{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}
sure there are others suffering loss...but you have every right to your feelings also......

The V.I.P. card can also be acquired by people who sew or quilt for charity. I enrolled my mother by simply telling them that she is a member of a group at church that makes quilts for charity. Also, I know that friends who make blankets for Project Linus can get the V.I.P. card, and there is no Linus membership card to show as proof.

It is true that the V.I.P. card does not work with sale items. I wish it worked on remnants. However, when batting by the yard is on sale for 50% off, it is great to be able to add that extra discount. Same for fleece and flannel at their Black Friday sale.

Also, many people are eligible for the 15% teacher discount card and are not teachers in traditional schools. If you teach classes in your guild or lead groups of children in 4-H, after-school projects, Sunday School, Project Linus work sessions, etc., you may qualify. It may depend on how liberal your local Joann's manager is in defining "teacher."

Joann's is a major resource for me, but jumping through the hoops on their coupon/sale/discount card policy certainly provides me with enough exercise!

I miss Border's too. Let's cry together.

The only time the VIP card cannot be used is when you are purchasing just one item, because the card is good for your TOTAL purchase and they consider one item not to be a total I guess. And yes you can use it for items already on sale and if you had your 40% off coupon. Just have to buy more then one item.

How interesting....I sometimes go in for 1 spool of the thread I like. If it isn't on sale, I use the coupon, if it is, I use my VIP card. They use it on just one item....must vary by store. When you check out, with one item or more, at the bottom of your slip it says "total" therefore, one item is a total order...IMHO

Yeah, I thought that little VIP card was going to be great, but found it doesn't help much at all. Maybe it's just me but...

Not true. I've used the card plenty of times on just one item.

Our store used to ring up the 20% discount on everything, then they upgraded the checkout and now it is only rung up on things that I do not use the coupons on. When I asked about this, I was told the new software was more restrictive follows the letter of what is printed on the coupon. Very frustrating.

We have a store called Beverly's that has the best selection of fabric. I really appreciate that they give 30% off using the JoAnn coupons. I use Joann's for batting and the quilting tools, but as someone earlier mentioned, they tag so much as already on sale, the coupons are useless. We will be getting a Joann's in our town at the end of September, I will see if I like it any better having it closer.

In our Joann's, the VIP card is used on sale or regular items but cannot be used when a coupon has already been applied to the sale of an item.

Been there, done that..........

Okay this may sound dumb but it is early in the morning. What is AQS?

American Quilters Society

They are good for sale items but not on the coupon item.

Can't use it with coupons but can use it on sale items. Thus, if you buy an item that is 40 percent off on sale, which makes the cost $6, your VIP card takes 10 per cent off the $6. The cost of your item will be $5.40 instead of $6.
That $.60 will go a long way toward a small Coke. froggyintexas

No one has ever questioned me when I bought just one item. Total price is total price whether you buy one or a hundred items. froggyintexas

Actually, I think it depends on your local JoAnn's Store. Some will allow you to use the VIP card on the entire purchase even when you have sale items and coupons. Others I've found will not allow it to be used on anything except full price merchandise.

I get aggrevated with them since they will put out 40%coupons and have fabric at 20 to 30% off so the coupons are useless unless you need something that is not on sale. They know what they are doing. They make more that way and some of their fabrics are not that nice for the price they are charging. I still miss the olds "Piece Goods Shops". They had better fabric and cheaper prices.

Another thing that bothers me is that they are very careful to make sure they don't cut even the tiniest amount over a yard and when you wash it you have less than a yard if it shrinks at all. When you go to the quilt shops they usually cut at least an inch and sometimes two or three inches over the yard so you are not short. And the prices aren't that different anymore.

Just a little note ... sometimes, if the item you want is on sale, they will gladly ring it up at the regular price so you can use your 40% coupon. Just ask!

I got an offer just the other day to join AQS and I was wondering if I should do it. I saw the Joanns VIP card and was interested. I have a Joanns just down the street from my house and I go there a lot!

The comments on this topic have been interesting, but I am puzzled because some seem so angry because JoAnn's is not offering them the discounts they want. The truth is, no store has to offer any discount at all at any time. They do so to attract customers, of course, but I don't think most of us live in places where there is an ulimited choice of fabric shops. For goodness sake, be glad JoAnn's or any other store puts things on sale and/or offers coupons. froggyintexas

I got mine by showing my American Sewing Guild membership card. Show your guild membership card and that should do it.

