One of my readers commented the other day that a manager at her store refused to let her stack a Target store coupon with a manufacturer’s coupon on the same item. I’ve never found this to be the case (although I have come across misinformed cashiers), so I set off in search of an official Target corporate coupon policy.
Not surprisingly, I didn’t find an official policy online. Walmart is one of the few stores that I’m aware of that has the corporate policy in black and white and publicly accessible. I came across a few sites that had a Target coupon policy listed that they had received from Guest Relations, but as they had not been posted recently, I decided to email Target Guest Relations myself to get the most current version.
They were very speedy with their response, and here is the information I received.
Thanks for asking us about using coupons at Target. Coupons are a great way to save even more when shopping with us, and it’s easy to use them at our stores. Because of the variety of coupons available to our guests, we do have some guidelines for how coupons can be redeemed at Target.
When accepting coupons, we use the following guidelines:
- We accept two kinds of coupons: Target-issued and manufacturer-issued.
- We’ll accept one Target coupon and one manufacturer coupon for the same item, unless either coupon prohibits it.
- We can’t give cash back if the face value of a coupon is greater than the purchase value of the item; in this case, we’re able to adjust the value of the coupon to equal the price of the item.
- We can’t accept coupons from other retailers, or coupons for products not carried in our stores.
- All valid coupons should be presented to the cashier while you’re checking out.
For questions about using a specific coupon, we encourage you to stop by Guest Service and ask to speak with the Guest Service Team Leader. They’ll do their best to help while you’re in the store. If you still have questions after speaking with them, please call our Guest Relations team at (800) 440-0680. Either way, we’re here to help!
I’d suggest printing this out and carrying it with you when shopping or at least keeping the Guest Relations phone number handy for disputes.
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{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
I received the same exact email. I had a problem with a cashier and now carry this policy with me.
Thanks for putting the response in this nice format. I’ll be linking people over to you in the future!
Same problem, I sent my daughter to Target today, because her job is much closer than mine, and they refused to honor both coupons. We are printing out two copies of that policy, and will both carry one in our purse. Thanks!!
I went the other and and REFUSED to except my target coupons if they didnt scan and i missed out since they didnt scan!!! This is the 2nd time this is happend so i dont bother using them..im really pissed!
I can’t even get Target to accept TARGET coupons! I asked the manager if I can print them off their machine and if she would take those and she told me that she can’t accept them. I refuse to shop there anymore and just drive to another Target that I used to live close to that doesn’t give me problems.
Oh, wow, that’s pretty ridiculous, Adrienne. I’d definitely be calling their customer service over that one!
Make sure you clean your printer heads often. Or this will happen. I’ve had this happen and let me tell you it’s a a pain. People thing people hwo use coupons are crazy anyway now ad this dilema on top of it. Then they think we are cheating the system…..
Target really makes me mad, spend time printing coupons out and they would not take them becuse exceeds the value of item told the instead of takeing a dollor off of a .97 item u take the .97. And arrgued and arruged finally asked to see coupon policy and refussed to show it to me because i was right called the number and wrote a complated. May not shop there not worth my agravation.
I was at Target store the other day, and was trying to buy 2 box of Polyvisol, and I have 2 manufacturer’s coupons. It says ‘only 1 coupon per purchase’. During checkout, I was told I can only use 1 coupon, so I ended up just purchasing 1 box. What does ‘one coupon per purchase’ means? I thought it means 1 coupon per item?
Evi, you’re right. It does mean one manufacturer coupon per item. I would call or write to Target customer service and let them know about the issue. I know how frustrating that can be!
Thank you for making the coupon policy available on your website. I will be printing this out and carrying it with me. I had a similar incident when they wouldn’t stack my manf. q with the target q when I purchased the Smartfood popcorn they had on sale a couple weeks ago. The cashier kept telling me ‘it’ wouldn’t allow her to scan both..(isn’t there a way she can override that) anyway, I kept the target q to use at another time. But I will definitely pull this out if I’m ever told this again!
Target really needs to get on the ball. Last night I spent 25 minutes arguing with the register person and the manager of the target near my house. They wouldn’t let me use my coupons. They wouldn’t let me stack the man. q and the target q. Then they wouldn’t let me use the $1 off when the item was $.97. My friend had the same problem the other night. I thought she was doing something wrong. Now I know it was Target. It’s almost as if they changed how they do business or had a recent training and told everyone to be pissy about it. It really makes me want to avoid Target now.
Manager told me I can’t use coupons on ANY trial size items. Target is getting worse and worse with coupons. I understand people at registers are not informed but the manager? Ehhh
I’m glad to hear that it isn’t just me and our particular Target with this problem. I used several coupons for FREE trial sizes, and the computer would say “item not purchased”. Thankfully, I had a helpful cashier — I showed her the items and she counted the coupons anyway. And my printed Target coupons wouldn’t scan either — the cashier had to type in the number to make it work. Again, some associates won’t take the time to remedy the problem. I say, don’t offer the store coupons if you’re not going to ALWAYS honor them.
