What’s the current coupon policy at Albertson’s? Unfortunately, that is not an easy question to answer. Unlike many other grocery stores, the Albertson’s website does not make the store’s coupon policy very clear. You may be stuck guessing about what, exactly they will and will not accept.
Many stores use a loyalty card program that offers special discounts to customers (that cannot be accessed by people who don’t have the card). Some stores have started allowing customers to upload digital coupons from the store’s website directly to their loyalty card.
That’s not the situation at Albertsons. As you may recall, Albertsons dropped its Preferred Card in June of 2013. At the time, the store said the reason for doing so was, basically, because every store had a loyalty card, and it wasn’t so “special” anymore.
Instead, Albertsons decided to open the special prices that only the loyalty card members received to everyone. No one needs a card to get those deals. I think their idea was to lower their prices, all across the store, in the way that having the Preferred Card used to do for those who signed up for the card.
So, we know that it is impossible to download digital coupons onto the Preferred Card that Albertsons no longer uses. What about other coupons? That is a bit unclear. If you visit the Albertsons website and look at their coupon policy you will see that it doesn’t say very much. Here is the key point:
We want to offer all of our customers the best deals every week, and that means marketing EACH store as if it were our only store. Your local Albertsons is the best, most accurate source of information for using coupons. Our coupon guidelines are available at the register in every Albertsons store. We don’t have a blanket policy that fits every store and every market area, because your store, just like your community, is unique. Even our weekly ads are specific to your store.
That’s rather frustrating! In short, it means that there isn’t any way to know ahead of time if the Albertsons closest to you will accept the coupons that you want to use. It also means that, since the coupon guidelines are available at the registers, you won’t be able to find out what their coupon policy is until you are at the point where you are ready to make your purchase.
It also means that if you figure out what the coupon policy of your local Albertsons happens to be, there is no guarantee that the one in the next town will have the same policy. Coupon policies, for all stores, can change at any time, which adds even more confusion to this situation.
Image by Kimco Realty on Flickr.