So I was going through the McDonalds Drive Through. I had a coupon for a breakfast sandwich that would give me 2 for the price of 1, so when I placed my order, I mentioned that I had the coupon. Before I proceeded to pay for my food, they confirmed my price which showed the discount.
I pulled ahead to the cashier window, prepared to give the nice lady my coupon, and she DIDN’T ASK FOR IT!!! :eek: She just discounted the meal, leaving me able to use the coupon again. From my perspective, I see this as a major loophole.
I could, theoretically, continue to use the coupon until it expires…
OR…
I could use the coupon beyond when it expires and continue to get my breakfast sandwich at half off until they ask for my coupon, then if they notice it is expired, simply pay for the extra sandwich…
OR…
I could claim to have a coupon, and see just how far I could go to get free food.
Has anyone else ever had something like this happen? Did you take advantage of this sort of loophole?
I am presuming they are handling this like it is some sort of promotion, so once the promotion is done (Coupon is expired) they will probably stop giving out the deal… but I am curious to see how far this would go.
I suspect that is their plan all along. If it was important, they would stress that to their employees. If they actually want you to come back and get two sandwiches for one, while paying full price for a soda (which has a much higher profit margin) then they would not ask for it back. One of my clients owns five Dunkin’ Donuts stores, and he said they don’t make a nickle on their donuts; they are sold at cost. All their profit comes from coffee, which has such a high mark up, it covers all their promotions and the non-profit donuts.
I doubt it. Managers know what coupons are current, so when a coupon expires, they instruct their employees not to honor it any more. They don’t need to look at the date; they know the date, because they issued the coupon. It’s not like they issue a slew of coupons with all different expiration dates to keep track of.
We don’t know whether it’s the norm for them not to ask for the coupon. Maybe they’re supposed to ask for it, and that one employee just made a mistake this time.
I often use coupons for pizza, and I don’t believe that I have ever had the cashier ask to even see the coupon. This holds true for all the national chains.
Fear Itself, a lot of the time coupons are issued either by or on behalf of the national corporation. The local franchise doesn’t necessarily have a clue what’s out there.
Years ago I had something similar that I and my cohorts (ab)used the heck out of.
Near our work was a Pizza Hut. Which was staffed entirely by uncaring incompetent stoners. Who could never hustle; even at the height of the lunch rush they’d be moseying serenely along. Whenever somebody suggested that place for lunch we all groaned about the long wait but went anyhow because … PIZZA!!! And we were all 20-something and stupid.
So World HQ comes up with this great promo to increase sales at lunch: Your meal is ready in 5 minutes or you get a coupon for a free meal next time. Cue lightbulb moment for us.
So we go. They give us a little timer when we order and pay. Sure enough it takes 10 minutes for our 'za to be ready, so we each get a coupon.
And tomorrow we all come back and exchange our coupons for a timer, a 10 minute wait, a free 'za, and a fresh shiny new coupon!
We ate free 'za every day for about two months!
Eventually we got tired of all the crappy 'za and only went every week or so. About six months later World HQ came to its senses and terminated the promo. But not before we’d beaten them like a red-headed stepchild.
Soda was IIRC 75 cents for a 12 oz. plastic cup and infinite refills. Some of us even skipped that and had free water instead. So it’s not like they were getting rich off that either.
I’ve done it twice now at the same restaurant. Both times they didn’t even question if I had the coupon and I got 2 sandwiches for the price of one.
I need to do more research.
I need to try other restaurants and other times during the day (I do have coupons for 2 for 1 on hamburgers, so I am covered if they actually ask for the coupon).
Yeah, pretty standard in my experience, but I’m sure it’s at least somewhat regional. There’s actually been quite a lot of discussion on the phrase and its origins here at the Dope. (See post #14 for even further links.)
One of the guys I work with has a set of KFC coupons that he downloaded onto his smartphone. On the odd occasion that he goes out and gets KFC for his lunch he uses one of them. I gather they are from a promotion that was on 3 or 4 years ago but the staff there just give him the deal.
I worked for a food court once, in my misspent youth. All the restaurants were owned by the same company, and were under the same management.
One day, a customer came in and ordered food, and instead of paying, used a comp card. These were little business cards with the corporate logo on them, and had a dollar value; they were usually given out by management when they wanted to comp someone’s meal. The thing is, that since they were comp cards, they were not counted against the tills; you simply took the card and allowed the customer to walk off with that value or less in free food. The transaction wasn’t processed through the till.
So one day, the cashier at my pizza joint simply pocketed the comp card after informing the manager. She later used it at the fried chicken joint. Where the cashier informed the manager, and then pocketed the comp card.
For a period of months, those comp cards saw seriously heavy use among employees before management caught on and we had to hand them over to management for destruction…
It’s not a mistake either. It just doesn’t matter. For one, see:
(also there are a lot of “coupons” now that just involve scanning your phone’s screen)
And even before that, it still didn’t matter much of the time. Policies and practice can vary especially if it’s a “better” coupon, but for the most part, the point is just to get people to the store and spending money. That’s why they make the coupons. They are still making a profit.
OP, you act like this is the first time you’ve ever used a coupon. As long as it’s a real offer by the store, most of the time they don’t care about actually seeing it or taking it, unless they need to actually scan it to apply it.