Love Me Some Publix

Before I start tuning up to sing Publix's praises again, I have to forward a link to my friend Chelle's site, from yesterday. This is crazy good and I think your mouth may hit your desk almost as hard as mine did! I love the fact that she's donating like a wild woman. You GO, Chelle! :)

Okay, a few days ago, I sang the "Oh, how I heart Publix" song. There's so much to say about saving money there on purchases, I neglected to say a couple of other key points. One of these days, I'm going to have to get them as a sponsor! :)

1) Did you know that Publix does free antibiotic prescriptions? Not on everything, but there's a list here. My kiddos have passed strep around multiple times this year alone, so this has been a huge help. I know other stores do $4 scripts, which is cool and all. However, free is better than cool, in my book, especially when you have 4 kids... Apologies to my peeps who work in said $4 pharmacies. :)  As long as we're talking about la pharmacia, they will also sometimes give gift certificates for new or transferred scripts. Haven't ever tried to do the free antibiotic and see if they'd give me a gift card, when they had the deal going. Dude, I'd be on cloud 9 for a full 5 minutes if that happened. :)

2) The other day, I popped into my local Publix, when they had YoPlus yogurt 4 packs for $1. They were out! The nerve. I was down because I had $0.50 coupons which, when doubled, would have made them free at the register. Down, but not out, I went to customer service and asked for a raincheck. They gave it to me and this week, I went back, but the yogurt had gone back to its normal price. After showing them the raincheck before scanning the yogurt (this is important! Always show the raincheck first!), I still got it for free. Sweet! Unless they have a limit on how many you can purchase at one time, they'll ask you how many you want and write it on there.

3) When you take in your competitors coupons, they'll do the coupon unthinkable-- honor out-of-dates! No, seriously! However, this only applies to store brand coupons and only up to a week old. Yesterday, I had some formula checks that were about to expire, plus I had 2 formula coupons: 1 manufacturer's in-date and 1 store brand out-of-date (by 1 day). Since we were stocked, it went straight to the food pantry. Here's the part I love the most. Many stores will give you grief and not give you cash back if your purchases + coupons = they owe YOU money. Publix never bats an eye. They just give you the money and a smile (kind of like having a Coke and a smile, but not as fizzy) and say, "thanks for shopping with us." Ahhh. I feel almost as refreshed as having had a tall, cold diet coke! :)

Don't forget to check out this week's sneak peek at I Heart Publix today, so you can have a couple of days to get your coupons together, before their next sale starts Wednesday. There's something about shopping somewhere that the employees don't snarl at you or act like you're keeping them from doing something more important, like filing their nails. Although I don't live in a small town, I enjoy acting like I do, when the employees at Publix offer to do kind things for you. It might not be Mayberry, but I honestly think I saw Opie bagging my groceries the other day. :)