KC-Traderbear

I haven't really looked at much of that back to school dorm stuff that Target had, but it was marked down yesterday and today. I found navy blue Rubbermaid storage totes-- pretty big ones-- marked down to $2.48 from $9.99. THAT is pretty remarkable as I never see Rubbermaid make it to 75% and there were 12 still on the shelf. I took them all! My mom and my sister and I are always in need of storage and Rubbermaid at 75% off is waaaayyy to good to pass up. Also Sterilite under the bed storage boxes 75% off. Lots of laundry baskets (navy, green and pink) marked down to 74 cents (sterilite) and garbage cans marked to $1.24. There were a lot of pretty cool things to pick from. I did also see 2 Schwinn baby joggers marked to 75% off (Orig. was $130 I think). I just didn't need any, so they are still there (Oak Park). Don't know how long they'll last though. I saw someone in line with the pull behind covered bike trailer for babies. I'm sure that was dirt cheap too. All the Schwinn bike accesories were marked to 75% off as well.

In KC... Over the past couple of days I've been to several different Targets. School supplies are just GONE. Three of the stores I went to had gone to 75%, although I don't know when. Must have been yesterday. There wasn't anything Crayola in site and not much else either. Two stores are still sitting at 30% off. I don't know what THEIR plans are. One of them just went to 30% off last week, so I don't know if they will shoot straight to 75% or spend another couple of weeks dribbling their clearance out slowly. BIG difference compared to other years for sure. Glad I stocked up on label makers during the past 2 years when they were around at 75% off time. I didn't see any label makers even marked to 50%. I did find a 4 pack of the back to school Puffs for 78 cents. Wa 'bleepin'' hoo.

Kansas City shoppers....Nice finds at the State Line Super Target. An amazing deal on Capri Sun 20 packs for 1/2 price. They are marked down to $1.98 (reg. $4.99). Use the 50 cent off coupon on the generator and they become very close in price to the illustrious Minute Maid 10 packs. The math is .074 cents per juice box on the Capri Suns and .069 on the Minute Maids... and when you take into account how difficult it can be to FIND the MMs.... well, the Capri Suns are flying off the shelf, but they still have many, many left. I haven't seen these at any other Target. I don't know if they just found them in the back room and realized they had a ton left or what. The expiration date is June of 2008, so that makes it easy to stock up. I also found the back to school Puffs boxes in the regular tissue aisle... unmarked. They were 1/2 price $1.57 for 4 boxes of Puffs. Backpacks, lunch boxes and school supplies are all 50% off at this Target. The Stanly store had 75% off backpacks, and 50% off lunch boxes and school supplies. Kind of weird. The Oak Park store was JUST NOW marking school supplies to 30% when I was there on Tuesday. Don't know if everyone will go to 75% at the same time or not. Last year, it was Sept. 19th that I have receipts from several stores that went 75% on their school supplies.

Ya, I usually do it when I end up very frustrated after making a trip to the store "thinking" that THIS IS THE DAY it will go cheaper. So, when I realize that A.) the markdown team hasn't gotten to it yet for that day or B.) I was off by a day on my markdown estimation, that's when I will sometimes 'misplace' something that I reallllly want. Because I know that I won't be back to that store for the rest of that day and since I've made one trip, I'm actually "entitled" to the first right to buy it at the lower price, right?! LOL!! I'm totally KIDDING... kind of. However, I have to say that just in general it is actually more of a rush when you find a good deal fair and square sitting out on the shelf in plain site or especially when you meet the markdown team in the aisle and they are willing to scan and reticket for you. I love it most when something is sitting out in plain site, but it isn't tagged correctly and then when I go to scan it... there is a much cheaper price!!

Oh give it a try. I hid a Spark Art Easel toy after Christmas. That box was probably 4-5 feet long by a foot wide. It stayed where I hid it for a week. (I was laughing so hard at myself as I was "misplacing" it). I couldn't believe nobody found it. Ya never know. I can just imagine the conversations the Target workers have amongst themselves when they find silly things at various spots throughout the store. "Oh, here is another desperate attempt by some crazy customer!" Some times it works and sometimes it doesn't.