I had another terrible experience at Target today. They refuse to take my Target coupon and my manufacturer’s coupon. They kept asking me, which one would you like to use. I had printed the coupon policy out and shown them and they still wouldn’t honor it. They kept saying that if the system doesn’t take it, then I couldn’t use them. I even shown them a receipt of another purchase I made where it listed that I used both a manufacturer’s coupon and Target coupon and it showed that it was a “special purchase”. I didn’t want to argue with them so I just didn’t buy the item. It’s so frustrating!
I had a problem with Target accepting only 1 Target coupon.
I bought a whole bunch of Morningstar, but forgot to give the cashier the Target Morningstar coupons, so she told me to go to the guest service desk to get them adjusted.
The guest service desk lady told me I could only use 1 Target coupon, so she could only refund me for 1 coupon.
I asked her why I couldn’t use more than 1, she said because the coupon said limit 1 coupon per customer.
I stood right there and read the coupon. Nowhere on the coupon that said limit 1 per customer or purchase. I told the lady so, but she didn’t even read the coupon and wouldn’t let me use more than 1.
I don’t know if she discriminated me because I’m a foreigner, or because I’m a foreigner and she thought I didn’t know English.
Well, my concern is if guest service desk didn’t know the policy and didn’t even bother to read the coupon, then that’s a very bad customer service.
I just recently had the same issue. The manager told me that next time I shouldn’t cut out the internet coupon, but rather leave it as a full page printout. His reasoning…I could be photo copying the coupons. Couldn’t I photo copy the full page printout too? Hmmm…My poor little embarrassed brain didn’t think about it at the time…Thanks for this post! I’ll be carrying it with me next time!
Does anyone know if there is an official policy about using Super Target coupons at regular Target? I have done it before, but tried today and they refused to take the coupon.
So I purchased four of the Kashi snack size cereals with my four target web coupons. No problem. I went to a different target a week later and they refused to use the coupon because there was a picture of a box of cereal on it. Even though I pointed out the coupon doesn’t have a size. The store manager tells me that they can’t accept a coupon that makes the item free. I called customer service when I got home, they said that I am correct and can use the coupon for the snack size cereal.(Didn’t have time to argue with them that day) Interesting how from one target to another it can be so different. I did email Target to let them know about this.
Thank God I have a cooperative Target to shop at! Sorry to hear you all are having such a time. Here is a tip that might help those who are having trouble with the Target printables scanning. Before you print, hit “print preview” then change them to “landscape” layout. They print more to a page (bonus) AND they will actually SCAN. I’ve had no problems since I started printing this way! If your coupons scan without trouble, it might help those (misinformed) cashiers who are attributing the coupons not scanning to other reasons (like not being valid). And always pick the young cashiers! They tend to not take their jobs so seriously. HTH!
I have the same question as Beth. My regular Target refuses to accept any Super Target coupons but Super Target doesn’t seem as picky.
Sometimes I have a problem with Target, too. I have noticed that when I go to a male at the register, I have better results.
Katie, and all else who are wondering:
I called Target Customer Service today about the Super Target/Target coupons. She said as long as they carry the item, they should accept Super Target coupons. She reccomended I keep the 1800 number with me and if I have problems to call them, and they can speak directly to the associate. She also is sending me a $3 card because that is the value of the coupons I had planned to use. She was very helpful, and very courteous. Probably one of the best customer service reps I have ever talked to, so that was refreshing!
I went to target today and tried to purchase the morningstar , poptarts for the kellogs fuel for school rebate armed with both target and manufacturer coupons.The cashier refused to stack the coupons first , they would take only one type either the target Q or manufac Q.Then when i said that as per their corporate policy stacking was allowed, she grumbled a bit , and spoke with her supervisor. The supervisor came back and said stacking is ok but wont accept ones printed from a computer/website. Bottomline after wasting time trying to make her understand I refused to buy the things and came back.
My point is, Is there a new policy that they will only accept Manufac Q from newspaper inserts/magazines and not the internet printed ones?
I live in Worcester county, ma and there are 2 Targets near me. I also have had trouble with the whole coupon issue. I found that for the ones I print on my computer, I always make sure that I do the head cleaning first, then after printing them I take them to the store and check them on the price scanners. It cannot read what the coupon is but it will read the bar code and display a message so I know my coupons will scan at the registers. I also had trouble with the manager in one of the stores who happened to be running the register as it was closing time and there were a lot of people checking out. He said I could not use an mq with the targetq if it made the item free. I explained that I had bought the same items before with no problem there and at the other Target and he said it was not supposed to be accepted. His reason was that if it made the items free them Mass could not collect any tax on the item!!!! Now I know we are often nicknamed taxachusetts but that was just a bit too absurd. I had all I could do to keep from laughing at him. I just politely told him to void the items and took back my coupons which I used at the same Target the next day at a different time with no problem. Thanks for the info and coupon policy.
Does anyone know how many of the same coupons you can use for the same items at Target (6 boxes of cereal with 6 coupons, etc)? I have gotten conflicting answers from Target cashiers.
