I’ve been in a slump lately in terms of my grocery game, but then yesterday at Meijer I was suddenly “feeling it” again, as Jim Renney, the small town Lex Luther of Stephen King‘s latest blockbuster, would say. Everywhere I looked I saw incredible opportunities. Or at least I thought I did. I guess my grocery goggles had come back, but my execution was still rusty, because the two maneuvers where I expected to make a big score didn’t pan out. One turned out to be a bad play on my part, while the other was definitely a bad call. In either case, ordinarily I would say it makes more sense to shrug it off and move on than to ruminate on what might have been. Trouble is, I like to learn something from my mistakes, and while I definitely learned -- or rather, was reminded -- that a coupon on the exterior of a package usually means you’re supposed to use it right then and there instead of on a future shopping trip, I’m still baffled by the two-pack of flavored Cheerios that promised, in big gawdy type, $2 off fruit it never delivered. Definitely a bad call, and I decided to take it up with the officials.
So I called Meijer, who said it was General Mills’ fault, since it was their promotion inside their packaging. And then I called General Mills, who said, essentially, “huh?” The person I spoke with couldn’t seem to track down the promotion I was holding in my hand, and suggested I mail it in so they could take a look at it. I sent digital photos via e-mail instead.
So, will General Mills rule in my favor? I suppose they’ll send me another coupon, hopefully a real one this time. Personally, I see the whole thing as a reminder that when you mess around with coupons, it’s easy to get burned. The best way out of my “slump” is to focus on the fundamentals -- meal planning and tracking my spending -- instead of hoping for a quick coupon score to raise morale. But I’m not too sorry for protesting the bad call, if it gets General Mills to correct a ripoff that might affect other people.
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