This is why we shouldn't take internet coupons

[Dreamstalker]

Had a doozy on Monday.

Right now we have a promo where if you spend $25 in specific frozen food items you get $15 off. Coupons can be used, but the total for the items after coupons must be more than $25 to work.

Woman comes up and gets nothing but said items. Good, it'll be super-easy for me to track down any problems. Then, after the frozen food discount is taken off, she hits Return To Scan and starts scanning coupons. This is also good in a way, as it shows that the discount already came off if there is an issue. Her coupons (she is able to use multiple internet manufacturer coupons per item, which shouldn't even be possible) brings the total down past the threshold for the promo. So the discount is reversed, bringing the final total to $23-something.

Cue hissyfit "I got all the right items so I should get the discount!" blah blah and something about more coupons not working. I check the screen before trying any more coupons, and see what really happened.

"To get the frozen discount, you have to spend at least $25 after all coupons."
SC: "But I was at another store the other day and they let me do it!"..aha, so you admit the scam. And to think you might have gotten away with it here--the system didn't alert me, you did--if you weren't so eager to use all your coupons (the store discount is far better IMO).
"You can use coupons, but the total has to be $25 or more."
Rinse, repeat a few times.
"Can you get me a manager who knows the store, honey?"
Oh no you didn't. I put those tags up, I know how it works.
Just to placate her, I ask both the shift lead and ASM, who both give the answer I just gave her: NO.
So after a few more minutes of bitching, threatening and pleading, she just leaves everything. Gee, you sure showed me
I void the transaction and return everything (why save the order if I know everything's going back), but give a copy of the void receipt to shift lead and keep a copy for myself. Looking it over to see exactly how many coupons she tried to use, among the three coupons for two things of ice cream I see this:

She bought four Jimmy Dean breakfast bowl things (part of the promo). The system somehow let her scan twelve of the exact same JD coupon (which doubled) for four items. So $4.50 in coupons went through per $2 item. Someone lost the coupon box key, so I wasn't able to retrieve the coupons (plan was to staple them to the receipt so I'd have something solid to give ASM2 when asking him who I talk to about system issues).

[Mr Hero]

Damn. All she had to do was pick up another JD breakfast bowl.

[earl colby pottinger]

Greedy

So she lost out because she got greedy! If she bought a little more or scan a little less than she would have gotten away with it as long those dang kids and the dog did not show up.

One thing I noticed, the SCs always say that other stores let them get away with their scams yet they always have a reason not to go back to those stores.

I wonder why?

[MoonCat]

What...the hell? HOW MANY coupons on ONE item?? Is the whole damn world scamming everybody or just it does seem that way?

[Dreamstalker]

Manufacturer's rules even on the internet coupons specify one doubled coupon per item. For some reason, even though our system identified the coupon correctly and matched it with the variety, it still allowed 3 per item.

Two scans of "JD MEAT", and two scans of "JD BACON" (product). One coupon scan allowed per item (two MEAT and two BACON, no?
All twelve coupons scanned as "JD MEAT DISC" (or something". The coupons had the 3D barcodes; maybe that trips things up.

Most times if coupon use would make the item free or result in money back on the transaction, it will lock up and alert me...which it didn't do, probably because it saw that the overall order total was still positive. That's a coding problem.

I wonder why?

I suspect that all the scammers we get HAVE been banned from all other stores. They come to us because they know we don't have security.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

What...the hell? HOW MANY coupons on ONE item?? Is the whole damn world scamming everybody or just it does seem that way?

Sounds like shitty computer programming allowing all the coupons to go through.

In which case I almost sympathize with the scammers. If you don't want people to be able to game the system, program the computer so that becomes impossible. But that would leave less money for executive bonuses and perks, and if all else fails you can just blame the peons at the stores for "not being vigilant" or something like that.

[XCashier]

Is the whole damn world scamming everybody or just it does seem that way?

