The True Value Company provides a number of different types of coupons. These are indicated by a code that True Value sends with their coupon data. In general, the "type" of the coupon indicates how the coupon is intended to be applied toward items or a transaction; however, some coupons involve a mix of types. In addition to a type, coupons are assigned a source and brand name. Coupons are maintained as item and catalog data by the application. The item and catalog descriptions indicate the coupon's use and a 14-digit numeric barcode (UPC) is associated with each coupon. Coupon items are assigned an item type of "Rewards Coupon" (the type is indicated by an integer value of 22 in the data). Features described in this section are currently only available with release 12 (expected release date of January 2017) and later.

Some coupons are considered "limited use" (LU) coupons (the coupon may only be used once per membership, for example). When a limited use coupon is involved, the coupon must be validated by a web service in order for the coupon to be accepted. Barcodes associated with limited use coupons are formatted a bit differently and contain alpha and numeric characters which include the coupon SKU as well as other elements.

The source of a coupon indicates the type of advertising or marketing effort that the coupon originated from. Abbreviated values are listed below along with a description:

The brand name, if set, refers to the brand of the product, not the manufacturer necessarily. One example provided by True Value Corporation is "a black fine point Sharpie marker has a branch name of 'Sharpie.'"

Using Rewards Coupons at Point of Sale

Although the data we receive indicates the type of coupon, the description of the coupon is the only indicator of the coupon's amount and intended use. For example, a coupon's description might be "Event $10 OFF $25" which describes a coupon for $10 for a purchase of $25 or more. Another coupon might have a description of "HOLIDAY 20% OFF" or simply say "BAG SALE." A single coupon might have multiple conditions and types. A coupon might involve a free item with a percentage off the remaining items or include limitations such as a particular type of item or manufacturer or the price of one or more items, for example. Since the descriptions vary in this way, and no other data is present, there isn't enough information to automatically apply a coupon specifically or automatically.

Type "D" coupons are the only type that has a dollar amount (unit price) specified. If the coupon item SKU has a dollar amount, it will be set as the coupon value (credit) when the coupon is associated with a Sales transaction. The cashier cannot modify the quantity or amount of a "D" type coupon.

For any coupon without pricing ("P," "F," and "T" types), it is up to the sales clerk (cashier) to determine whether and how a coupon should be handled. In cases where the coupon SKU has no preset price (suggested list), we require that the cashier specify the coupon amount to be applied. After entry, the cashier can modify the amount by clicking on the coupon's description.

In the example above, a coupon with a description of "40% One Item up to $40" has been presented by a customer. In this case, the cashier would need to (a) check and see if the transaction includes at least one item that is priced at or below $40, (b) calculate what 40% of one unit of that item's price would be, and (c) enter that amount in the "coupon value" text area.

Since rewards coupons are typically reimbursed to your company, they would not adjust the sales tax (taxable total) for the transaction when applied.

Limited Use Coupons

Limited use coupons have additional requirements and must be approved for your company to receive reimbursement. Coupons are initially authorized using a web service at time of entry in Point of Sale and then re-checked and submitted during processing. For a limited use coupon to be accepted, the following conditions must be met:

1.True Value EDI must be setup.

2.True Value Rewards must be enabled for the branch.

3.The parameter for Limited Use coupons must be enabled by support.

4.The coupon's UPC must be formatted correctly. A limited use coupon has three (3) segments. The first segment is a prefix of LU followed by the percent symbol (%). The next two (2) segments are a coupon SKU and alternate SKU which generally will match the coupon SKU in your data. Segments are separated by dashes. The total length of the limited use coupon code, not including the dashes, is 15-characters.

LU%-ABCDEF-TVR123

5.The sales transaction must be associated with a valid True Value Rewards membership ID.

6.At least one item must be entered in the data grid for the transaction.

7.Only items being sold with a vendor-item for the True Value vendor (the vendor used for EDI) are eligible. Only the items that meet this condition are sent with the web request and the request will fail if no items are sent.

8.An item record (SKU) matching the coupon must exist in the branch inventory that is conducting the transaction.

9.The True Value web service must be accessible, accept the data sent, and return a status code that indicates that the coupon is valid.

If the coupon is authorized, the rewards coupon SKU is simply added to the data grid. The description of the item will be listed in blue text to indicate that the item is a rewards coupon.

In the event of a communication failure or rejected request by the web service, the cashier may be presented with a prompt asking if they want to apply the coupon anyhow. In this case, your company would not be reimbursed should the cashier agree to apply the coupon (yes). If the cashier responds "no" to the dialog, the coupon won't be applied.

When a coupon is declined, it means that communication was successful; however, the True Value web service is denying the coupon. This might mean that the coupon has already been used or has expired, for example.

Handing Coupons Financially

Coupons use an item SKU and are handled like the sale of an item unless you takes steps to (a) assign coupon SKU items to a specific and unique product group and (b) use Detailed Mapping to map that product group differently from the sales of regular items. There is no specific or separate mapping for rewards coupons and credit SKUs.