New Massachusetts Walmart Coupon Policy Sparks Controversy

Massachusetts is a great place to live. Residents and visitors have their choice of city or county life, plenty of restaurants, and of course plenty of shopping.

Massachusetts is home to an abundance of independent retailers from book stores, to sports equipment and gift shops. While small and family-owned businesses are a vital part of the state's economy, big box stores have their place in Massachusetts as well.

There is perhaps no more prolific big box chain in the country than Walmart. Walmart has over 48 locations throughout Massachusetts and those stores employ over 14,000 people in the state. Last year, those 48 stores produced $56.6 million paid to Massachusetts. Massachusetts Walmarts also donated over $2.6 million to the state, between stores, clubs, and the Walmart foundation, according to its corporate offices.

Millions of Massachusetts shoppers take advantage of the affordable prices the chain offers and of course, that includes their coupons, however, last year the retailer announced some major changes to its coupon policy.

Walmart Coupon Policy Changes in Massachusetts

As of September 24, 2023, Walmart introduced new language in their coupon policy fine print, the first time the retail chain made changes to their coupon policy since November 2017.

• First and foremost, you'll no longer be able to earn cash on coupon overages, meaning Walmart will not give cash back if the value of your coupon is more than the price of the item.

Walmart does not give cash back nor will any overages apply to the remaining items in the transaction if the value of a coupon is greater than the purchase value of the item, including WIC and SNAP. The value of a coupon will be applied up to the price of the item and any excess value will not be applied to the transaction total.

• Next, you'll no longer be able to use more than four identical coupons on the same day.

“Limit of 4 identical coupons per household, per day (unless otherwise noted on coupon).”

• The last major change to Walmart's coupon policy affecting Massachusetts consumers is that if a coupon is declined by the computer system at checkout, an employee will not be able to override it. A store manager will have the final see. Previous to this change, cashiers had more leeway to accept coupons that might be declined by the system.

"Items purchased must match the coupon description (brand, size, quantity, color, flavor, etc.). Acceptance of unmatched coupons is against policy and will be systematically denied."