I did see pools in the aisle they were working in, but I honestly don't know FOR SURE that they marked them since I wasn't in the market for a pool. I would THINK they would be marked down too, but I just don't know for sure. Sorry!

Lots of swimming goggles, life vests and pool toys went to 75% today. They were marking them this morning. I also found a bunch of electric pumps to blow up inflatables (beds, toys, whatever) marked down to $4.xx (75%). They were working hard over by the school supplies trying to move what is left and set the aisles for Halloween. I can't imagine that they won't mark school stuff down to 50% this week. But I was at a different Target just a couple of days ago that hadn't even marked them to 30%, so I don't know what exactly is up with that. The store I was at (State Line) also still had Gatorade 15 packs marked to $6.28 (30% off) and with the $2 off/gallon on the generator that's a pretty good deal. I haven't seen them go cheaper than $6.28.

I've come across cashiers that have taken my one lonely manufacturers coupon and applied it toward multiple purchases of that item. I think it was Tide or something that was on sale for a really good price, but I only had 1 Tide coupon. They just scanned the coupon 4 times. I was shocked. I don't think this young cashier had any idea what he was doing either. Just the luck of the lane ya pick I guess!

I found the Braun shaver (reg $80) down to $19.99. It was just on an endcap with the pharmacy stuff. Very lucky break. My husband had almost paid full price for that very same shaver a week earlier. He was happy. That's all I've even seen of clearance shavers.

I am so glad someone is taking the time to do this... THANKS! I'm just curious... are you creating this to load better in one browser verses another? I found with the last generator, when I loaded it in Explorer, it loaded more quickly than it did in Safari. It doesn't matter to me, I have several browsers on my computer. I just thought I'd ask! Thanks again for your hard work.

Ya, there are A LOT missing from Full Cup. Some really good old ones that I'm glad I saved in sheets of 6 to my desktop.

I think the coupon generator is GONE.

I'm kind of anal about keeping my receipts for one year. That way I can look back and see roughly when things went really cheap.

Tuesday, Sept 19 was the day all school supplies went 75% off around here (KC) LAST year. So I would guess they would start with the 30% off sale pretty soon if they stick to that schedule at all. I guess ya never know from one year to the next though.

In our paper a couple days ago it said that Walmart and Target would take that stuff back without receipts. I don't know if they will give you full retail for it or whether you'll just get the last markdown price, but they should take the toys back even without a receipt. You'll probably just get a voucher for another toy (I'm guessing). I don't understand why they still have some of those recalled toys on the shelf?! I thought they weren't supposed to sell them anymore.

I'm not really worried about stuff that is still in the package. I'm talking about a Dora/Polly/Barbie playset with 20 pieces to it (or whatever) and the pieces are spread all throughout the house. If I can only find 10 or 15 of the pieces, am I out of luck? There is no box. There is nothing to scan... just the pieces to the stuff that is recalled. Is Target giving vouchers or must it all be sent back to the manufacturer? I REALLY appreciate hearing from people who have gone through the process. After the first recall, I didn't really worry... we only had a few Dora pieces, but now with all this other stuff that was added by Mattel today, I'm afraid I have a whole toybox full of unsafe stuff and I probably ought to go look!

So, if I take the recalled sets to Target can I get my money back (or a voucher or whatever) even if I don't have a receipt? How does it work? I figured I would only be able to take recalled stuff back if I had a receipt. Can you tell me how you did it?

