Family Dollar Updates Their Ad Match Policy and it is TERRIBLE!

Family Dollar Ad Match Update

I have been meaning to write this post for over a week.  Between Bluebird doubling your Savings Catcher money, the huge change to the BOGO policy in Florida, the announcement of Snap by Groupon, and our upcoming :fr: Online Couponing Class I just haven’t been able to find the time.  But right now Dian is in bed, the dog has been walked, I have a glass of wine and there isn’t anything good on TV so I thought this would be as good a time as any.

Here’s the big news, Family Dollar is now Ad Matching like Walmart!  That’s awesome, right?  In fact the rules are virtually identical to Walmart’s Ad Match policy except for one “minor” point.  See if you can see the difference.

Family Dollar Ad Match Policy

• We will match:
   Any local competitor’s advertised price.  The Competitors’ ads must feature
  a specific item for a specified price during the specified time of
  redemption.
•  We require the customers to have the ad with them (photo copies and
  mobile ads are not allowed and will not be accepted) to honor a
  competitor’s ad and the ad dates for the competitor must be currently
  valid.
•  Any limits that the competitor has will apply. Example: limit 2
   Items purchased must be identical to the ad (size, quantity, brand, flavor,
  color, etc.)
•  If the offer is Buy One Get One free, the ad must have a specified price for a
  specific item
  Example: Buy One for $2.49, Get One free (BOGO)
•  Preferred/Loyalty shopping card prices for specific items that are in a printed
  ad will be matched

Did you see it?  The one tweak that makes their Ad Match policy almost meaningless?  Here it is again.

• We require the customers to have the ad with them (photo copies and
  mobile ads are not allowed and will not be accepted) to honor a
  competitor’s ad and the ad dates for the competitor must be currently
  valid.

That’s right, you have to HAVE THE AD WITH YOU and you can’t even pull it up on your phone to show them.  This means that unless you get the ads mailed to you, you have to physically drive to the individual store you want to PM and grab their ad, then drive to Family Dollar to ad match.  What is the point of that?

Well Family Dollar, all I can say is, good try.  You tried to take a swipe at Walmart but you failed miserably.  If your customers need the ad, there is no convenient way to Ad Match at your store.  I’m sure someone in your leadership thought this was going to be a good idea but perhaps you should have picked the brains of the people who actually ad match and found out what they think before coming up with a new policy.

What do you think?  Tell me in the comments.