Rain Checks

Today, I was in Bangor, so I ventured into Shaw's hoping to purchase 4 bags of Kibbles and Bits Dog food for my pooches. Shaw's has the 3.6-4.0 pound bags on sale for $6.43 each. This doesn't sound great, but they were included in this week's buy one, get one sale. So, two bags for $6.43. Still not a great price, but getting better. Here's the kicker, you can use (2) $1.50/1 Sunday paper inserts on the deal to bring the price of two bags down to $3.43. Put another way, 4 lbs of dog food for $1.71/bag. I can definitely live with that price.

My intention remained alive for all of the time it took me to get the the back of the store and see that the shelves were completely bare. *Gasp!* Color me disappointed. Shocked. Morose. But, wait! My coupons do not expire until 10/22. Hope abounds!

With a spring in my step and a pleasant determination in my belly, I walked to the Customer Service desk and politely requested a rain check for 4 bags. The friendly cashier was happy to help me and even let me know that their truck comes in by 2pm on Thursday and that the shelves are usually restocked within an hour or two of its arrival. Nice information to have.

I put my rain check with my coupons and made a mental note to return on Thursday afternoon. I do not anticipate a problem with this transaction and when all is done, I should have been able to buy 16 pounds of dog food for $6.86.

Rain Checks are a GREAT way to get the sale price on items when they are out of stock at the store. I can't stress enough how important it is to be organized keeping them. I slip mine into my coupon binder with the coupon that matches it. While, I have not found any stores willing to consider coupons that will expire before an item is back into stock, my Rite Aid has given me rain checks with an additional price modification for any Ups+ RRs I would lose out on. Handy, that. If your coupon is going to expire before the item comes in, you may want to consider that in deciding if it is worth getting the rain check. The other side of that coin is that other coupons may come out that work just as well for your rain checked item. It is my preference to get the rain check, hope the item comes in, and if not, look for other coupons to use with it.

What about you? Have you used rain checks? With what results?

Sonja♥