Bloom - A Near Disaster

Ladies and gentlemen, do not go to Bloom for these triple coupon days, or if you do, bring as many people as you can with you so you can do several transactions and not run into the issues that I did.

I perused the store and found quite a few things that made the triple coupons worth it and when I got to the cashier, I mentioned that I understood that the triple coupons had a limit of 5 and if I could do 2 separate transactions. She said sure, so I handed her five coupons with some items and grouped the 2nd transaction on the belt which she proceeded to scan anyway! "Oh", she said, "it won't be a problem". I really shouldn't have believed her because once she hit the 5 limit, the coupons scanned but did not triple, so she calls her manager over. The manager said, "you can only use 5 coupons" and I replied, "I know. When I asked if I could do 2 separate transactions she said yes but then she scanned them all". "Oh" said the manager, "you'll have to void the transaction and do it again".

So at this point a line had formed behind me and I was apologetic to the other customers but at this point was pretty annoyed at both the cashier and her manager. So they void the purchase, group the items/coupons as I had done previously and started scanning away. The first transaction goes fairly smoothly, the 2nd however is another story. The coupons failed to triple. The manager tried enter them manually but then accidentally charged me the couple tripled amount and then would take it away - 5 times. At this point I had been standing at the register for a good 15 minutes. Just so you can get a feel, I only purchased 19 items.

Then the manager walks away for a few minutes and returns with her manager who is able to ring the other coupons through and have them triple.

Exasperated, I leave the store. Even though I got a good deal, I would not recommend going today or tomorrow unless you physically (with multiple people) do separate transactions so not to run into this issue.

Anyway, this is what I got:

Transaction #1:
2 Welch Squeezables jams (strawberry & grape)
2 boxes Chex Mix chocolate bars
1 box Hot Pocket Panini
1 box Nature Valley variety granola bars
1 gallon skim milk

Total after coupons: $9.88
(your savings: $11.25)

Transaction #2:
4 boxes of various shaped Bloom pasta (on sale .89 a box)
2 big bags of bloom frozen vegetables
1 Kikkoman Teriyaki sauce
2 Ortega taco mixes
1 package Land Lakes deli shaved turkey meat
2 cans select harvest campbells soup

Total after coupons: $7.32
(your savings: $12.67)

Total: $17.20

Running tally for this week: $57.39/$50 $7.39 over budget, but worth it, mostly