Please learn the difference.

[retailsweetie]

This is a quick one. I don't normally post because all my customers do the same idiotic things, but I don't think I've posted about this one.

A little bit of background for those of you who aren't familiar with Bustice: FunCards are coupons that are good for $25 towards a purchase of $50 before sales tax. FunCards can be combined with other valid FunCards.

Gift cards are... gift cards. AKA a form of money that, when presented during the payment stage of the transaction, can act like any other form of money in order to obtain our horrendously overpriced goods. No, you probably did not buy your gift card. You may therefore think that the gift card is not "real money" because you can only use it at Bustice.


Okay. So to recap. FunCard = Coupon. Gift Card = Money. Using some kind of math properties I don't know because I'm not any kind of math person, It would stand to reason that Coupon =/= Money. Right? Oh, wait. You're not Bustice customers, are you?


I've had this kind of transaction multiple times:

Me: (starts ringing stuff up)
Customer: Okay, I only wanna spend $xx.xx today. I've got $x in FunCards and $XX in gift cards. [hands all to me at once.]
Me: *Oh dear Lord. I know where this is going.* Yes sir/ma'am. (finishes ringing stuff up, puts in FunCards) Okay, your current total is $xy.zq
Customer: And that's after the FunCards and the gift cards?
Me: No, sir/ma'am, that's just after the FunCards. Let me put in your gift cards. (Proceeds to do so, then gives new total. Transaction finishes as normal).


I don't know how it is at everyone else's stores, but at mine you can't start paying at the beginning of the transaction (well, I guess with certain customer-facing swiper thingies you can, but...)

The fact that they are both called "cards" does not make them the same thing.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

While it's true that all stores work differently on this kind of thing, it's no use for the customers to complain about the policy of the store they're in until they at least see how it works. It does sound confusing between the FunCards and the Gift Cards, and the manner in which they have to be scanned, but really people, just wait and see what happens before you make a fuss at your friendly cashier/clerk.

[Gizmo]

People should be able to understand a money off coupon and a giftcard are different.. its not that difficult is it? (ok, forgot where I was!)

[RealUnimportant]

While I can understand people not knowing the difference or the correct time to hand over payment (a bugbear of mine too, I admit) & the irritation this might cause you, I can't see why you can't ring them all through once they've been handed to you as it doesn't seem like there's an intermediate step between processing them; sorry if you've missed that out intentionally or I'm misunderstanding, but the pause where you tell them the total after using the coupons but before adding the gift cards seems unnecessary to me.

[Catwoman2965]

I know how you feel; at my store you get points for either paying with your store charge or paying by another method and showing your reward card (you get more points by using the store charge). When you reach a certain number of points, you get a reward certificate, which is NOT a coupon, but a method of payment. They're in $25 increments, so some customers, who buy A LOT, sometimes have more than one, and you can use as many as you want in any one transaction, as long as your purchase is more than the total of the certs, as we don't give anything back.

So its kind of the opposite of your store, but I can't tell you how many customers will say to me "oh I have a coupon" when in fact its a reward cert. And then don't understand why their total isn't reduced by that amount. Um because its a method of payment, rather than a $ amount or % off your total purchase. And this from customers who have shopped here for YEARS and shoud know how they work.

[Kheldarson]

I usually say "It's basically money in a coupon." That generally gets some understanding.

[Slayer]

I don't really care when people do that.

For the gift cards or certificates, I just:

1. Ring up the items.
2. Tell them the total.
3. Say, now with the $$ card/certificate, your new total is $##.##.

It's easier than forcing them to understand something they'll forget by their next visit.