Buy 5 Honey Bunches of Oats, get a $4 Catalina… but use coupons, and you’re only allowed to buy 4 boxes.

(What? Read on…)

The new 8/19 SS has a $1-off-2 coupon for Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, which is currently part of a national Catalina offer: Buy 5 boxes and get a $4 Catalina.

Honey Bunches of Oats is on sale at Jewel-Osco this week for $2, making it a nice buy with coupons and Catalina. If you buy five for $10, you can use two $1-off-2 coupons, pay $8 and get $4 back. That drops everything to $4 for 5, or .80 each — a great price.

But check out the wording on these new coupons:

Only four (4) like items may be purchased in one transaction

Remember, this is a national Catalina, so Post set up the “Buy 5” offer knowing full well that their coupons restrict users to buying four, not five. What defines “like item?” If I buy four boxes of the almond variety, and one box of regular, am I within the limits to use two $1-off-2 coupons? Or in using the coupon, am I prohibited from buying any more than five boxes?

I’m pretty sure a non-coupon user would be allowed to walk in and buy five, six, ten boxes if they’d like to. I love Honey Bunches of Oats, and I’d like to buy five, but it seems very contradictory that the same manufacturer would set up two offers running simultaneously… one encouraging shoppers to buy five, while the other limits them to buying four.

Stranger yet, Honey Bunches of Oats’ Facebook page has a new shopping-list graphic up encouraging people to “Stock up on Honey Bunches of Oats.”

Apparently, Honey Bunches of Oats defines “stocking up” as a quantity of four. Or maybe, five. Confused yet?

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Again, a heads-up to Rachel over at Mashup Mom, who is diligently reporting on the fine print weirdness we’re seeing on our newer coupons…