Don’t cry, but the Free Post Cereal Sale just got sad.
Oh no, some of you have seen that face before. It is never good. Here is the scoop… I talked to a local Boise Albertsons grocery manager today who informed me that the warehouse (which serves the entire treasure valley) only had 14 cases of Honey Bunches of Oats Raisin when he called planning to order several palates this morning. A case only holds 12-15 boxes. That is not very much cereal! So what does this mean?
The stores will sell out of HBO raisin in no time!
What are the options?
- Get a rain check, and wait for doubles to come again.
I know, I know the ad limits you to 4. If you are kind you may be able to work something out with your store to get a rain check for your full order. Leave comments if you know of a store that will honor rain checks for a higher amount and let you double.
- Be at your store at 6 am Sunday with doubles.
- Buy your cereal for .49¢ as soon as your coupons arrive.
- Save your coupons for another sale, they do not expire until 4/10! Yesterday this cereal was on sale for $1.66/box so with doubles it would be free again. So keep an eye out for a good price to come back.
- Call around to find out if any store happened to order lots of this cereal months ago when the managers put in their initial order. The Caldwell Stadium store tends to order LOTS of product, I would start there.
Final Thoughts:
Don’t be rude to your store managers if they can not fill your order. Try to keep a good rapport with them. I am sure they are just as bummed as we are. Albertsons tends to have excellent customer service so try to work with them to get you a rain check that works.
I do not know the status of the WA, OR, CA or MT stores supply, but I am guessing it could be pretty similar. Leave a comment if you know.
Good luck everyone!
About Monica
It all began on October 8th, 2008. Cathy and Monica started this coupon blog to help friends and family learn about their new money saving hobby couponing! Since then they have taught thousands of women (and men) 
I am in WA and as soon as I caught wind I called and pre-ordered. It might not be too late for some of you to do that
That is the problem though we did pre order and the warehouse does not have enough to fill the orders.
I see what you are saying, I was just saying maybe for the folks in WA.
Gotcha:):):)
I talked to one of the Boise managers also. He said he ordered a lot. However, he wasn’t sure what he would get from the warehouse. Doesn’t sound like much from the post. He said that he has had over ten people call (this was yesterday) trying to order. One lady wanted 360 boxes!! He said he decided to do it on a first come first serve basis. Since I don’t shop on Sunday, I guess I will have to hope for them to give me a rain check for the 10 I was hoping to get. If not, you win some, you lose some.
Meaghan, way to stick to your values! Even if you don’t get the deal, you still have your integrity! That simple act has inspired me!
Thanks!
The walgreens magager told me that Idaho has a new law that excludes Idaho from “limits”. (ie limit 4) Us and New Hampshire or somewhere like that. It was printed on the coupons in their flier, so I asked what it meant and that is what he told me.
Actually that’s true. It’s printed in fine print on Walgreens and rite aid ads.
I asked about that at one of the Walgreens and was told that the individual stores can set limits on their own and that they were going to stick to the limits in the ads.
The law is that they can’t limit how many you can buy but they can limit how many you get for a certain price. So it wouldn’t be helpful in this situation.
I don’t know if any of the other stores do this, but the Pocatello store will let you pay for your product beforehand, even if they don’t have it in stock. Then they will write you a raincheck and they’ll put in the amount $0.00 and make a notation that the product was already paid for. That way you can go pick up your product whenever they get it back in stock, easy peasy! I did this for the free soup we could get a while back.
Anyway, I don’t know if other stores would allow you to do this, but there are some very friendly and helpful people/managers at the Pocatello store. It also pays to be nice even when things are frustrating. I find that gets me farther than anything.
I know the Columbia Village store in Boise does that but most of them will not.
The last time I was there (Columbia Village) they said that it was against corporate policy and that they had to sign something saying that they could be terminated for doing this. I am not sure if this is entirely true, but I love my Albertson’s employees and wouldn’t want to see anyone get fired so that I could get some free cereal. Just a heads up.
wait- are you saying that if something says “limit 4″ that it doesn’t apply to Idaho? Even for a coupon? Or just the ad? Where can I find that law in print so I can prove it to stores?
(I’m not going to buy 360 boxes of cereal though)
Could you imagine?! That’s almost one, every day, for a YEAR!! I’d be so sick of it!!!
