- These are 10 shopping secrets
Michaels does not want you to know,
but I'm Matthew Granite the YouTube Deal Guy,
and I do wanna save you as much cash as possible,
that could be one of my weaker video openings,
but from a secret to help you unlock
the truth about those color coded price tags,
to how you can almost always pay
a lower price than other shoppers,
and what could be the ultimate coupon stacking hack,
I am here to help you, I'm gonna bring you inside
my local Michaels store.
Today's video is not sponsored in any way,
and if you do like this content,
please feel free to give this video a thumbs up
and share it with a fellow Michaels shoppers.
Shopping secret number one, don't ever go empty handed
without a 20% off coupon when you are shopping at Michaels,
because you can almost always find one.
Well, the 40% off Michaels coupon has disappeared for now,
similar to the Hobby Lobby one,
you can regularly access a 20% off
all regular price online and in-store purchases
via the app through the Rewards Program,
we'll discuss that Rewards Program in a moment,
but this is something every shopper should keep in mind,
full price at Michaels is definitely not
anything you should endure.
Shopping secret number two,
Michael would like to give you $5 for free,
and you should definitely take them up
on that offer when you shop.
If you are not a member of the Michaels Rewards Program,
the store is very quick to also offer
a free $5 rewards voucher throughout the year.
Now you can see in my specific store
they do have a campaign tied to dates,
but these vouchers are offered regularly
pretty much every month,
and at other times if you buy specific promotional items
throughout the store, and likely an item
that you were planning to buy anyhow,
you also qualify for that $5 voucher.
These free $5 vouchers will be emailed to you,
and yes, you can combine those vouchers with coupons
despite the coupon stacking policy.
And for shopping secret number three,
understand that you can combine coupons,
you can do this despite what Michael says about stacking.
Now, this is a rule that often confuses a lot of people,
well, Michaels states that you can't stack coupons,
there are two types of coupons
that you can in fact combine, you can use the $5 voucher
in conjunction with another coupon,
like a 20% off coupon that I mentioned
at the beginning of this video,
you can also combine that same 20% off coupon
that I mentioned with a manufacturer's coupon,
so if there's something in the store
where you find a manufacturer's coupon online,
you can combine them,
what Michaels is basically trying to tell you,
if you have two 20% off coupons
you can't pile them on top of each other
like other retailers might allow,
CVS and Kohl's are just two other stores
where they do allow some types of coupons stacking.
Before I explain the truth
about those color coded price tags,
shopping secret number four is tied
to a phenomenal policy at Michaels,
that more people should be using to their advantage,
and that my friends is the price match promise at Michaels.
Michaels not only has one of the best price match policies,
but they will beat a competitor price by 10%,
they also price match Amazon.com
which on its own is astounding
and something not a lot of people know,
and of course they do price match
against the regular competitors, Hobby Lobby, JOANN,
but when it comes to Family Dollar, Dollar General,
and Walmart, you can really take advantage at Michaels
if you prefer shopping in that atmosphere
and never having to step foot in a Walmart.
Michaels in-store policy clearly indicates
that if you find a lower price on an identical in-stock item
from any Brick-and-mortar retailer,
or any online retailer that's huge,
they will match that price and then beat it by 10%,
you might need to bring the ad,
you might need to allow them the opportunity
to validate that, but that is awesome.
You can tell from my level of excitement,
some people get really excited
by a fancy sports car or a bottle champagne,
you hand me a good price match promise,
and I get all jittery and full of goosebumps.
Shopping secret number five,
similar to myself on this channel,
Michaels celebrates Black Friday essentially all year,
I'll get to the stores obsession
with Christmas in a few moments,
but the term Doorbuster
which is typically tied to Black Friday,
is in fact something you can find
on a more regular basis at Michaels,
for example, in February there's often
a seven Doorbuster for 70% off sale,
and other huge seasonal events
brings savings comparable to Black Friday,
which include reductions in January, April, July,
September, and of course November,
which I'll explain more about in a moment.
Shopping secret number six
and then I will tackle those price tags,
understand that the grab bags and now grab boxes
could present an incredible value
if they are offered at your local store,
seasonal items chock full of greatness,
sometimes with a value well over a hundred bucks
can be purchased by you almost every month for $4.
You might've heard of the Michaels Grab Bags
which often become available at the end of the month,
they're not always available every month
nor at every location, but a quick trick,
is if you see two colored price tag stickers
on top of an item in your store,
that item has a higher chance of ending up in the grab bag,
that's right, if you see two colored price tags
stacked on top of each other,
this signifies the longevity of that item,
there's a very good chance that we'll end up
in the grab bag or grab box,
which you can then purchase for $4
that has many other items in that box.
Shopping secret number seven
that Michaels does not want you to know
is tied to the price tags,
and for Michaels, the price tags are color coded
more to the benefit of the employee
rather than the shoppers,
and Michaels is not the only store to do this,
the same tactic is employed by TJ Maxx and other retailers,
and if you shop frequently at TJ Maxx,
I just uploaded a video on that right here on this channel.
The various colored price tags
which are designed primarily so employees understand
how long an item has been on the floor,
is also an opportunity to help you
better structure your shopping.
At Michaels, green does not mean go,
if you see a green price tag,
unless you really need the item,
I would wait until you see it with an orange price tag,
orange means final clearance or almost final markdown,
that is generally the last phase of a product in the store.
Through my findings, the blue price tags
generally signify a seasonal item,
and based on the information I gathered at my local store,
no one really fully understands the pink price tags yet,
what I can tell you is that pink price tag
does not denote the final stage of a product,
and while it does match my shirt,
if anyone watching right now is a Michaels employee,
please leave me a comment,
the employees at my local store
were not really in full understanding
what that paint price tag signifies.
