"Macy's employees (the only demographic which might have the time and knowledge to actually use this coupon) not eligible." FAIL!

Worst coupon ever.

Thank god the designer exclusions don't apply to outerwear departments! I was worried there for a minute!

I saw this in today's paper. Seriously. What is the point of issuing a coupon when it can't be used on 98% of the stuff in the store?

And I was going to go to Macys-- and here it is 12;27..

I think I'd have a better chance taking this coupon to Nordstrom.

Couldn't they make their fine print into a bar code?

Macy's coupons drive me nuts because of this, and yet that's where I do all my clothes shopping (which is about once or twice a year). Gotta love those 75% off racks!

Mass mail them back to Macys' headquarters. Should give them something to think about.

@aloe vera: Probably because most people won't take the time to read the disclaimer novel (heck, based on my experience as a designer, most people probably don't even SEE it!) and get in the car and head for Macy's. By the time they find out the coupon doesn't cover squat, they've already picked out something and have their heart set on it and buy it anyway.

At my last job they routinely passed out these coupons to employees as "perks" (in lieu of a raise!). I took one look at that disclaimer and from then on threw the coupons in the trash.

WOW.

@redskull:

If the store can get you to pick something up off the shelf, they're MUCH closer to making a sale. Once you've done that, a person considers the item "mine", and gives it a much higher value, and consequently will pay more for it.

And occasionally, I will find something in the kitchen area that doesn't seem to be excluded, only to find out as they're ringing me up that the coupon doesn't work. When I point out to the cashier that the item is not on the list of excluded items, her response is a vague and unhelpful, "I don't know why it doesn't work." My response is, "Then I'll pass." I usually don't have the energy to even ask to escalate it to a manager.

@aloe vera:

So they can say that Macy's is doing its part to help America recover?

I only shop @ Macy's during Friends and Family (20% off with very limited exclusions). I belive a Friends and Family event is coming up

Between this sort of thing and deliberately wrecking a piece of Chicago history, Macy's reputation must really be suffering these days.

I like "furniture (including Martha Stewart)." Ouch!

@Oligarch_GitEmSteveDave:
Already is there. The bar code is actually the fine print of the fine print.

"Valid from store opening until 1PM...cannot be used on morning specials"

@tinyhands:

Macy's sometimes runs morning specials (like on Black Friday). 25% off for first 200 customers, etc...

I feel so sorry for their employees having to deal with the ticked off customers who try to use it. Sure it may get people into the store but will they come back after feeling like they just wasted their time with it.

Aren't all their coupons like that?

Wouldn't it just be easier and less confusing to list what is eligible rather than what is not eligible? How ridiculous.

I still plan on buying a really nice comforter set and taking an additional $15 off of the price. It's nice to be one of their credit card customers at times.

Actually, I usually find with Macy's that, with a few exceptions, they'll honor the coupon even if they technically shouldn't. The mothership store in NYC seems a lot more willing to work the sale a bit to complete it.

Why is alcoholic beverages listed in the exclusions? Is there a macys that sells alcoholic beverages? Why dont they exclude aircraft, real estate and aliens while they are at it?

Allow me, the corporate shill, to chime in here.

Macy's carries a large number of both private label brands (in-house) and outside brands. Almost all of our agreements with outside vendors (think Dooney, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger) prevent us from offering certain kinds of discounts on those items. The manufacturers/designers include these stipulations on their contracts in an effort to preserve their brands as being "high value" and "luxury items", even when most consumers wouldn't necessarily include a certain brand in the "luxury" category.

You'll notice that Macy's coupons will NEVER exclude in-house brands like Charter Club.

Usually, jewelry and cosmetics are excluded because Macy's doesn't actually own those departments - they are leased to outside vendors like Lancome and Maybelline. So the women that spray you with perfume when you walk by aren't actually Macy's employees - they're hired by cosmetics companies who rent space in our stores. These vendors have similar clauses in their contracts that prevent us from offering coupons on their products - after all, they're the ones making the sales, not us. Truth be told, Macy's doesn't care an awful lot about how well they do, since we aren't paid commission on their sales - they lease at a standard monthly rate.

I promise you that we wish we didn't have to fill a coupon with exclusions this way. I really wish we could offer 10% of Dooney bags or CK jeans and undies - but the manufacturers won't let us. The coupons ARE valid on in-house products, and VERY RARELY are valid on outside products. But we all know that they're just designed to get you into the store, where we hope you'll see something else that you like.

It's true that some managers/floor reps don't pay attention to the exclusions and process the coupons anyway - in fact, I'd say that this is the majority case. But technically, it is against policy.

Actually, I usually find with Macy's that, with a few exceptions, they'll honor the coupon even if they technically shouldn't. The mothership store in NYC seems a lot more willing to work the sale a bit to complete it.

Agreed. And not only that, in my experience shopping there (which is a lot... I buy nearly everything from that store, simply because it's enormous and has just about everything), the clerks have quite a few times scanned an extra coupon they were keeping at the register for 20% when I didn't have one of my own.