Lol. I’m the lady that ordered 360 boxes…don’t fret, though…it was for 8 families cuz I’m the designated shopper. Since I don’t shop Sunday, either, it look like we’ll miss this deal. No biggie–another deal is always around the corner.
Bless you Box-a-day lady! I only shop for my family, my parents, and my grandparents and it is enough to make me absolutely crazy!
You ladies are awesome! Your right the deals come around!
So glad I called & had my 20 boxes set aside in my Idaho Falls store! Whew!!
I think it is important not to give couponers a bad name. Always be good to your cashiers and managers. Getting some free cereal is not worth burning bridges with these people.
Talked to the Manager at the Ammon Store – all he has is what’s on the shelf but they will work out rainchecks to cover how ever many boxes we want,
I haven’t enen seen an ad yet…so it’s a limit 4??! So how do we go about buying ten boxes if its limit 4 in the ad? I ordered coupons and pre ordered ten boxes at two diff stores in WA to use my doubles on 9 of them. I’ve only been doing this for 2 months. Oh wait, is it basically limit 4 per trans? So if I do 3 trans with my special order of 10 boxes I should be fine? Thanks so much for all your help ladies!!
I was told by cashiers at 2 different stores (Cole/Fairview & Ustick/Five Mile) they would not honor a double coupon with a raincheck. Is this true? Is every store different?
I don’t know. I have used doubles with rainchecks at the Eagle store and Eagle/McMillan. Might depend who you talk to.
I do it at 5&O all the time!
I placed my order yesterday but the Grocery manager told me that they havent got any Rasins one so far (Not even once as I had checked it last week when we had doublers) and she will let me know if she will be getting it or not. She took my no. After reading this post I caled her and she said tha she has placedan order but will get to know only by tomorrow. I need 8 boxes so I have my fingers crossed
I am in WA
Glad I’m not in need of cereal!!
Me too Stacey! I was happy to get to sit this one out as I know my hubby and son would not eat cereal with Raisins and I am happy to be able to use my doublers on something else this weeked. Its always a bummer when something like this happens though. Too bad there aren’t any Post coupons coming out for the other varieties this weekend
I haven’t scoped my 2 Albies yet for the Cereal yet, I’m hoping I can get my 12 boxes monday morning – i’m in MT. I have limited space and our boys will be scouting for food in April so I plan on sharing some with the local food bank.
Where in MT are you?
Sadly – both Albies were out of said cereal by 1pm today – went after church
Has anyone in GF tried using the coupons on other HBO cereals other than what’s on the coupon?
I pre ordered 20 boxes in Happy Valley Oregon but I doubt they will come in. I told my grocery manager (who is trying very hard to stock up for these sales) that I would LOVE to pick them up Monday * she is holding them in HER OFFICE for me : ) BUT if she preferred I would be HAPPY to pay .49 CENTS for a box of cereal! Free is awesome but to me… paying .49 for a wholesome cereal is a blessing. I love coupons and have saved so much while stocking up at the same time I really consider myself fortunate.
But I must say… seeing this sad crying baby face is NEVER a good sign!
take care ladies
kari
I bought my coupons on Ebay…and now I can’t use them has anyone heard if Walmart has this?
Walmart has them for about 1.60/box
I originally used my 4 coupons (from the papers I normally get) when they were on sale for 2.50 and with a doubler were only .50. Then I ordered 10 more on ebay for this sale. I was able to use 6 coupons with the doublers at Albertsons and then couldn’t find more anywhere. Today, I took the Albertsons ad to Walmart and had them price match the 1.49 price and then I used my remaining 4 coupons, getting the cereal for .49 a box. (my walmart’s price was 2.44 before the price match)
I went to the store first thing last Wed. and they didn’t have the raisins one but the coupon worked for the other brands. I wish I had more coupons.
Just called 3 different Albertsons and they are already sold out before the doubles even came out. One lady ordered 60 boxes. The Stadium store got 20 cases yesterday and are already sold out. I wish some people weren’t so greedy. All I want is 12 boxes.
I purcahsed 15 boxes of Honey bunches of oats on Saturday, they did’n't have the “raisin” kind, but the coupon worked on the honey pecans and also the walnut. I purchased my coupons on Ebay on Wednesday and got them by Sat.and decided to go shopping the same day I got them just in case they would be out by Monday.