Shopping secret number eight on the other hand
is something that I understand very well,
and this is my encouragement that you should price check
your local Michaels store,
these red kiosks that you see in local stores
are often an under utilized utility by shoppers,
unless you're my daughter who thinks
they are a video game waiting to happen,
I would highly recommend that you check
the price tag of a product by scanning it
before you determine whether or not
you wanna put it into your shopping cart,
there are plenty of items in the store
that will have one price listed on the tag
and they are in fact being sold at a different price,
and an employee may not have had the chance already
to update that sticker.
In the case of just this one example,
and there are many usually tied to any shopping trip I make,
the flower pot you see right here listed for 499,
I scanned it it reveals a price of $2 and 99 cents.
The savings add up quickly,
and as a shopper I find this particularly helpful
because sometimes I won't buy an item
based on a price that it is listed at,
where I could in fact get a lower price
by simply having that information at my disposal.
Shopping secret number nine applies to anyone
that has made a floral decor purchase from Michaels,
and there are actually bad months to buy these products.
Now, many of you watching will quickly identify
that Michaels has one of the more robust floral sections,
but if you're planning to buy anything floral,
do not under any circumstances accept
the discount of 40% less unless you're planning
a wedding or some anniversary celebration,
and you absolutely need them at that second,
the inferior months for a floral purchase
are January, March, August, and September,
they are frequently featured
at 50 to 70% lower than the prices you will see
January, March, August, and September.
Before you get to an entire bonus shopping secret section
of this video, which includes the truth
about the bonus bins and a whole secondary offering
that a lot of people don't know exists,
shopping secret number 10 is know your status
and work it to your advantage.
Unlike Hobby Lobby which makes it particularly difficult
for educators to prove their eligibility
by requiring a school credit card,
Michaels will offer educators, teachers, principals,
and more 15% off an entire purchase,
including sale item as long as you have
a verified school ID or school document,
and from classroom heroes,
to military heroes, active duty reservists,
veteran and registered military dependence
also score 15% off with valid ID,
and seniors get 10% off an entire Michaels purchase,
which also includes sale items everyday online and in-store
with proof of ID, all of these policies
very clearly laid out on their website,
work them to your advantage
if you fall into one of these exemplary groups of people.
And now for the Michaels, bonus shopping secret section
of this video as a thank you to all of you wonderful people
who've made it this far into the video
I really do appreciate it, including my mom,
who just recently told me that she often makes it past
the eight minute mark of hearing me speak.
Bonus shopping secret number one
is tied to the school supplies at Michaels,
Michaels has one of the most aggressive
and advantageous back-to-school sales,
this typically surfaces at the end of July
with that price match guarantee,
my suggestion though, is if you can wait
until mid or late August when all of the other retailers
drop their prices even further,
and then you can price match against Target, or Walmart,
you never even need to step foot in those stores,
and you will in fact lock in a lower price
than those retail giants with the advantage
of 10% lower than their prices,
and work that Michaels price match guaranteed
to your advantage,
of course, just make sure you're not trying to price match
against final sale or special clearance items.
Michaels bonus shopping secret number two
is tied to those clearance bins,
now, chances are you have seen these bins,
the ones advertised at the front of the store
with starting prices of 99 cents,
these are good but I would always recommend
looking at the items in these bins that have a 199,
399, 499 value because those often bring better savings,
but don't forget, Michaels has a recently rolled out
clearance section at the back of the store
which is not a treasure hunt,
it's organized a little bit better by price in my opinion,
and you will often find items that present
significantly more savings than the bins
that you see at the front of the store,
which are often an opportunity for the store
to move seasonal products.
Bonus shopping secret number three
is tied to buying in bulk,
and then I will cover seasonal and Christmas related items.
If you are not aware, similar to the bulk pack pricing
that I identified in my Lowe's shopping secret video
that I uploaded last month,
Michaels offers a special section for bulk purchases
tied to their program called Michael's Pro,
there's no membership fee, and it's open to anyone,
although it is designed primarily for businesses,
those Michael's Pro packs are a great way to save
even more beyond the everyday low pricing,
if you are purchasing multiple units of the same product,
and this does work great for celebrations,
school supplies, uniforms, you name it.
Remember, you always wanna look
for those Micheal Pro pack logos if you see them in-store,
and if you are looking to really take advantage
of this section online where it fully comes alive
you can download the app,
or expand the video description box
and you will find a link to take you
to the dedicated Michaels Pro bulk pricing section.
And now for bonus shopping secret number four
that Michaels does not want you to know,
the early bird rarely gets the bargain,
and Michaels is so early on every major seasonal holiday.
Let's start with the fact that Michaels begins
to offer things like it's 4th of July decor in April,
and many of the Halloween decorations
will show up end of July or early August,
and when it comes to Christmas,
you can actually find decorations
in-store and online by August,
if you buy early you never get the lower pricing,
just wait until you actually approach the holiday,
even within two to three weeks of a specific occasion,
you can save 60 or 70%, versus buying from when Michaels
starts to advertise products to you,
their timing does not need to be your timing.
Now I wanna thank you for your time,
for watching this video, for all the support.
If you guys liked this content,
please feel free to give this video a thumbs up,
subscribe, turn your notifications on
so I can hook you up with more content,
and if you wanna join my Insider Deal Guy Texting Club
my phone number, (440)-298-2181,
just drop me a line, send me a text, I will hook you up.
Thank you again for watching, happy shopping.
Bye bye.