Am I missing something (coupon usage)?

[sam_gordon]

Found DS(7) a Star Wars poster this weekend as a Christmas Gift. DW & I decide we want to frame it and it can go in his room. So I stopped in Michaels yesterday to see what kind of cost we're looking at... found a frame in the right size (24 x 36) listed for $30 and had a sign saying "40% off all poster frames" (or something like that... 40% off).

So just for the heck of it, I check today for any coupons and I find one for "25% Off Regular & Sale. Entire purchase Wall & Tabletop Frames, Framed Art & Display Cases. Valid Sunday, December 18, 2011 through Saturday, December 24, 2011".

I don't see anything in the fine print that would eliminate the frame, so I should end up with...
$30 (original price) - 40% off sale = $18 - 25% coupon = $13.50 final price?

If for some reason this coupon won't work, they also have one for 50% Off Any Regular price item good from Thursday to Saturday. So I wait a couple days and get it for $15.

Can I be missing something?

 

[ccgirl]

Found DS(7) a Star Wars poster this weekend as a Christmas Gift. DW & I decide we want to frame it and it can go in his room. So I stopped in Michaels yesterday to see what kind of cost we're looking at... found a frame in the right size (24 x 36) listed for $30 and had a sign saying "40% off all poster frames" (or something like that... 40% off).

So just for the heck of it, I check today for any coupons and I find one for "25% Off Regular & Sale. Entire purchase Wall & Tabletop Frames, Framed Art & Display Cases. Valid Sunday, December 18, 2011 through Saturday, December 24, 2011".

I don't see anything in the fine print that would eliminate the frame, so I should end up with...
$30 (original price) - 40% off sale = $18 - 25% coupon = $13.50 final price?

If for some reason this coupon won't work, they also have one for 50% Off Any Regular price item good from Thursday to Saturday. So I wait a couple days and get it for $15.

Can I be missing something?

Usually their coupons say, "not valid on previous merchandise." Also, the 50% off coupon is for any regular (not sale) prcie item. So, once it is on sale the 50% can't be used.

Hope this helps.

ETA: just read the 25% off coupon and it does read, not valid on prior purchases, cannot be combined with any other coupon, offer, or discount.

 

[sam_gordon]

They do (say not available on previous purchases), but I didn't buy one yesterday... just wanted to find out how much they were.

 

[Plumeria9]

Even if you did buy it yesterday, just buy it again and return it and get the better deal! I do it all the time.

 

[Sorsha]

This happens all the time at JoAnn's (where I work). There is always at least one coupon in effect from week to week, and 90% of the time that coupon is for "regular priced items only" and is about 40-50% off. So you could NOT use that coupon on a sale item. Very rarely, a coupon comes out that can be used on a sale-priced item, but the percentage off on those coupons is usually very low (20-30%off). You can NEVER double stack coupons.

Now in the case of your poster frame, you are correct. Buying it now, at the sale price, and using the sale-priced item coupon, would be the better price. And yes, you can also wait and use the 50% off regular price items coupon later, and pay not too much more.

BUT a new ad gets set every week. So what if, later on, the poster frame is on sale, but only for 25% off? Now a $30 poster frame will cost you $22.50 AND you can't use the coupon on it, because the one good on sale-priced items has expired, and the other one can't be used if the item is already on sale. Its a bit of a gamble to wait, and assume that the item will be full priced when you want to use the coupon.

At Joann's, at any given time, nearly 75% of the store is on sale, and the things that aren't are the things that no one really wants to buy anyway. It kind of forces people to use those "no sale-priced items" coupons on things they wouldn't normally buy. Or, if it is something lots of people buy all the time (scrapbooking supplies, magazines, etc) they are ALWAYS on sale (every week, month after month) but always at a lower percentage than the coupon (usually 10-25% off) - not only can you NEVER use a coupon on these kinds of items, but if you waited for them to be "not on sale' you'd never buy them. Forces the profit margin up on high demand items, even if they are "on sale".

So I would say buy your poster frame now at the cheaper price. Not only are those coupons that can be used on sale-priced items pretty rare, but you are gambling that the frame won't still be on sale anyway next time, when your coupon won't work on a sale item.

ETA: Just because people always ask, not that you did. When an item is on sale, we cannot manually change the price back to the higher regular price and then use a "regular price only" coupon on it anyway. The computers won't let us. If its on sale, its on sale. If Michaels ads run the same schedule as JoAnn's ads, the frame will be the same price until Dec 24th (on sale and not eligible for that "50% off regular price items" coupon), which is when we change prices for the next add. By the time it is not on sale, your coupon will be dead anyhow. But there will probably be a new one available.

 

[sam_gordon]

This happens all the time at JoAnn's (where I work). There is always at least one coupon in effect from week to week, and 90% of the time that coupon is for "regular priced items only" and is about 40-50% off. So you could NOT use that coupon on a sale item. Very rarely, a coupon comes out that can be used on a sale-priced item, but the percentage off on those coupons is usually very low (20-30%off). You can NEVER double stack coupons.

Now in the case of your poster frame, you are correct. Buying it now, at the sale price, and using the sale-priced item coupon, would be the better price. And yes, you can also wait and use the 50% off regular price items coupon later, and pay not too much more.

BUT a new ad gets set every week. So what if, later on, the poster frame is on sale, but only for 25% off? Now a $30 poster frame will cost you $22.50 AND you can't use the coupon on it, because the one good on sale-priced items has expired, and the other one can't be used if the item is already on sale. Its a bit of a gamble to wait, and assume that the item will be full priced when you want to use the coupon.

At Joann's, at any given time, nearly 75% of the store is on sale, and the things that aren't are the things that no one really wants to buy anyway. It kind of forces people to use those "no sale-priced items" coupons on things they wouldn't normally buy. Or, if it is something lots of people buy all the time (scrapbooking supplies, magazines, etc) they are ALWAYS on sale (every week, month after month) but always at a lower percentage than the coupon (usually 10-25% off) - not only can you NEVER use a coupon on these kinds of items, but if you waited for them to be "not on sale' you'd never buy them. Forces the profit margin up on high demand items, even if they are "on sale".

So I would say buy your poster frame now at the cheaper price. Not only are those coupons that can be used on sale-priced items pretty rare, but you are gambling that the frame won't still be on sale anyway next time, when your coupon won't work on a sale item.

ETA: Just because people always ask, not that you did. When an item is on sale, we cannot manually change the price back to the higher regular price and then use a "regular price only" coupon on it anyway. The computers won't let us. If its on sale, its on sale. If Michaels ads run the same schedule as JoAnn's ads, the frame will be the same price until Dec 24th (on sale and not eligible for that "50% off regular price items" coupon), which is when we change prices for the next add. By the time it is not on sale, your coupon will be dead anyhow. But there will probably be a new one available.

Thanks for the tips! We got the poster for $10, so getting the frame for <$15 (IMO) is a pretty good deal. And it will look great in his room!