I'm guessing no one was at the CSR desk. Usually, yes, due to the invention of scanners and color printers, most stores don't take internet "MANUFACTURERS" coupons, but store coupons usually fly. I'm guessing it might have been a new hire, judging by the time of the year.

Stop by their regional hq. Its in Westerville. off of Sunbury Rd. Behind the McDonalds,Goodyear & Car/Pet Wash. On Executive Pkwy.

[maps.google.com]

Just look at what Photoshop has done to our society!

Its likely that the CSR was wrong, a supervisor/manager should have been able to clear it up for you had you asked.

Is this really worth posting? While it is regrettable that the cashier was an idiot, John didn't seem to try too hard to rectify the situation. (No visit to the service desk. No asking for a manager.)

If complaints were still made by mail these days, this wouldn't be worth the stamp.

My wife told me that she has had issues using internet printed coupons at various stores. Some refuse them because they say they can be photoshopped, etc.

The Winco I shop at has a sign posted at the front door saying they do not accept Internet Coupons. I guess there's one thing the Sunday Paper is still good for.

@Saboth: As I believed happened sometime ago with a Target coupon.

Basically a few computer savvy bad apples have spoiled it. I can't say I blame the stores.

Also, as I understand it, Kroger has regions that can make their own rules as to coupons, extra discounts, etc. The website is a corporate nationwide thing. So he may just be in a region that would not take internet coupons.

Safeway has done something likewise. Before you can print their coupons it says "under terms of use" if any coupon results in the product price being 50% less or greater the coupon will not be accepted. I always used coupons and more times than not got the product for just pennies or free.

i'm glad i was able to successfully use three different internet coupons for merchants tire off their own website in the last two weeks - saved me almost $100 on tires and services. they didn't even blink, no questions about whether whether they were legitimate. they hadn't heard of the coupons before but that didn't make them question my honesty.
it's too bad that the promotions departments of various retailers so often don't communicate to the front lines to ensure smooth processing of special offers

My question is...if printed internet manufacturer's coupons are not accepted at these stores, then why is the option still on the website, or am I missing something?

Don't most coupons have a bar code and serial number of some sort?

@MercuryPDX: I wonder if internet coupons would be accepted more readily if they were printed on the newsprint-like Sunday circular paper...

@Saboth: Don't most of these have a bar code on them, something designed to eliminate fraud?

@I Love New Jersey: How does a barcode eliminate fraud? It's not some mystical technology that has yet to be fully understood.

@MikeF74:

...like the barcode on products, which correlates to a record in a database telling the cashier what that product is and what the price is, there is a database with coupon barcodes in it that tell what the coupon is for and how much off it is.

So, if you make up a totally fake barcode, it probably won't scan at all...or if you accidentally hit upon a real barcode (or copy a barcode from a real coupon), the cashier will ring it up as $1.00 off a pound of bacon, instead of $500 off any purchase of $501 or more.

Those barcodes are decipherable. So you could (and people have) create a new barcode for your fake coupon that tells the computer to give you a free widget.

@knucklesammichwitCheese: It's a common problem with all the chains. It's caused partly by local store managers being able to set their own policies.

@Bog: It's like a model number. There are no systems in place that can identify the specific coupon and if it's legitimate. You really need something unique like a VIN that the registers can read and validate.

Most likely just an idiot cashier. The Kroger region I work at has a sign plainly stating internet coupon policy. No free coupons, none over $1, and no doubling.

@knucklesammichwitCheese: This is right up there with "No purchase necessary. See details inside box."

@YouDidWhatNow?: It's not a fake barcode that sophisticated fraudsters are using. They are simply copying legitimate coupons multiple times (usually not allowed by terms of service). What bar codes translate to is easily available on the web and a competent fraudster can create a coupon that tells the register to make every individual item free. The cashier is the last line of defense for the store to catch fraudulent coupons. Unfortunately, they get very little training.

The best system for internet printables would connect a bar code to a unique coupon and would only allow that specific coupon to be used once (some retailers do this with their store coupons). Unfortunately, you would need a new scanning system and some industry standards.

@MikeF74: Because the bar code would have to be in the retailer's system.

Living near 2 Kroger stores, you may not understand the true complaint. Kroger has a plus card that you have to use to purchase anything with any type of discount. On their own website they want you to add coupons directly to your plus card, which would have helped in this case, or directly print their coupons from their website. No matter if the employee is new or not, they should still be informed of the corporations policy on all coupons and its not always up to the customer to inform them of their policy. You shouldn't have to always go to a manager to get something that is just to easy to know. Also the people they hire aren't just minimum wage "flunkys", considering they have a union and pay the "kids" they hire a decent enough wage that they should know policy. I personally quit shopping Krogers over the fact that most all thier products are overpriced to the other grocery stores I have and their staff is usually rude.

I had a similar problem with Kroger. I loaded Kroger coupons onto my Kroger loyalty card. The cashier told me they were told they could not accept their own coupons if they were over a dollar. I didn't bother going to customer service because they still haven't responded to a letter I sent them over two years ago regarding one of the cashiers who repeatedly harasses me while I'm shopping. Most of the employees act as if customers are an intrusion in their lives.

@I Love New Jersey: Correct. Bar codes are not just magically "there". You have to add them to the system, and then tie them to an item in the database. Most stores, I'm guessing but I used to program a barcode system so I am at least half right, must program at the corporate office (or likely hire a team of monkeys to do it for them) or add a download from the manufacturer to get the information in the system. Lazy people would download the entire UPS code database and that is how you end up with internet fraudsters.

