Another extreme couponing question: where do they get all the freaking coupons?

[Marionnette]

I couldn't believe the woman dusting her stock, if it's gathering dust it's there too long! And how can a family of 2go through 70 boxes of cereal before they expire?

Everything in my house gathers dust and gets dusted off regularly. Why wouldn't someone also dust off the cans in their stockpile? Would you want to grab a can sitting amid cobwebs and dustbunnies? Most of the stuff on my shelves have expiration or use-by dates that are more than a year from today.

And the cereal thing? Seventy boxes would last us about 3 and a half months. It wouldn't go stale before we got a chance to eat it. But my pantry only has about 20 boxes because that's what I have room for.

 

[DawnM]

Well, our unfinished basement is getting finished, so our stockpile had drywall dust get on it in some places.....so, yeah, I have dusted it.

I have about 30 boxes of cereal right now after our latest triple coupon deal.

I have 3 boys.....yeah, it won't last too long.

Dawn

Everything in my house gathers dust and gets dusted off regularly. Why wouldn't someone also dust off the cans in their stockpile? Would you want to grab a can sitting amid cobwebs and dustbunnies? Most of the stuff on my shelves have expiration or use-by dates that are more than a year from today.

And the cereal thing? Seventy boxes would last us about 3 and a half months. It wouldn't go stale before we got a chance to eat it. But my pantry only has about 20 boxes because that's what I have room for.

 

[Beckypooh1972]

I saw the tail end of the program last week when the lady bought 100 small packs of millstone coffee all using $2.00 off coupons making them free. If I'm not mistaken the coupon was for $2 off the reg. sized bags of coffee. I have several of those coupons myself. I guess I just don't get why the program puts these people in the spotlight when some of the methods used aren't quite ethical, or even legal. Just my .02.

Even if I had the time I doubt I could be an extreme couponer... I really cannot fathom how they can get a cartload of stuff for a few dollars unless stores are permitting them to use multiple coupons for the same item or not observing the "rules" on the coupon - like the example the PP mentioned where the coupon was not used for the correct size of item.

Sure I've gotten something that costs $1.00 for free with a double coupon - that's pretty easy - the store doubles coupons up to $0.50. The coupon rules are followed in my area stores - I couldn't get away with the Millstone coffee example if I wanted to try...seems like extreme couponers have to be counting on the sales person or the store to have relaxed coupon acceptance policies.

 

[Kitikat]

DH & I watch the show but know it's unrealistic. We have been couponing a few yrs and do what is best for our family of 6 (2 teen age boys) We don't want to be "extreme" couponers but now have to be at the Dollar Tree before they open on sundays in line. This show has got so many people in our small county couponing it's not funny. Yesterday a few ppl were complaining that there aren't any stores around here that would let them to do what the ppl on the show do. I'm happy to have a store that doubles $1 cpns.
Today DH & I are going to a store that is having triples that end tomorrow...we have to drive over an hour so I have all my coupons for under $1 ready to go.

 

[tomthebarncat]

Even if I had the time I doubt I could be an extreme couponer... I really cannot fathom how they can get a cartload of stuff for a few dollars unless stores are permitting them to use multiple coupons for the same item or not observing the "rules" on the coupon - like the example the PP mentioned where the coupon was not used for the correct size of item.

Sure I've gotten something that costs $1.00 for free with a double coupon - that's pretty easy - the store doubles coupons up to $0.50. The coupon rules are followed in my area stores - I couldn't get away with the Millstone coffee example if I wanted to try...seems like extreme couponers have to be counting on the sales person or the store to have relaxed coupon acceptance policies.

The stores and their personnel had to sign release forms for the tv camera crews to film them, there is no doubt in my mind that this show was staged for maximum dramatic, unrealistic, effect. All in all I watched one episode and thought I was going to barf!! this shows couponers appear to have hoarding issues!! really, what does one family do with 100's of bottles of mustard???

