Extreme Couponing

[libgirl2]

I agree, Tilden. Not only do stores start changing the policies because of money lost buy also lost customers. If I go to one store and all the product I came in for is gone, I probably would go elsewhere.


Today, I was at my local Target and just hit coupons and products at the right time. I had several about to expire on things I use all the time, and found a few clearance items that I had $1 coupons for, as well as a buy one get on free on shampoo. I felt a bit extreme handing the cashier about 10 coupons.... I can't even imagine the extreme couponers!

[Tilden]

I just saw a commercial for the show where a couple were saying they needed to use coupons, because they were on a limited budget and couldn't afford daycare for three kids without it. The mother was then shown pointing out that if something costs fifty cents and she had a dollar off coupon, the store credited her gift card for the store with fifty cents. After she finished shopping, the store actually owed her money.

I wonder if that's partially why some people are buying twenty-five bottle of Maalox or whatever. If they can actually get store credit for a product/coupon combination that they can use on something else that they do need/want, I suppose it wouldn't matter if they threw the product away (though if they donated it somewhere, they could get a tax credit too, provided they itemize). I suspect that's why many stores--and the coupons themselves--indicate that you can only redeem the coupon for the price of the product. If the coupon is worth more than the product, you get the product for free, but that's it.

[captain]

The stores here will not give store credit from a coupon...there are signs that say the coupon will only be doubled or the price of the product (if coupon is over)

[libgirl2]

I just saw a commercial for the show where a couple were saying they needed to use coupons, because they were on a limited budget and couldn't afford daycare for three kids without it. The mother was then shown pointing out that if something costs fifty cents and she had a dollar off coupon, the store credited her gift card for the store with fifty cents. After she finished shopping, the store actually owed her money.

I wonder if that's partially why some people are buying twenty-five bottle of Maalox or whatever. If they can actually get store credit for a product/coupon combination that they can use on something else that they do need/want, I suppose it wouldn't matter if they threw the product away (though if they donated it somewhere, they could get a tax credit too, provided they itemize). I suspect that's why many stores--and the coupons themselves--indicate that you can only redeem the coupon for the price of the product. If the coupon is worth more than the product, you get the product for free, but that's it.

I had a coupon for $1 off a cat treat, it was priced at 99 cents... I didn't get a credit (not that it was alot) neither should she. Most of those coupons I use are for value up to a certain amount only.

[Tilden]

I had a coupon for $1 off a cat treat, it was priced at 99 cents... I didn't get a credit (not that it was alot) neither should she. Most of those coupons I use are for value up to a certain amount only.

I'd never heard of such a thing prior to that commercial for the show. It wouldn't occur to me to assume that I was owed money from a coupon I'd gotten for free with the newspaper or on-line past using it to get the item free. And I would be seriously annoyed if I was standing in line forever behind these people, waiting for them to get paid for all their coupons.

By the way, in the same commercial, the woman was shown buying a bunch of candy bars after defending her behavior by saying that it wasn't hoarding in her family's case, that if she didn't do it, they wouldn't have a home-cooked meal that night. Look, I'm a major chocoholic myself, but I don't pretend that I need to buy it to provide a home-cooked meal for myself or anyone else. If she were only making "home-cooked" items, she'd be buying chocolate chips or cocoa and baking. I'm not saying she should never buy candy; I just didn't want her coupon use passed off as being necessary to feed her family dinner, when she was buying items that had nothing to do with that.

[Critical]

By the way, in the same commercial, the woman was shown buying a bunch of candy bars after defending her behavior by saying that it wasn't hoarding in her family's case, that if she didn't do it, they wouldn't have a home-cooked meal that night. Look, I'm a major chocoholic myself, but I don't pretend that I need to buy it to provide a home-cooked meal for myself or anyone else. If she were only making "home-cooked" items, she'd be buying chocolate chips or cocoa and baking. I'm not saying she should never buy candy; I just didn't want her coupon use passed off as being necessary to feed her family dinner, when she was buying items that had nothing to do with that.

Maybe she was fixing smores for dinner!

Not only are there no stores here that double coupons, none of them give you money back on a coupon - you get the value of the coupon or the price of the item, whichever is lower.

Frankly, I save more money on store specials and coupons than I do from clipping them from the mailers or going online. I sometimes combine a store special and a coupon, but that's rare.

I think many of these couponers are ruining it for the rest of us who are just trying to save money, but haven't made a career out of it. I've watched the show several times and I usually am horrified by all the waste. Yes, you got a good deal of toilet paper but unless you're the US Army, no one needs 100 rolls of toilet paper in their garage! If I'm not going to use it, then spending even $1 on something is a waste.

I'm all for being frugal, but these people take it to the extreme. There's a big difference between being budget-conscious and being obsessed with couponing.

[libgirl2]

Exactly, it surpases being frugal and is an obessesion/addiction for some of these people.

[captain]

To me the only difference between the hoarders and the extreme couponers, is the couponers keep a neater home

[causingchaos]

Maybe she was fixing smores for dinner!

Not only are there no stores here that double coupons, none of them give you money back on a coupon - you get the value of the coupon or the price of the item, whichever is lower.

Frankly, I save more money on store specials and coupons than I do from clipping them from the mailers or going online. I sometimes combine a store special and a coupon, but that's rare.

I think many of these couponers are ruining it for the rest of us who are just trying to save money, but haven't made a career out of it. I've watched the show several times and I usually am horrified by all the waste. Yes, you got a good deal of toilet paper but unless you're the US Army, no one needs 100 rolls of toilet paper in their garage! If I'm not going to use it, then spending even $1 on something is a waste.

I'm all for being frugal, but these people take it to the extreme. There's a big difference between being budget-conscious and being obsessed with couponing.

I only go online when I go to target. Our local grocery store doesn't do online coupons and sometimes I can use a target coupon and manufacturers coupon at the same time at Target or get a coupon on something odd like bedding when my mom needed sheets.

But usually the extent of my couponing is making a list of what I need and then see if I have coupons to match. I could never revolve my life around it. Nor subsist only on foods that have coupons here.

[libgirl2]

I only go online when I go to target. Our local grocery store doesn't do online coupons and sometimes I can use a target coupon and manufacturers coupon at the same time at Target or get a coupon on something odd like bedding when my mom needed sheets.

I recently discovered Target online coupons and I also like that some of the deals are for clothing, small electronics and the like that normally aren't in normal coupon sources. Now I don't run out and buy a new toaster when I see the coupon for it, but I have printed some that I saved in case of emergency or surprise necessity.