Tara, for manufacturer coupons you should be able to use as many as you want. The Target store coupons do say that you may only use one like coupon per purchase; however, Target customer service has told a number of people that stores reserve the right to accept multiples. My local stores have always let me use more than one in a single transaction.
Thank you so much for this blog, I have only recently begun using the Target coupons and I have 3 stores nearby. Each shopping trip is a different experience,and my last trip was a real ordeal (the cashier turned off her light and had to ask 2 different managers for assistance). I will be emailing Target corporate for their official policy to carry with me. Thank you so much!
I had the same problem tonight. I spoke to three “managers.” I ended up coming home without the products and called the number you provided. They were great! They contacted my Target store and I called soon afterwards. The manager apologized and said he was in the wrong. He invited me back in tomorrow to give me additional coupoons. I hope they have what I went for in the first place as they were low in stock. We’ll soon see! Thanks for posting the phone number. I now have it on my cell phone in case I need it again.
Hi Tara! I just linked to your post on my blog :) I put together a list of my local grocery store coupon policies and several actually did have their coupon policy available online — Safeway, Giant, Harris Teeter, Wegmans and Shoppers Food Warehouse. I linked to their policies in my post if you want to check it out… http://fabulouslyfrugalinnova.blogspot.com/2009/09/couponing-101-part-4-store-rules.html
Thanks for being a couponing and blogging inspiration!!!
Thanks, Jen! Your links will come in handy when I update the Grocery Grab soon.
I just got back from target and wanted to print our a coupon policy to keep on me and your blog was the first to pop up in google so ill be printing yours=)
My issue today was with Crystal Light. I bought a whole bunch of other things which i had coupons for… i hand the cashier my stack of coupons and she yanks my 2 Crystal light coupons out of the pile and says “CANT TAKE THESE!” i said why not? the coupon says ANY! She says we’ll they are less than the value of the coupon. so i said you cant adjust it down? she says NOPE! [been through this 100x and i know the correct answer]. I said well Corporate has told me many of times your supposed to! So she gets a manager. He comes over and she explains and he says NOPE! We cant do that! I said how come? Corporate said that’s what you have to do in this case! The guy says “EXCUSE ME?” like i was trying to undermine him, when i was just telling him the REAL policy!! So i repeated what i said again and he still didn’t budge!! So i said okay then take them off please! and i bought my other stuff and went and called corporate just to hear that i was right lol and the lady i talked to was very nice and very helpful and said she’d be calling the store and speaking to him! I also said its pretty sad if i have to start carrying Targets coupon policy with me to prove things to store managers etc. She said i agree and you shouldn’t have to do that. She also said thank you for calling and letting us know cause if ppl like you dont call we dont know if things are being done wrong!
Just thought id’ share=)
I have always had problems with using coupons at Target. Most of the time the cashier will argue with me that the coupon is not valid because the item I’m purchasing does not match the picture on the coupon even though it is valid for “any item” by the manufacturer. I know they can override the system because they’ve done that plenty of times for me since half of my coupons won’t scan correctly. I attempted to use a manufacturer and Target coupon stacked today and even the manager wouldn’t allow it. I will definitely be carrying a printed copy of this now.
as for the whole target coupon and manufacturer coupon policy you can use one manufacturer coupon and one target coupon per an item if it doesn’t exceed the price and it has too be changed to match the price of an item and for how many you can use per a transaction the guideline is reasonable family quantities and its also depends on how much of that item that is in stock. at the target i work at my management has told me 5 of the same item coupons per a transaction or to use my best judgment i usually let it slide and there is a way to over ride the coupons just as far as it isn’t outdated.
it also states in our ad that we have the right to limit quantities but that decision is up too the store and the management.
Does anyone know targets policy regarding bogo’s? Are you allowed to use a coupon on both items, or just the one you are paying for? I have several bogo coupons to use for the glade money maker and I want to know the best way to use them or if I should even use those at all.
My question is; when I print coupons off Targets website they say “manufacturer coupon” on the top. So my cashier argued that I can not use two coupons that say they are manufacturer. So are the ones you print from their site what is considered Target coupons or are there other ones somewhere? Needless to say my first attempt at stacking at Taget was a bust :(
Target recently started including manufacturer’s coupon alongside the store coupons online. The only way to tell the difference currently is to print them, so you have to read them carefully to see if you can stack them or not. Only the coupons marked Target store coupons can be stacked with another manufacturer’s coupon.
Thanks for posting this. I had a problem today with Target in Flowood (Jackson), MS. They would not take one of my coupons. I had the manager walk over and deny it. As soon as I hit the car, I called Corporate Office. They said they were very sorry and that they have had numerous compliants. He filed a formal compliant with that Target. He then offered me some free Coupons for my trouble and told me they should be at my house within 3-5 days. I even told them that the policy stated that they are supposed to take it and they still declined it. On top of that, the cashier was extremely rude! I am just now learning the ropes and trying to save coupons. I went shopping today for the first time with my coupons and I saved $30.15 and I was thrilled! I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all your help!