Today, Nestle had a Facebook giveaway for their ‘Drumstick’ ice cream cones. If you live in California, Colorado or Nevada, they offered a coupon instead of the free cone. If you live in Louisiana or Tennessee, Nestle was not allowed to offer a free sample OR a coupon. Why?
These states have laws that regulate the cost of dairy products. Among other things, dairy regulations are in place to govern pricing on dairy products, so that no one producer or retailer can sell dairy products below cost and thus, take over the market. These regulations also help stabilize price fluxuations based on market supply and demand.
I talked with Tom at the Nevada Dairy Commission today, and he shared the following with me:
Nevada regulates dairy products with the exception of most hard and soft cheeses. (Regulated items includes milk, ice cream, yogurt, cottage cheese.)
They work with companies to look at pricing and promotion options which enable the sale of (dairy) products while avoiding the ‘below cost’ requirements.
A link to the Nevada Dairy Commission’s coupon policy is as follows:
What does this mean for us as coupon-using consumers? In Nevada, never expect to buy a dairy product and get it ‘free’ after coupons – since doing so would likely place the offering retailer in a violation status. And if I repeat myself, forgive me, but in the ‘coupon circle of life’, I never want to bite the hand that feeds me.
Scolari's won't double coupons on 'regulated dairy products'
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