It sure does seem that way. I can't go one workday without someone screaming for discounts for this and that, demanding coupons, etc. They're doing everything they can to work the system, and we're the ones who get the bad end of the deal by getting our hours cut because the store isn't making enough money.

[wolfie]

and if all else fails you can just blame the peons at the stores for "not being vigilant" or something like that.

Of course, if the fraud artists are using the self-scam registers, the one employee running half a dozen of these isn't even going to be ABLE to see that monkey business is going on.

[eltf177]

Of course, if the fraud artists are using the self-scam registers, the one employee running half a dozen of these isn't even going to be ABLE to see that monkey business is going on.

Exactly what I was thinking as well. Corporate really didn't think this one through very well...

[Lace Neil Singer]

At the supermarket, the entire reductions system was changed cuz of scammers. At first, the system was that little red stickers were placed on reduced items and these were removed at the till. However, some scammers found that these stickers could be easily removed from reduced items and placed on other items. They would get away with this if the item was similar; for example, placing a ten pence sticker on a non reduced loaf of bread. But if they placed it on half a cow's worth of beef, the cashier (me, on one occasion) would smell a rat and call a supervisor. This happened so many times that eventually, the system was changed and big white stickers which cannot be removed from the item without tearing the sticker to shreds were created to replace the red stickers. Resulting in far less scams as anyone trying to remove one of the new stickers would end up tearing the sticker and therefore leaving them without a sticker to put on a new item.

So yeah, a new system can be put into place if need be to stop scammers and it does work.

[Dreamstalker]

But it takes money, which Corp doesn't want to spend on this store. We're very profitable for the location, which somehow means the company doesn't need to spend any money to fix anything? (some of us have been battling a creeping crud for WEEKS which coincidentally started shortly after the ceiling started falling in)

Scammers have been removing and replacing our reduced stickers as well. The stickers are scored supposedly to prevent this, but all that matters when removing them is that the barcode isn't compromised. If one is careful, they can be replaced and even if the score lines are 'broken' it will scan as long as the ink is sharp (which has been an issue, so I'm actually not lobbying to replace the reduced printer as it helps foil those scams). Some have gotten smart enough to try typing in the code...but as the printer isn't the best, they always miss a digit OR make the item $21.79 instead of $1.79 (if only I could make those mistakes stand)

Since the regular meat tags don't have score lines, it is possible to remove those as well if the package/tag isn't damp. I caught a woman last week who had taken the tag for a $5 pack of pork necks and put it on a $20 corned beef. Points for getting the right department, but try something the same approximate size next time.

[Nashida]

This was common when I worked at UBash, people would try pulling the stickers off party supplies and sticking them to our higher end Halloween costumes, thinking we wouldn't notice if a $70 costume rang up as a $1.50. Those custys always went to my lane because my boss knew my BS-meter would go off.

The local supermarket uses yellow barcode stickers on its reduced merchandise that are super tough to take off neatly (I've tried, I always take off the price tags when I get home from shopping, it's a tic of mine.) so I wonder how well scammers do there

[Dreamstalker]

If they're the same type we use, it depends on what it's attached to. A label on the side of a can or hard plastic container is easy to remove, on the bottom of a cereal box even if you remove the tag intact the adhesive is gone. Plastic bread bag depends on how long it's been sitting; those can be easily removed within about an hour, but only if there has been zero pressure applied to the label in the meantime.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Maybe we should just shoot all scammers. [/not being serious]

[Dreamstalker]

I could probably write the code needed to stop this problem...but that would mean it actually gets done/tested that day (and I'd be getting friendly with a tech; the managers don't want the peons knowing anything about the systems past 'this is how you use the card').

you can just blame the peons at the stores for "not being vigilant" or something like that.

That's exactly what happens. I can only deal with one SCO at a time; if I'm clearing up one issue someone else sees their opportunity (even if the system calls for help I can only get over there after finishing the one I'm already dealing with, so they just walk out).

Last week when my schedule was screwed up but I managed to make up the hours anyway, when it got busy I would tag-team SCO with whoever was actually scheduled. That worked out well.