 

[JENOS]

I just watched the “100 mustard bottles show”; what really gets me mad is when the husband says let’s leave a couple bottles and she says no, and I think they only leave one bottle. It is not fair for the next person or people who wanted to buy a bottle or two and now cannot. I think there should be limits on number of purchases and the way coupons work. How can a store end up owning them money? I thought coupons were only good up to the amount of the item.

I’m sure TLC and the store had some sort of agreement which allowed this “one of a kind purchase”, but still not right how they a glorifying this type of obsession and making people believe that anyone can pull this off by spending their day clipping coupons.

 

[tinkerbelle77]

This show just makes me sick!! I coupon and have a small stockpile for my family of 6, but not to the extreme that they go to! We have 3 papers delivered every Sunday for .50 each, and then if the inserts are good I head to Menards or Dollar Tree to purchase how many ever more that I think I need, usually enough for 6 a week. The stores here in the Chicago area don't double, so most things are cheap for me after coupons, but with 4 girls I have to do the best I can to save!

 

[LovableGluttons]

I get a lot of my extra coupons off eBay.

There are also website that people offer their extra coupons for postage or a small handling "fee" to cover expenses.

MyCoupons dot com has a Coupon Rebate Swap Board.

You can also get some great rebate forms this way. I remember Pabst having a rebate of 15%, up to $15 off your grocery purchase, no beer purchase necessary, and you could participate twice.

My stores here rarely have all of the coupons I want for the couponing I do, so I go to the boards or eBay.

 

[Zhoen]

We have a community paper that comes out every Thursday morning, dropped in central locations (like the library and grocery store) that contains the same inserts as the Sunday before... so I usually get my Sunday paper from Dollar tree, then if there was something really good (like once there was a free paper towels coupon) I'll usually wait until Wednesday evenings, just before the new issue comes out, and get all the issues that are left over. They are free and about to get recycled in the morning... it's not very often there's anything that's worth it, though, so I have no idea why someone would BUY 20 sets...

 

[Bren's Mom]

OP, there is a store right by my house that sells the Sunday paper. Any papers left after they close Sunday go into their recycle bin inside the store, they use the leftover paper to wrap dishes and breakable things in. It's a nice, clean giant plastic bin..no garbage, no bugs, etc. If I stop there Monday after work and take a peek in there are dozens and dozens of thrown away coupon inserts and they are happy to let me take as many as I'd like. So it's not completely unheard of that someone can find coupons just like that.

 

[jasmineflower]

It sounds like some of these extreme couponers might also be extreme hoarders! It'd be awesome if they used their coupon smarts to donate the extra goods.

I did see one lady on the show that cooked for her local church, and she extreme couponed in order to save some money and offer a big dinner for her fellow church goers. It would be nice to see more people like that, I worked for a catering company a few years back and we did a breakfast for the movers at JK Moving company, it was a small job just me and the owner serving and restocking the breakfast table. Anyway the second year we did the job we got to the company and they already had another company doing the breakfast we had been cooking all morning and it was still only 5 am, so we had all this food that was not going to be eaten. The owner took us to the local homeless shelter where we dropped off an extravaganza of a breakfast, much better than throwing away, extreme couponers should do that every once in a while.

 

[momof3ds]

There are plenty of articles and blogs about how the stores make exceptions for people on this show. Many stores limit coupons to a certain amount like 5-10 of the same item.

There have been documented cases of coupon fraud on the show. A woman who was featured had her own website explaining how to commit coupon fraud. She shut it down shortly after the show and people identified the fraud she was filmed doing. Another case was a teenage boy who used fake coupons and the register beeped but the cashier over rode the warning (because of the show). The store was not reimbursed for the fake coupons by the company (duh) and TLC also refused to pay the store something like $400 dollars in fake coupons so the teen's mother paid. None of this was filmed or explained on the show.

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

This show gets my feathers all ruffled! LOL There have been a couple of shows where the people DIDN'T annoy me, like the guy who gave a ton of stuff to charity and the couple that made gift packages and sent them to the troops. Now to me, that's great because seriously, who can use 200 tubes of toothpaste before it goes bad???!! LOL I mean, we're a family of 7 and we only go through a couple tubes a month, maybe.

