Anybody do the Walmart savings catcher program?

[GoodSteward]

My wife has been doing the savings catcher program for a while, maybe eight months or so. It isn't very hard, you just use the app and take a picture of your receipts from Walmart. I forget to give her some, but it looks for items that are cheaper elsewhere and gives you the difference. Usually just pennies or a dollar. Apparently, she decided to cash it in today and it amounted to $26. Not bad for about 5 seconds of work a few times a month.

[rennigade]

This is a savings advice forum and you put the $ after the amount. Much to learn you have.

[GoodSteward]

This is a savings advice forum and you put the $ after the amount. Much to learn you have.

I've been in the habit of doing that lately when I put money in a post. This is a site about saving money, and not about english and grammar, thankfully. If that were the case many, many would fail. lol

[Nutria]

This is a savings advice forum and you put the $ after the amount. Much to learn you have.

A PM would have been the polite thing to do.

[disneysteve]

We don't go to WalMart that often so not familiar with that. We are regulars at Target and my wife uses the CartWheel app there. You scan items in the store as you put them into your cart and it shows if there is a discount or if there is a similar item that is discounted.

For example, we were there yesterday. I was buying a box of brand name Cheerios because it was the same unit price as the store brand. When she scanned it, it popped up that there was a 5% discount on the store brand, so I bought that instead. She also got 10% off her granola bars. These are discounts you only get with the app. When you check out, they scan your phone to register the discount.

[Nutria]

$26 in 8 months?

[disneysteve]

$26 in 8 months?

Programs like this don't save you much but it's savings all the same. I thinky wife said she's saved just over $50 since she started using the app at Target. I don't care how long that took. it's still $50 we didn't have to spend.

[Nutria]

Programs like this don't save you much but it's savings all the same. I thinky wife said she's saved just over $50 since she started using the app at Target. I don't care how long that took. it's still $50 we didn't have to spend.

At least the Target app doesn't require you to scan in your receipts...

[disneysteve]

At least the Target app doesn't require you to scan in your receipts...

No. It requires you to scan each item you are buying in the store. But then the savings is immediate which is nice.

[GoodSteward]

For my wife, it's great. She doesn't hold a job that earns money (staying home with 4 kids is a JOB), so it's fun for her to watch it build. I'm thrilled she got 26$ just for the fun of it. lol.

[cooliemae]

I've been using Savingscatcher since it was launched. The best time was probably close to when it had launched when Walmart offered to double the savingscatcher amount if you loaded it on a AMEX Bluebird card, which are free.

Just quickly glancing at my balance and I've saved $90 since July. Of course I try to price match most things in the store, but it's nice to have a backup to catch things.

FYI Savingcatcher does not match drugstores like Walgreens, so make sure you PM in store for any of those offers.

[Thrif-t]

I use it but honestly I price match at the register to get the most savings now. Plus the savings catcher doesn't price match everything like produce and meats, you have to show them the ads at the registers to get those prices. But I scan my receipts in just the same. I think I have $5 in my account.

I do notice that Walmart is getting more stingy on what it will price match. Used to be if someone had Green Giant fresh whole mushrooms for $1 and Walmart didn't carry Green Giant, you could get the Walmart brand and they'd price match it. Well no longer, now it has to be the same exact brand in order to get the price. I find I'm now shopping at more stores to get the loss leaders. But it was nice for a few years when I could just go to Walmart with my ads and get everything there.

Oh and I've read online that in some parts of the country Walmart has stopped price matching at the registers all together so I assume that will be going away in time for everyone too

[Nutria]

I find I'm now shopping at more stores to get the loss leaders.

How much savings vs. "time + effort"?

[Thrif-t]

Well I've never sat down and did the math but I think pretty substantial savings when you're talking stocking up on loss leaders. Our stores are all right around each other and when I go grocery shopping it usually takes me a couple of hours to hit 3 or 4 stores. I only work 3 days a week so I have the time. And I can go out on my lunch hour when I'm at work and pick stuff up too. It's helped our family a lot having me be so thrif-t with our grocery budget.

[cooliemae]

The program has slowly changed, that's for sure. It started with you not even needing the ad, to show the ad, to if it's too much the supervisor has to approve it, and so on. I would hate to see it go, but in my conversations with employees and supervisors there has been a real problem with people abusing the pricematch system. I've had a few instances where they haven't wanted to pricematch Del Monte Bananas because the ad was for Dole or something petty like that, but pretty much the store is good about matching.

That being said every store is different. For example, the Walmart I shop at lets people pricematch the Great Value or Price First Milk to Store Brands, however if I travel 45 minutes south to another Walmart they don't.

I would hate to see it go because I live in rural part of northern WI and having the ability to have the prices matched to stores 50 miles away is a big savings for me.