I got one of these from Sears the other day, which excluded pretty much everything including the whole electronics and appliance departments, which are basically the only reason people go to Sears these days anyways. The coupon also excluded sale and clearance clothing, which is pretty much every article of clothing in the store, because Sears is an "everything is on sale" store for clothing. My mom and I were actually sitting there wondering what you could buy with the coupon.

I went in yesterday and they gave me the sale prices on a sheet set I wanted a day early and an additional 15% on top of that. I'm actually not sure why I got the extra 15%, but I wasn't going to argue. Went today to pick up a full set of Hotel Collection towels for less than a single towel would usually cost. That's why I always go back. I liked it better when we had the Bon Marche here, but the only place I ever had Macy's turn away a coupon was at the cosmetics counter. Otherwise, I usually get coupons on top of loyalty discounts on top of sales there.

@Carso: that's a BS answer. I can follow it to a point however why are ALL shoes and ALL electronics and basically ALL that i ever want to buy excluded? all shoes Macy's carries are prevented from being purchased with a coupon? i find that hard to believe because macy's carries many brands that i can get elsewhere with a coupon

On a related note, Macy's sells alcoholic beverages and has a restaurant? Not the ones in my town...

@Emily Burt: Usually they give me the 15% extra when I use my Macy's card, that's the only reason I have one.

@Carso: Then why not just have the coupons written up as, "$10 off all [x brand] products"? To write up a coupon with a tome of illegible exclusions is shady and deceptive. Sure, it's "get them in the store at any cost," but most customers see this as an unethical bait-and-switch practice and you'll doubtlessly lose more than a few purchases a few that way.

@bravo369: For electronics I'd guess it's because retailers make almost no markup on hardware, taking $10 would probably cause them to loose cash on the sale in a lot of cases. Doesn't apply to all hardware, but a considerable amount of it is sold at paper thin margins at some of these stores.

As for the shoes, beats me. Maybe a lot of the shoe brands have the same sort of contract and it's easier to say all shoes than to to start adding more exceptions to the coupon? I mean, it looks like they're pretty pressed for space up there already.

@bigroblee: The bigger ones do. Heck, the former Marshall Field's flagship store in Chicago has two restaurants - a food court and the historic Walnut Room.

With all those exclusions, I don't know if you could even find the required $25 dollars worth of sale/clearance items. Furthermore, wouldn't a sale be considered a special? Also, clearance items could be argued as being available at a special price, thus eliminating every single item in the store

@Ubik2501: It actually doesn't exclude ALL shoes; it excludes "bridge and designer" shoes, which are generally more expensive brands.

Still sucks that a lot of brands are excluded, but it is far from being all shoes.

@econobiker: The problem is that Macy*s has been doing this for years. It's not a new thing. Hence the reason I don't even look at their coupons. I am the kind of person that always looks for the gotchas in ads. So I learned a long time ago not to bother with their ads. If their price isn't good enough without a coupon, then I don't go there. And that's the same reason I don't buy stuff with rebates (and we all know how great those are).

Why is alcoholic beverages listed in the exclusions? Is there a macys that sells alcoholic beverages? Why dont they exclude aircraft, real estate and aliens while they are at it?

Herald Square. Honestly, you can't underestimate how huge that store is. They have a piano department there, for crying out loud.

Excludes specials and everyday values.

Doesn't that cover everything?

@corinthos:
You are correct. It does suck being an employee when there is a ton of fine print that people don't read. I worked summers in college at Victoria's Secret. They mail out coupons for free cotton panties on a semi-regular basis. And they're free. But you can only get certain colors (black, white, nude, and ivory--I think they've added some by now). But, they're completely free, no purchase necessary. I was a cashier, and invariably, I would have a customer come up with purple or something panties (or occasionally, a $20 pair, and be all, what, these aren't free?) and be pissed that I wouldn't give them to them for free. If they were buying a bunch of stuff, I'd usually let them have their purple panties, but if they were just getting the free panties, then they'd yell at me and I'd ignore them.

@NeverLetMeDown: I do too. Their coupons almost always work for me, regardless of the fine print. I also like that if I don't have one on me, the cashier usually has a binder full of them and will apply the one that gives me the best deal. So far I have no complaints about how they work in practice.

Wow, they excluded electrics AND electronics. Someone must've gotten away with actually USING a coupon at Macy's once by saying "On the package it sayd ELECTIC shaver, not ELECTRONIC!" Employee gets fired, incinerated, ashes used to make ink used to print word "electrics" on 1,000,000 coupons.

@Ubik2501:

Amen.

R.I.P. Marshall Field's

@Carso:

Since when has Macy's sold Maybelline? I thought that was a drugstore brand.

@jurijuri:

Marshall Field's . . . sniff . . . it should be a crime.

@tc4b:

Classic. Nomination for comment of the day.

@Carso: Then don't issue coupons (or whatever you call that thing in the picture there). It's dishonest, or at least misleading.