Free Tacos and Family Portraits: Next Week's Best Deals and Freebies
Every Friday, we scan the weekly ads, deal sites and retailer marketing emails to find the best deals available for the coming week. Here are a few of the best freebies and limited-time offers we found.
• Back in 2007, Taco Bell (YUM) launched one of its more popular promotions: "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco." The terms were simple: If any player stole a base during the World Series, the taco chain would offer a free taco to everyone in America. Sure enough, Jacoby Ellsbury of the Red Sox stole a base (briefly granting him the nickname "Tacoby Bellsbury"), and Taco Bell has run similar promotions every October since. This year, America's patron saint of free tacos proved to be Giants outfielder Angel Pagan, whose steal of second Wednesday night triggered the giveaway. Just show up at your local Taco Bell next Tuesday, between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. and you'll get your free Doritos Locos Taco. Note that the tacos usually cost around a dollar, so depending on how valuable your time is, you might just want to go at another time and cough up the dollar so you don't have to wait in line for 45 minutes.
• For a company supposedly committed to eliminating coupons and special promotions, J.C. Penney (JCP) sure has been running a lot of special offers lately. First there was the $10 "gift" that it took great pains to insist wasn't a coupon. Then it announced that the free-haircuts-for-children promotion it ran in August would become a permanent fixture every Sunday, starting Nov. 4. And next week it throws one more freebie into the mix: For the month of November, you can get a free 8x10 portrait when you visit any of the 530 J.C. Penney locations with a portrait studio. The portrait sitting, 8x10 print and digital copy are all free, but if you like the picture and want to order additional prints, you'll have to pay.
Sponsored Links
• Office supply stores Staples (SPLS) and OfficeMax (OMX) have dueling 20%-off coupons this weekend. OfficeMax's coupon is good online in the form of the coupon code BIGDEALS or as a printable coupon, and each gives you 20% off your entire purchase. The coupon and code are good through Saturday, and excludes printing services, stamps and most consumer electronics; see the coupon for the full fine print. As for Staples, its coupon is good in stores only and takes 20% off a single item. It too is good through Saturday and excludes most electronics.
• Google (GOOG) is widely rumored to be on the verge of introducing a 32 GB version of its Nexus 7 tablet, which is currently only available in 8 GB ($200) and 16 GB ($250) models. That means that the 8 GB model will be discontinued and the 16 GB version will likely drop in price to become the new baseline $200 model. At least one retailer isn't waiting for the new pricing to become official, though: Microcenter is already offering the 16 GB Nexus 7 at $200, a $50 discount off the current price. You can grab it now, or you can wait a week for the official announcement to see exactly what the new lineup of tablets will have to offer.
Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.
Get info on stocks mentioned in this article:
