Raincheck Meaning
“What is a raincheck?”- I get asked this question all the time in my coupon classes.
A rain check is a slip of paper from a specific store that allows the buyer to return at a later date and buy a currently out of stock item at the sale price.
Have you ever seen a GREAT sale in a flyer, made a special trip to the store and they are out of stock? It happens to people who coupon quite a bit but it can happen on normal deals as well.
To make sure you NEED a raincheck:
1. Find an employee and double check that the item is out of stock. It could be on an end-cap or in the back of the store. If they have it that saves you from having to get the rain check and return to the store later.
2. Make sure it is not a special promotion affecting the price. For example if an item is only free because the store is having a triple coupon event, your rain check is not going to extend that event. It is only for the price.
3. Make sure the item is in the sales flyer- you can not get rain checks on clearance items or special sales like Doorbusters, Black Friday deals etc.
If both of those conditions are met it means you need a rain check.
Rain checks will vary a little bit from store to store. At some stores, like Target, the rainchecks are processed through the cash registers and will print out on receipt sized papers. In the bulk of stores they will be hand written by an employee.
As you go to check out let your cashier know that you want to get a raincheck. This way the cashier can let you know if he/she can write the raincheck or if you need to go to customer service.This varies greatly by store.
The employee will fill out the slip of paper, including the product, its description, and the quantity (which will vary by store). Most stores in my area do not have expiration dates on their rainchecks but some stores will add them. They can vary from 10 days (which honestly isn’t terribly helpful) to 90 days. To make things easier have the store ad with you opened to the page with the item.
If they are STILL out of the item when your raincheck expires just get another raincheck!
