Rainchecks

When a traditional grocery store (Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Lowes Foods) runs out of an advertised sale item, they'll usually offer a raincheck. A raincheck is a piece of paper that allows you to purchase the item at the sale price later, after the store has restocked, even if the sale is no longer going on. (The exception is if the ad says "No rainchecks" or "While supplies last" or something similar to indicate when it's gone, it's gone.)

Getting a raincheck is a simple thing - if the store is out of the sale item you want, just ask for one. Some stores will write you a raincheck at the register, others will send you to the customer service desk. Either way, the employees are happy to do it and you shouldn't hesitate to ask for a raincheck.

Lowes Foods has the least-flexible raincheck policy. First, their rainchecks all expire 30 days from the date written. Second, if the raincheck is for an item that was BOGO, they limit you to the current BOGO selling price, not necessarily the BOGO concept. In other words, if cereal is on sale this week BOGO, and the selling price is $3, in reality you're only paying $1.50 for each box. They'll write the raincheck to allow you to come back within the next 30 days and pay $1.50 per box.

Food Lion follows the same guidelines, except their rainchecks don't expire.

Harris Teeter, however, gives you the most flexibility on their rainchecks. Sometimes, you can really use them to your advantage and come away with some great deals. Not only do they never expire, but in the case of BOGO items, they write the rainchecks according to the BOGO concept, but don't limit you to a firm price. To illustrate: We all know that stores often raise the per-unit price of an item before putting it on sale BOGO. Usually, it's still a good deal. Let's say that a certain kind of cereal usually sells for $3 a box. This week they raise the per-unit price to $4 a box and put it on BOGO special. Still a good deal at $2 a box, right? If they run out, you can get a raincheck to purchase this cereal BOGO at a future date. But let's say that in another 3 weeks, they put the cereal on sale for $2 a box outright. Now you use your BOGO raincheck to get it for $1 a box! Make sense?

I've gotten some incredible deals at Harris Teeter this way - combining a raincheck with a current sale price. Rainchecks can also be great combined with coupons. Or when there is a shelf-tag advertising money off my next visit if I buy X number of this item in one visit but I don't like the current selling price. Or, sometimes, I just don't have the freezer space or the extra money this week to really stock up on a sale item the way I want to. Lucky for me, they're out anyway - so I get a raincheck and stock up when it's convenient for me.

One of my all-time best grocery deals ever came about as a combination of raincheck, coupons , and Catalinas (the coupons that print out at the register). The deal was buy 3 Kelloggs cereals in 1 trip, get a coupon for a free gallon of milk. Buy 5, get 2. Buy 7, get 3. I had a raincheck to get Kelloggs Frosted Mini Wheats BOGO. I also had several coupons for $1 off a box of Kelloggs cereal. When I combined them all, I walked away with 7 boxes of cereal and 3 coupons for a free gallon of milk for a little over $8. That was like getting $1 off 3 gallons of milk, and 7 boxes of cereal free!

While extraordinary deals like that don't come along every week, I can regularly beat the store's best sale price by combining rainchecks with sales, coupons and/or Catalinas. Just the other week I got Simply Potatoes refrigerated hash browns for $1 apiece by combining raincheck + sale.

I make it a practice to always ask for rainchecks whenever an advertised item is out of stock. Even if I buy cereal (or whatever sale item) on Wednesday, the go back on Thursday for another item and notice they're out. I'll ask for a raincheck for the cereal and squirrel it away. Start asking for rainchecks - you'll wonder how you ever did without them.