My wife was telling me over dinner about a store experience she had today.  It epitomizes customer frustration and leaves me shaking my head.  She was at a well-known retailer shopping for the holidays and went to them specifically because they have a 30% single purchase coupon.  (I will keep the name of them private since I have a strong suspicion this would have happened at many retailers and I don’t see a reason for one brand to take the hit for what is par for the course.)

Anyway, she arrived at the register to be rung up. At the end of the process, my wife handed the cashier the 30% off coupon.  The response, “I’m sorry but this coupon is not valid until tomorrow.”  My wife apologized and asked if they would accept the coupon anyway to which the response was “we can’t but we will gladly hold the merchandise for you so you can come back to use the coupon tomorrow.”  Nice enough and trying to be accommodating but I must say fundamentally flawed.  At that moment, you have to close the deal and take our money!

Here is a customer (in this economy) willing to spend $300 in merchandise and “coupon logistics and rules” is going to prevent the store from taking our money and making the sale?!?!  To bring you to the end of the story, my wife nicely said “no thanks” and did not purchase the items.  I can safely say she won’t be going back to purchase the items tomorrow.  In fact, she found them cheaper at a competitor so their competition got the revenue to boot!

Look, I know stores have rules and rules are made to be followed.  And being an unbiased third party, I can almost buy into the “customer fairness” argument about all customers being offered the same deal.  But at some point, doesn’t one have to say, “a sale is a sale.”  When consumer spending is down across the board, you aren’t going to sell $300 in merchandise because the coupon isn’t valid for another 12 hours?  In this economy?  No, you have to take our money!  Make the sale, that revenue just walked out the door!