If you're a Walmart shopper, you know they have the lowest prices in town. And it's true - most grocery stores and drugstores charge on average $.50-$2.00 more for the same product !
But when it comes to couponing, shopping at Walmart is not always the best strategy. Here's why:
Grocery stores use items as loss leaders to get people into their store. These sales and promotions mean a few products are priced lower than Walmart, even without the use of coupons! For example, the store might have a promotion that results in over 20 items regularly priced at $1.59-$1.99 are marked down to $1.00 each. These items range in price of $1.08 - $1.48 at Walmart. So if you buy these select items while they are on sale at the grocery store, you might save $5-$10 over the course of the month. All totaled, that's over $100 a year on those items alone.
Grocery stores often double coupons. A $.50 coupon might result in a $1.49 priced product at Walmart costing only $.99. But if you take that $.50 coupon to the grocery store that doubles coupons, the same product that's priced a little higher at $1.69 will cost only $.69. If you wait for the grocery store to have a sale on that same product where they price it at $1.00, you might get this item for FREE!
Drugstores use loss leaders, too. They run promotions to get products moving. These sales include Buy 1 Get 1 FREE or Buy 1 Get 1 50% off.
Here is an example:
There is a $3.00 coupon for razors in the Sunday newspaper. You take that coupon to Walmart because they have the lowest prices in town. The razors are $5.97 minus the $3.00 off coupon, for a total of $2.97 for the package of razors.
Walgreens has the same razors on sale for Buy One, Get One Free. The regular price is $6.99, so the total price will be $6.99 for two packages of razors. You can use two $3.00 coupons since you are getting two packages, paying just $.99 for 2 packages of razors, or $.49 each!
You can see the benefits of shopping several stores!