be present, even though the item is. If you have a good cashier, he or she will know this and override the coupon for you. If you ever find a cashier who won’t (I can think of a few) ask to speak to management or head over to customer service afterward and have them apply the coupon for you. If you have bought the item on the coupon you are allowed to use the coupon on that item (unless it states “not to be used on clearance items” or something similar, however I’ve only run into that type of wording on store coupons).

Another reason coupons will beep (from what I understand) is because a company will have an item description put into its inventory system differently than a coupon will read it. For instance, if you are buying Pledge cleaner, but the store’s internal item description reads “furniture cleaner” a lot of times a coupon will get rejected by the system. Once again, if your coupon matches the item, a cashier should override it for you.

Yet another reason I was totally unaware of is that many times a company will change the packaging on an item (I ran into this issue recently with some free cleaner I was getting with a coupon). When the company puts an item into new packaging, it changes the bar code slightly to track the new packaging (to see improvements in sales, etc.). If the coupon is set to read the new packaging label and not the old one, the computer will reject the coupon or vice versa.

Coupons are wonderful things, but in many cases are a bit touchy. But, once you learn coupon behavior a little better, you’ll be better equipped to handle issues as they arise as you shop.

Erika Buswell runs a blog dedicated to coupons and deals in Alaska (alaskanbargainhunter.blogspot.com) and lives in Palmer with her husband and two children.