I will admit to stockpiling some items, such as cereal, spaghetti sauce, laundry detergent, dish detergent, soups. This is all stuff that we use A LOT of!

 

[Fire14]

I live in a township that is mostly farms/rural area. I live across st from Twnshp hall and recycling bins, I drop our papers off to get them out of house/lighten trash bags. Sometimes I will grab coupons from recycling bin if I can reach them easily. WE also get weekly bags on mail box that contain at least 1 of coupon inserts from that sundays paper sometimes both, Our mailbox neighbor RARELY picks his up so I grab it so it doesn't end up in st/ all over neighborhood, plus there are a few other mailboxes where I see bags hanging for entire week if not longer.
I also used to work in Nursing home so you figure 12-15 Papers and old folks who don't want/use coupons so staff gets em. I also know that if I go to gas station around 11p Sunday night I can have any left over coupons I want. And Dh used to work in grocery store 3rd shift so if there was a certain coupon I wanted he would pull a couple out for me before throwing papers away. I also could ask other neighbor, or my dad, and friend who live in another state to check their paper for certain coupon.
I've even helped out fellow disers with coupons in past, they are just getting dumped in recycle bin otherwise.

 

[mkel34]

The 2 major Sunday papers in Boston cost around $4 a piece, I don't see buying multiple papers as an efficient way to coupon.

 

[Mouseless2Long]

I have been a couponer for years, but am not an extreme couponer, or a shelf-clearer (my No. 1 gripe against extreme couponers), but I do like taking advantage of a good sale, so I have a few friends and family give me their inserts. I probably have no more than 3 or 4 inserts at a time for each week. However, if I know in advance of a really good sale, and it's worth the cost, I will buy inserts/coupons. I can't imagine having the stockpile some of these people have (that's kind of creepy to me).

 

[Beckypooh1972]

We subscribe to 2 newspapers and I'm on two of the coupons trains on this budget board forum. I can't imagine having to go through 100's of inserts like they do on the show. I timed myself and it took me a 1/2 hour to cut out every coupon in my inserts. Then, I always have a stack of keepers which I have to find time to place in my binder. I just can't get extreme.

 

[2girls4me]

Oy, that show is ridiculous. They never buy real food. Pasta, sauce and cake mix are all they buy. And "sports drinks.".


Here on LI, this is almost impossible. Stores won't double over a dollar. My dh does use coupons when he shops, but he won't buy over $500 in groceries and only spend $20. It just won't happen here.

We have 2 small children, and my mil will give him coupons for diapers, wipes and pull ups. But we yu as needed and won't "stock up" just because we have coupons.

And if you watch the show, to most of those people couponing is a full time job.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Oy, that show is ridiculous. They never buy real food. Pasta, sauce and cake mix are all they buy. And "sports drinks.".


Here on LI, this is almost impossible. Stores won't double over a dollar. My dh does use coupons when he shops, but he won't buy over $500 in groceries and only spend $20. It just won't happen here.

We have 2 small children, and my mil will give him coupons for diapers, wipes and pull ups. But we yu as needed and won't "stock up" just because we have coupons.

And if you watch the show, to most of those people couponing is a full time job.

Exactly! This is great if you don't work and have time for all of this but working a full time job I would have to say I earn a lot more at work than what they save on coupons. Even if I felt like it searching a recycling bin, ours is all mixed: cans, glass, plastic & paper then picked up curbside by a contracted company. Even if I knew where they take it, the paper is disgustingly wet due to mixing with other items. I'd rather be at work.
Our Sunday paper is expensive too and I don't know anyone who buys any newspapers these days. I used to coupon a lot but stopped when they got to be ridiculous: $2 off 8 boxes of cereal.

 

[captainjen]

My best friend goes through peoples paper recycling bins on recycling days as she walks her dog. She gets great coupons for both her dog and my cat. She also get almost all of her magazines this way. She figures if someone puts it out on the sidewalk to be recycled then she is actually recycling it by using it herself