If I were running this Kroger (and corporate allowed me the discretion) I would absorb a few bogus coupons a month to keep goodwill with those people using legit ones as long as it didn't become a rampant problem.

@Richard A Irwin Jr: That's kinda stalker-ish to just show up at their offices like that. The OP could always call that office during business hours and they would probably help just as much!

@spankyshay: Have you been to a Krogers after like 9PM? The service desk is usually abandoned along with the rest of the store except the only person that seems to be working, the one cashier at the front.

@bigd7387: Jewel and Dominicks in the area where I live both have a friggin' "discount card" that you have to use for every purchase unless you want to pay an extra 30% markup.

I hate that damn card.

@bigd7387: Not all stores can handle the "add coupons to your plus card" (I've never heard of it down here (Texas), only in the Northeast (Michigan-y).

One would hope any cashier would have enough brain in their head to realize a KROGER internet coupon is not the same as ANY internt coupon or at least ASK A MANAGER.

Geez!

@bigd7387: Groceries are only union in some states, Texas is not one of them. Still applies here, policy-wise, but here they pay higher just so people will actually work there.

@AllToAll,ByMyMustard!_GitEmSteveDave:

I'll have to disagree with you about most stores not accepting printed Internet manufacturer coupons. I have been using them for awhile and can't remember them ever being denied. I use them almost every time I go shopping at several different stores.

@Richard A Irwin Jr: If you pass a guy with a wooden leg waving at the road....you went to far.

@bigd7387: You aren't "Union" until usually 30-60 days after hire. Also, unless you are a full time worker, you don't get anywhere neaqr the same benefits and pay scale that a part time worker gets. IIRC, at the grocery store I worked at, on the entire front end, there was only ~6 "full time" people out of around 40.

I don't suppose Kroger has self-checkout lanes? (I live in Maryland, so I wouldn't know.) I've run into problems with specific cashiers at my local grocery stores refusing to accept internet coupons, but the self-checkout line takes them without hesitation.

@Zegridathes: Egads!

@sarahq: At the K-Rogers around here (Richmond VA), even if you use the self-checkout, you have to give the coupons to the (possibly imaginary and never actually there, especially if you have wine or beer) attendant.

@YouDidWhatNow?: True, but many coupon barcodes will prompt the cashier for the amount of the discount(e.g., % off or free item coupons). The cashier will then look at the coupon and the item cost to determine the discount. Photoshop your free pack of gum coupon to read free (expensive item) and you're in business.

@Coles_Law: OK, that read WAY too much like a 'how to defraud your supermarket' guide, and I apologize for that. My intent was to show why stores don't accept Internet coupons.

@I Love New Jersey: The barcode is like a bike lock. Only keeps the honest honest. But what they did for the Target coupon was change the terms on the coupon itself. The barcode was only coded for a department, but the terms limited to a sub-department. So it would ring through alright, but the cashiers should have denied it. No restrictions mean they had no reason to restrict it.

@thelushie:
With the Target coupon, some of the limitations were removed off the coupon details. Target blamed the customers even though Target could have avoided it all if they had coded the coupon correctly. The coupon worked on everything when it was supposed to only work on select categories. If the wording had still been there, the coupon still would have worked when it shouldn't have if the employees didn't read it which most of them don't.

I've never had difficulty getting Kroger to accept coupons, whether they're free, for over a dollar, internet manufacturer, store coupons, etc... they even triple coupons for 0.39 or less and double 0.50 or less. they get a lot more business from us than the other stores that do not handle coupons as well. i just wish they would label their produce and sales items better.

With a one dimensional barcode, there just isn't enough address space to have it be a combination of discount UPC and a serial number. Not with all the products and coupons the database needs to keep track of. Really can't get into serialized bar codes unless there are two barcodes to be scanned sequentially (first being UPC, second being serial). But that would lead to problems if the cashier scans them out of order and the serial number happens to match an existing product.

Until they start using two dimensional barcodes with a larger address space, serialization is difficult (time consuming and error prone).

Most manufacturer coupon barcodes conform to the upc standard of the first 5 digits being a manufacture product line, followed by a checksummed discount code.

The rest of the coupon is restrictions that need to be enforced by the cashier.

One brand of pudding a while back had a 5 dollars off a Hot Wheels or Barbie Bike Helmet ($45) or Razor ($95) or Safety gloves, etc. Because the coupon uses the standard method, buying any hot wheels or barbie product that has a upc that starts with the same first 5 digits of the coupon means that the register will accept the coupon. That included the previous year's dollar hot wheels cars. As long as the cashier let it through, you would have been able to get a hot wheels car (Actually discounted to 55 cents because it was the previous years model) for free, AND a 4 dollar credit to the purchase. You made 4 dollars on purchase because the cashier did not do what they where supposed to, and the store would be out 5 or 6 dollars worth of product because Mattel would most likely not pay out (Then again, being a big store chain, they still probably paid out).

@AllToAll,ByMyMustard!_GitEmSteveDave: The cashier specifically said he was TOLD not to take them though, which makes me think it's an issue of the individual store deciding not to accept internet coupons, rather than the entire chain.

@Saboth: They get pissed when I pohotoshop "Please give coupon holder a BJ". Just 3 people fell for it :-(

@midwestkel: I have as I have shopped there all my life. I realize they are often understaffed... and they don't wait till 9pm to do it. That said, there is always a manager on duty.