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Coupon Abbreviations
  • SC = Store Coupon
  • MC = Manufacturer Coupon
  • SS = Smart Source
  • RMN = Retail Me Not
  • PG = Proctor and Gamble
Coupon Terms
  • WYB = When You Buy
  • B1G1 = Buy One Get One Free
  • .75/1 = 75 cents off one item
  • .75/3 = 75 cents off three items
  • EXP = Expiration Date

Going Nuts? I can help you understand coupon terms and abbreviations

Grocery Previews, Not Here.

on 10.5.2009 at 4:46pm
47 Comments

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I get lots of emails and questions about Grocery list sneak previews, so I want to take a minute and explain why they are not here.

First, Grocery ads are considered intellectual COPYRIGHTED material.  The store owns this information and unless you have it in writing from the corporate office that you may post it before they release it, then you are stealing their copyrighted material.  They don’t take to kindly to this and they have copyright lawyers who will send lovely cease & desist letters.

Why do they care??  It is a two fold answer.

  • The store cares because in the grocery world many store managers have a some flexibility and can make in store specials to match their deals.   (The other store might lose money but they are excited to know in advance how to compete).  The store would also like people to shop based on this weeks needs, as you would expect.
  • The big reason though is that the manufacturer’s care.  There is a lot behind store ads the biggest part is the deals, and rebate programs that they manufacturer offers to the store.  Yes the stores do rebates too.  When you see a B1G1 sale in the Publix ad, the store gets compensated for part of the sale and gets a rebate back based on the amount that they sell.   Because of this, leaking a sale ad affects the manufacturer a lot more than the store.  If you knew in advance, then your waiting to buy something means that the manufacturer sells less products at regular price.  If a store continues to allow their deals to be leaked then this becomes a very sore spot with manufacturers and can hinder future deals.  Thus the store has a big reason to get those lawyers busy.

Second, I have given my word to numerous people that though I have their ad early I will never post it before the ad is released by the store.  This agreement is both with my local stores and my husband.  I promised my husband a long time ago that I would never knowingly do anything that would send lawyers to our doorstep.  If you run a blog and have started posting early ads, please know that they mean business and they are much bigger than you (or me).

To answer one last question… Why do I post drugstore previews?

Drugstores have a different take on this than grocery stores do.  I can’t fully say why, but I do know that some stores encourage posting their deals, and others have known for years that the information is out there and do not mind.  They do have their own quirks that send lawyers out, but the ads are not one of them.

So when are lists posted:

Sunday:
Kroger
Ingles
(usually both  in the late afternoon because we are in church all morning)

Tuesday:
Food Lion
Publix (after 10 pm)
Bi-Lo (after 10 pm)

Wednesday:
Harris Teeter (after 12:01 am)
– I will post early lists for triples and doubles weeks these lists don’t usually have the weekly ad deals
Harvey’s (after 12: 01am)

Thursday:
CVS (late evening)

Friday:
Walgreens

Saturday:
Rite Aid
(it’s only here because I can never get to it during the week)

I hope this answers some questions and I hope if you are a blogger this might encourage you to think more about not posting early ads.