Some time ago I signed up for the Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts from the FDA – talk about buzz kill. The sheer volume of voluntary recalls is numbing – most of them are companies and products I’ve never heard of, but this one from today is definitely not good:
Google is opening up their Google Shopping Express (same day delivery service) as a test to select users in San Francisco and the Peninsula from San Mateo to San Jose. Current participating retailers include Target, Walgreens, Staples, American Eagle, TRU and BRU, Office Depot, Blue Bottle Coffee, Raley’s Nob Hill Foods and Palo Alto Toy & Sport.
Early testers get six months of free, same day delivery with in-store pricing. Sign up using this link.
Here’s a little link I got from the Dreamfield’s Pasta people – a Risk Assessment for Type 2 Diabetes. A few short questions and you get a risk factor. For some reason, I’m looking good. lying must help (only kidding!).
Here’s the applicable section of the revised coupon policy as regards multiple purchases:
When purchasing multiple items, Walgreens accepts multiple identical coupons for multiple qualifying items as long as there is sufficient stock to satisfy other customers, unless a limit is specified. Management reserves the right to limit the quantity of items purchased. Customer and employee purchases of excessive quantities of advertised items is not permitted. An excessive quantity is any quantity above and beyond normal household usage.
I read about this last week and then promptly forgot about it – I mean, when was the last time the Walgreens warehouse actually had enough inventory to matter? And what constitutes a normal household? The Jersey Shore folks? The Duggars? Mom, Dad and their 2.5 kids? Then I got an email from a Walgreens employee who said the following
We just had a communication from corporate about it because stores are “ordering more than their forcasted amounts of sale merchandise” and according to our district manager “normal household usage” is considered 12. (this seems arbitrary because his store manager has set a lower amount).
This will have a HUGE negative impact on sales. It’s just unfortunate for the couponers, because I like you guys, and it does look good when are sales are up $10k+ for the DAY!
So there you have it. Btw, stores have always reserved the right to limit quantities – check out Jewel, CVS or any other large chain’s policies. So the question is will this be strictly enforced or not or followed for a short time. As it stands now, there are friendly Wags and Wags run by coupon nazis – we flock to one and avoid the other.
My take (admittedly a cynical one) is that manufacturers are upset over the amount of free merchandise they are providing us and Walgreens is attempting to placate them with this revision. Possible solutions (assuming they have deals where a quantity will even matter!) is to have multiple cards and use them in multiple stores across a couple of districts. Obviously this won’t work in a place with only one or two Walgreens, although I don’t suggest moving just yet. And the Walgreen’s district maps are very, very weirdly drawn: The stores in Lisle belong to the same district as Wheaton, Bolingbrook and into Chicago. It’s not a huge district, just oddly drawn (a spike into Chicago? come on now), perhaps by off-season Republicans.
Hard to believe I haven’t smothered either PITA or FirstBorn long ago…
But the happiest of birthdays, notwithstanding the fact that you have me as a parental unit. And I chose this image ’cause PITA not only has blond hair, but a new pair of boots just like this! well, except for the fact that she’s a trifle “smaller” in some ways…if you catch my meaning, if you get my drift.
Loose seals or seams could result in product contamination by spoilage organisms or pathogens and lead to illness if consumed. There have been no reports to date of any illness associated with these products.
Bumble Bee initially announced the voluntary recall on Wednesday, March 6 after identifying an issue on a manufacturing line, which has been corrected. The company’s final assessment of all products affected with the recall include the following products with “best by” and code dates (click to see entire chart):
I’m lucky so far because I only bought EE chunk light; my Bumble Bee was all solid white albacore tuna in both oil and water…which will probably be their next recall…
By now you should have read or heard the negative reports on the antibacterial agent used in most of the liquid hand soaps – triclosan. I know I personally have avoided antibacterial stuff for years ’cause it didn’t make sense to kill all the bacteria on a surface because two seconds later there’d be more!
A reader was alarmed enough to contact Colgate Palmolive (800 255 7552) about her three small bottles and gallon-size refill of Soft Soap to see if they were doing anything about replacing them. After giving the UPC and lot numbers, they are sending her 3 replacement coupons and a check for $4 to cover the gallon refill.
She also took two bottles of Dial liquid soap with Triclosan back to Walgreens where she’d purchased them, and Walgreens replaced them with two other products.
I talked to Osco and they have received no communication from manufacturers about voluntary recalls or procedures for same. The asst mgr is going to check with his contacts; I’ll post back if I hear anything.
Reader just grabbed an Epson printer/fax/copier/scanner – originally $1,000! – for $51.50! YES! Even she couldn’t believe the tag and asked the sales guy if it was legit. He said, yes, and if he didn’t already have a printer, he’d grab it.
So if you’re in the vicinity of a Staples store, make sure you stop and ask. Get your four free reams of paper this week and order your cheap ink cartridges from ComboInk and you’ll be set for a couple of years of great couponing deals! And ComboInk guarantees their cartridges for one full year, too! Right now they’re holding a 15% off sale, too, but seriously, how cheap can they sell this stuff?!
Loads and loads of coupons expired 12/31/12, so use that handy-dandy insert checker on the right sidebar to know just when to toss those suckers. I used to make the recycling guy groan from the sheer volume of paper, but now I trot them over to the library’s recycling container and know that they will be earning $$ for them. Who says no one takes expired coupons any more?