The cashier's life: blog number two

In this blog post, I am going to discuss a little about saving a bit of money. I could write a whole book about saving money while shopping, so I'll start out by giving you a quick overview today. Perhaps I will elaborate a bit in posts to come.
The first, and most obvious thing, you want to look out for are the sales. Before you even go into most stores, you can look up the sales for a particular store on its website. Many stores post their weekly ads, and this is what you're looking for. I'm sure there are plenty of people who see the online price and think that the price will be the same as it the store. It won't! This is because, when you order the item online, you're cutting out the middle man- the store. The company doesn't have to pay for the item to be shipped to the store or for employees to handle the item. That's why there is a price difference. If you decide you need the item today, you can use that price difference to your advange in a couple different ways.
The first way you can use this difference is by doing an in store pick up. Many stores are using an in store pick up feature where you order the item from the store's site p, at the online price, and then pick it up while you're out. Easy enough, right? It honestly surprises me that more people don't take advantage of this opportunity to save money...and time. You order the stuff online, an employee gathers your stuff while, you're enroute, you walk into the front door, grab the nearest employee and announce your arrival and then they give your stuff to you. At that point, you're off do more exciting things.
If you don't want to take advantage of this feature, then look up the online prices (before you get to the register please) and have the cashier price match. Most store's have this option in various degrees so, you're gonna want to see if the store only price matches their own site or if they price match competitor's sites also. Many stores won't price match against Amazon because that would be ridiculous. Please don't try to suggest that. It won't work
After you get the price down by using sales and price matching, you're gonna want to use coupons. Please, whatever you do, do NOT walk up to the cashier and ask them if they have coupons. Stores do not keep coupons on hand for people who are to lazy or unindustrious (is that a word) to seek out their own coupons. There are many ways to get coupons including newspapers, online, through texts, through emails, through rewards programs, or through manufacturers themselves. Seek them out and bring them to the store with you. Coupons are a shoppers best friend, so use them.
Most stores have loyalty/rewards programs. Sales items are usually connected to these programs so, don't be surprised if you get charged for the full price when you don't give the cashier your phone number. This should be common sense but, nowadays, common sense has been thrown out the door. These cards are also used by the store to track your purchases so that they can cater to you a bit better. They do this by sending you advertisements related to your purchases and by sending you coupons!
Well, I'm going to wrap up this post for now. I gave you a few tips on how to save money... Especially if you use these tips in conjunction with each other. I may elaborate on some of these tips in later posts. For now, I expect you to go forth and put these tips to work for you. They will save you both time and money in the long run.