No More Twice the Value Coupons at Albertsons Customer Service Desks

Since the introduction of Extreme Couponing on TLC and the following surge in coupon use, we have seen stores changing their coupon policies by adding limits to the numbers of coupons used or other little tweaks to curb overzealous couponers.
The most recent of these coupon policy changes comes from Albertsons, which will no longer be handing out Twice the Value coupons at in-store customer service desks.

Twice the Value coupons are store coupons that Albertsons periodically puts out in Sunday papers. Each coupon can be matched with a manufacturer’s coupon of up to $1.00 in value, which results in doubling the coupon for twice the savings. Three Twice the Value coupons can be used per transaction, and most Albertson’s allow three consecutive transactions per customer in one shopping trip. These Twice the Value coupons were also available at the customer service desk, which allowed folks to enjoy these savings – even if they did not purchase Sunday newspapers.

Unfortunately, some folks were going a bit overboard and doing things like sneaking behind the customer service desk and taking the entire box of Twice the Value coupons, stealing the inserts out of Sunday papers, selling the coupons on Craig’s List or acquiring mass amounts of them and holding up lines with 20+ transactions in a row after clearing the shelves of product.

In response, Albertsons is changing its policy, which should allow for better management of stock and help to ensure that more folks will be able to take advantage of great sales with coupon matchups.

Here are the most significant points of which to be aware:

• Albertsons stores will no longer distribute Twice the Value coupons at in-store customer services desks as of July 17, 2011.
• Twice the Value coupons will no longer be distributed in Wyoming and Montana (in stores or in newspapers).
• Customers will still be able to use up to three sets of Twice the Value coupons in one shopping trip.

The biggest downside to this is that people will now have to purchase Sunday papers or acquire the coupons in other ways – recycling bin diving, asking friends or co-workers, etc. – instead of just stopping by the desk to grab one of the inserts.

This change in the availability of Albertsons coupons is being reported on by coupon bloggers across the country – here are links to a few of the blogs where you can read more or see excerpts from the official emails the bloggers received form Albertsons explaining the changes.

The Coupon Project
Coupon Connections
Queen Bee Coupons