Teachers can get them, I work for a non profit org. so I was able to get one....

So I have a form that says I shop for a 501c non profit our church quilting group. That gets the tax removed which is 8.25%. Sounds like that is better as that works if sale merchandise or not.
I sent off for VIP card it came in saying go to store to get it activated. Small print said it expired 8-31-11. I didn't bother since it was so soon. Was going to try again pretty soon. Now, not so sure.
I didn't realize I could be a quilt guild member of AQS and that would qualify me.

I used the 40% coupon on a coke there once. I had lots of coupons and bought a book etc and still had another coupon. The saleslady told me to use the coupon on the coke.
Great!

How do you get a VIP card?

I use my 10% card along with their 20%, 30% off, no problem.

My JoAnn's told me I could only use 1 coupon per purchase, so I told them to ring each purchase seperate. They need to be more consistant.

Thats true here at my Joanns. I had a friend that worked at Joanns and she told me that when you have more than 1 coupon for things tell them to ring them up seperate in order to use them because otherwise it will only ring up 1 discount at a time.

i use my regular joann coupons (40% off etc) then hand them the 10% vip card...they will then do the vip card, and it automatically take off the 10% on whatever qualifies (sometime sewing machines, irons, cricut stuff does not qualify for ANy coupon).....i got my vip card by joining quilters club of america....it is $30 or so dollars to join (i pay that back plus some in joanns discounts) but also with the membership, you get free access to a lot of quilting sights, free patterns, some shows like quilt out loud, and other web shows....it is well worth the membership for all the reference material you can get....

Not ours.........tried it and was refused.

i think it depends on the cashier. There are some that take it and some that are snide and not nice about any coupon

Next week is Coupon Commotion Week, a once a year event at Jo-Anns. There are two pages of coupons in the latest flyer specifically designated for the event.

As a former Jo-Ann Store Manager, I know for sure that you absolutely CANNOT use coupons on Sale Items nor can you use a coupon and the VIP card simultaneously. The rules are so airtight the cash registers are programmed not to take more than what the rules allow, i.e., more than the allotted amount of coupons.

To correct my earlier post -- I am so sorry that I may have confused this issue even more than it already is. I stated that V.I.P. was not good on sale items and meant to say that it isn't good in combination with coupons.
Dayle

you get one if you join AQS - and I think it varies according to ther sotre manager - or even the cashier how they will let you use it

I don't have a VIP card. I did however have a coupon problem w JoAnns the Fri b4 Labor day. I checked my email at 5:30 am that morning looking for a coupon, thought it unusal not to receive one being it was a holiday weekend. I left the house by 9 and headed straight to JoAnns, made my purchases totalling $53. When I got home I checked email to find a 40% off coupon - received at 8:22am. Cripe! So I called the store, expained what happened and the mgr said if I returned w both coupon and receipt they would refund. I returned to the store 2 days later, waited in the lenghty line only to have the not-so-nice cashier tell me she could not refund me due to store policy that I was trying to redeem "after the fact"(?). She was loud and so unpleasant to say the least. Apparently I had come in just to ruin her day.Nice show w everyone watching. I finally did get my refund ($20+) but the experience was humiliating and has left a bad taste. It seems the coupon should havebeen in my email EARLY in the morning

I'm not sure anyone gets a big discount at Joanns. I was in a store a day before a big coupon sale was to begin and I just seen some material price was $9.99. Then the next day I was in to get some material at the 50% off, this material was marked up to $14.99.

What is the AQS card or membership?

Can we get one for belonging to this board? It is definitely a Quilting "Group".

I have used my VIP card along with Joanns discount coupons with no problems.

I belong to a local guild, so I do have one of the VIP cards. I always have it in my hand with my fist full of other coupons and let the computer figure it out. If I can't use it this time, oh well. I will next time. Can't blame me for trying. 10% is better than nothing off. ;-)

Every store here in Houston, Texas will allow you to use as many coupons as you have for items and then use the VIP discount on top of that. I have done this at about 6 stores in Houston. However when they have a sale like Labor Day with the extra 10 or 15 off you cannot get that in addition.