With each recall I am slowly more and more depressed... I haven't checked the websites for exactly what is recalled, but I bought a lot of polly pockets/barbies. So sad that at such a great deal, they have to go back. So, does lead paint poisoning happen even if toys aren't put into the mouth? I know it's unrelated to this thread, but I'm hoping that some other toy savvy moms know. The most difficult part for me is knowing what the heck accessory pieces go with some of these sets. Our toy box is a big mish mash of stuff. If I have to go through and find a tiny polly pocket piece from a set that has been recalled, I think I will loose my mind. I am anxious to see what Target's back to school clearance has. I don't know about anyone else's city, but I have seen more WILD deals on glue/folders/rulers/paper, etc. in some unlikely spots like OfficeMax, InkStop, Office Depot, etc... Elmers school glue for 4 cents, rulers and pocket folders for 4 cents, filler paper for a nickel. I mean that seems like a crazy sale for BEFORE school even starts. Even though they have a 3 or 5 item limit, it makes me wonder if Target might have lots of stuff left for their clearance, as other stores are obviously throwing out some wild deals.

I have found that generally the markdown team needs to actually scan it or it misses the markdown (if it is the only one left). HOWEVER, during the large toy sell off that happens during Christmas and now, I have seen a time or two when I know I have "misplaced" the last one of that item and it still scans at the lower price. I don't know for sure, but I wonder if during the massive reset that happens in that dept. (during those 2 times a year) they somehow enter the entire toy markdown list into the database and do the changes that way in addition to stickering things item by item. OR, maybe if it is part of a larger "team" of toys, it gets marked by default when the other "team members" do. ie., if there are 3 different barbie dolls (packaged individually) but part of a "set" like Fairytopia or whatever and one happens to be a hot seller, but the other two aren't, the "one hot seller" will by default get the markdown when it's other two "teammates" do... even if it isn't one the shelf at that moment. I don 't know if I made any sense with that example or not. I don't know for sure, and if someone does, I would love some insight on that too. We have one Target near me that is HORRIBLE at getting things stickered, but their toys always show up with the sale price. So I don't know. As for your v-smile, I guess you'd just have to check at the scanner and see what it says, but if it doesn't show up as 75% off and there isn't a markdown team in that dept. I think you might be outta luck. I don't think customer service can do markdowns... but I'm not sure on that either. Good luck!

Yesterday was so much fun. Although I hate that Target does their summer sandal sell-off the SAME day as the toy sell off. They did that the year before last as well. I was as interested in getting lots of the cute hello kitty and Barbie sandals for 3 bucks as I was to get the toys cheap. Fortunately I think most were in the toy aisle so I sped through there real quick and then breezed through shoes. I bought 23 pair for my sister's kids and my kids. They had some incredibly cute sandals this year-- IMO.

Ya know... For the last 4 years I've been shopping the toy bonanza that happens at Target 2wice a year (xmas and summer). You will drive yourself nuts trying to chase the markdown teams. Just when you think they will do the markdowns in the morning, they wait until afternoon. Sometimes if you are really lucky you will catch them in the aisle and while most are very friendly about stickering things for you as you ask, I've also encountered teams who will actually shut down the aisle while they do the marks or who will NOT scan/sticker things for you no matter how much you beg. I guess you kind of have to know your stores and how they operate. A lot of it is just luck. If it were me, I would NOT go first thing at 8 a.m. At least for the stores around me, I have rarely seen anyone doing marks that early. Could be that I just don't see it, but mid morning might be better considering that it is most likely a pretty big reset for most stores and they might just want to get to it in the morning verses the afternoon. BUT REALLY... WHO KNOWS for sure-- NOT ME! .

KC area....Toys are 75% at the ST off Chipman Road TODAY. I was out that way running errands and checked. At about 2:30 they still had a lot of V Smiles ($12.xx)-- NOT the pocket. Lots of Leapster software; Pixter Software; Polly Pockets; I didn't check boys stuff.

Aren't those flashlights COOL? I found one for 75% off too just recently. I hesitated before I bought it, but it works really well... no batteries, no bulb... just shake it for 30 seconds and viola light! It seemed to give off a lot of light too. Hopefully it continues to work for the longterm.

Has anyone tried or heard whether the Sutton Dodge steaks that Target sells are good?

I just looked on my receipt and that is the same number on my receipt. It matches what is on the red sticker. I don't have any other number that might work.