If you forgot to scarf down a taco for Taco Tuesday yesterday, have no fear: Today is National Taco Day. Yes, there really is a “day” for everything, but that’s okay, as there are freebies and discounts up for grabs. [More]
coupons
Here’s Where To Get Your National Hot Dog Day Deals
By 7.19.17
’Tis the season of hot dogs: from grilling weiners at your weekend barbecue to scooping up an authentic dog at the ballpark. If you’ve been hankering for a hot dog, today might just be the day to satisfy that craving, as it’s National Hot Dog Day, which means free frankfurters are up for grabs. [More]
Burger King Franchisee Made Employees Hand Out Coupons At Concentration Camp Site
By 5.19.17
Even in this age of nearly omnipresent advertising, there are still some places where it’s in very bad taste to force coupons on the public, like outside the site of a former concentration camp. [More]
Here’s How Macy’s Is Trying To Lure Shoppers
By 3.24.17
Despite the closure of dozens of stores and an all-but-dead takeover deal, Macy’s isn’t quite ready to throw in the ol’ retail towel. Instead, the company is focusing on the future, implementing new services, revamping store features, and revising coupons in a bid to bring in shoppers. [More]
Get Ready To See Even More Exclusions On Department Store Coupons
By 11.22.16
If department stores can’t break their addiction to discounting, designer brands want to help. Brands like Michael Kors and Kate Spade are selling fewer of their products in department stores. Other brands are keeping their items in stores, but insisting that they not be discounted. [More]
JCPenney Handing Out $500 Coupons To Lure Shoppers On Thanksgiving
By 11.11.16
Even though JCPenney is starting its Black Friday sales online next Wednesday, the retailer is still hoping it can convince some folks that they’d rather be shopping in physical stores on Thanksgiving than spending time with loved ones/taking turkey-induced naps by offering up coupons worth $500 off to the first people to come through the doors. [More]
PetSmart Takes Part In T-Mobile Tuesdays, Forgets To Limit Freebie To T-Mobile Customers
By 9.20.16
Here’s the problem with releasing a coupon on the internet: without disclaimers or digital limits on the coupon itself, it can be infinitely reproduced, used over and over, and used by people it wasn’t intended for. That’s what reportedly happened when T-Mobile offered a restriction-free coupon for $7 worth of stuff at PetSmart as part of its T-Mobile Tuesdays promotion that was a little too unrestricted. [More]
Target Testing New “Cartwheel Perks” Rewards Program
By 9.12.16
Since its launch in 2013, Target’s Cartwheel app has provided customers with several avenues of savings: from clipping manufacturer’s coupons to sending notices of what’s on sale near them. Now, the company is testing another feature that rewards customers for using the app. [More]
Office Depot Rewarding College Students Who Resist Their Smartphones During Class
By 9.9.16
While no one on the Consumerist staff has been in college in, uh, some time, we can imagine it must be tough to focus on education when you’ve got a smartphone in your pocket, just begging you to play KandyKaboozle or text your friend a few seats away. There are some out there who can resist, however, and for those strong-willed folks, Office Depot has a new rewards program that lets students earn points toward discounts. [More]
Shoppers Using More Paper Coupons Than Digital Because It’s Simpler: No, Really
By 7.25.16
While retailers are making their own coupons and even manufacturers’ coupons available through mobile apps, customers still prefer to clip and carry around paper coupons. We also use much more dead-tree coupons than digital ones, even as the standard coupon distribution channels try to come up with ways to make digital coupons easy and convenient. [More]
Target Makes Changes To Coupon Policy
By 7.11.16
Have you ever had trouble using a coupon at the Target checkout line, only to have the cashier work some keyboard magic to get you the discount? Expect to see less of this after the retailer’s latest update to its checkout system.
[More]
Lay’s Wants Me To Try Their New BBQ Chips, Sends Me Expired Coupon
By 6.17.16
In recent years, Frito-Lay has experimented with the flavors of its iconic Lay’s potato chips, giving consumers the chance to weigh in on what outlandish flavors — cappuccino, wasabi ginger, bacon mac and cheese — should be added to the company’s lineup for a limited time. More recently, the company has revamped its popular BBQ Lay’s — somehow adding a “burst of flavor.” And, in an attempt to entice customers to try the re-flavored snack, the company offered customers a coupon for a free bag of chips. Except, by the time the mailed coupons arrived, they were expired. [More]
Publix Coupon Scam Rears Its Ugly Head Yet Again: “$75 Off $80 Purchase” Deal Is Fake
By 5.12.16
Every now and then, a grocery chain has to warn its customers off fake coupons that circulate on social media, and inevitably, people try to use them. Publix has another bogus deal on its hands with a $75 off $80 purchase coupon that’s making the rounds right now. In a nutshell: it ain’t real. [Publix on Facebook] [More]
Chipotle Lures Customers Back With Free Burritos That Don’t Make Them Sick
By 4.25.16
What’s the best way to prove to the American public that your food won’t make them sick? Convince them to try your food again, and don’t make them sick. That’s been Chipotle’s recovery plan, and it’s working pretty well. In addition to serving up raincheck burritos (in exchange for capturing your phone number) the company also sent out coupons offering free entrées, free sides, and free beverages to lure customers back. According to one firm’s research, this plan worked. [More]
Target’s Cartwheel App Now Clips Manufacturers’ Digital Coupons
By 4.4.16
For the better part of three years, Target has offered a standalone app — Cartwheel — that provides customers with discounts on certain products. While shoppers have always been able to combine actual coupons with this discount, the retailer is now aiming to make the process easier, by adding digital manufacturer coupons to the Cartwheel app. [More]
Hotels.com Leap Day Coupons Less Useless Than They Appear
By 3.3.16
Last week, we tried to figure out a promotion from Hotels.com that had an extremely lengthy list of hotels specifically excluded from a coupon. We’re glad to note that not only was that promo not as bad as we thought, but a new coupon from the hotel aggregator clarifies things a bit for the easily confused. Like us. [More]
Hotels.com Leap Year Promotion Specifically Excludes Pretty Much Every Hotel Everywhere
By 2.29.16
Marketers are having a lot of fun with the idea of Leap Day, which is nice: it’s a fun non-holiday that everyone who uses the Gregorian calendar can appreciate, but that a marketer didn’t have to invent. One promotion at Hotels.com seems like a nice idea –– in a virtual drawing, customers can choose a coupon worth up to 29% off their total hotel bill –– but the key question is, which hotel? [More]
Macy’s Will Have Fewer Promotions With Coupons, Lower Clearance Prices
By 2.26.16
There’s a subset of department store customers who love playing coupon games, clipping bonus coupons from flyers and newspapers to get an extra percentage off items that are already on sale. Macy’s, long a great place to shop if you love to stack coupons on top of clearance sales, will stop that practice in favor of simply marking their clearance items down more in the first place. [More]
