Coupon frustration!

[pannm]

Dh stopped and bought a tube of toothpaste yesterday...it was 4cents after the coupon. He bought ONE. In a store we shop in weekly (at least) for years. The clerk asked him if he was going to be an "Extreme Couponer". DH said no, just wanted some toothpaste.
.

Oh, my goodness!!! Are you SURE he's not an extreme couponer??? Maybe he CLEARED the shelf...maybe he wanted more than one, but there was only one left...

He probably saved over 95% on that tube!!! I hope that the store clerk was reading the coupon properly, so the store didn't get screwed over on that tube of toothpaste.

That's so funny. I would have said "YES, I am an extreme couponer...I am extremely dumb though because I'm only doing it one item at a time!"

 

[amberdburke]

I have had some very thorough cashiers recently that have read every single one of my coupons. I do not clear shelves, I double check to make sure what I purchased is what the coupon is for, and I make sure they are not expired.

This is the main reason that I don't print coupons online. I know that there are some great deals, but I hate feeling like a criminal.

I save 45%-55% weekly, but we buy a lot of fresh fruits/veggies. Thankfully, Meijer has great deals on produce, so we still do well.

I spend around $200 a month on groceries for our family of 3, and we rarely, if ever, eat out.

 

[Rekenna]

I am not very good at couponing, but I try my best to remember to use them!

I work for a consumer goods company and part of the job I used to have was managing the budget for coupon redemptions, printing and handling. The budget amounts for the redemption portion and the printing and handling portion for products is astronomical! Before I had this role I never realized how many millions of dollars companies spend just printing the coupons, and that's before the redemptions are paid!

Sadly, as I'm sure many of you couponers know, the redemption amounts for products has drastically decreased, the budgets for coupons are lower and lower every year. It's a weird cycle, people don't buy the product b/c they don't have a coupon, the products sales go down, the marketing/coupon $$ for the brand are then decreased.

I don't think I added anything to the discussion, I just wanted to let you guys know that there is a crazy amount of work going on behind the scenes to even get the coupons out there! And goofy shows like 'Extreme Couponing' give a negative view of people using coupons. I read my coupons very carefully!

 

[pixiewings71]

Our stores don't do double coupons either, never have. I hate that stupid extreme couponers show, watched it once and while i was happy that the people donated what they got (or at least most of it) it was just ridiculous to watch it. The only online coupons I print are from my local grocery store and they email them to me.....my average savings shopping at my local grocery store is 30%, not great but I'll take it.

 

[ceroarty]

I completely understand what everyone is saying here. I feel your pain. However, as a cashier, you would be amazed at some of the things we have to deal with. For starters, people think that it is ok to make 100 copies of their online coupons. We then have to very delicately explain to them why we can't take them. We have to be very careful to not accuse them. You have to tell them that each online coupon has its own scanable barcode. That every coupon will have different numbers. Still they will try and argue with you and tell you we have to take it. Or better yet they get mad at us and cancel the whole order because we won't. Another thing we come across is the coupons that will scan no matter what. Apparently, on one of those episodes, they went into detail about the coupons with certain numbers on them can be used for almost anything. Just the other day I had a woman, as straight faced as she could be, tell me even though she didn't get the item listed she was using the $10 off coupon towards her diapers and another $5. off towards her baby wipes. She then told me she called P & G directly and talked to a corporate exec. who said that is fine to do. Seriously, who would call the company and say they don't wish to purchase the item the coupon is for, but would like to put it towards the rest of her purchase. These people are making it so hard for the every day couponers. They don't seem to understand they are hurting everyone by doing this. The companies won't get their reimbursement, which in turn will raise the grocery prices. Maybe not that much, but if overall most items go up then it can be significant.

 

[Kycha]

I am not very good at couponing, but I try my best to remember to use them!

I work for a consumer goods company and part of the job I used to have was managing the budget for coupon redemptions, printing and handling. The budget amounts for the redemption portion and the printing and handling portion for products is astronomical! Before I had this role I never realized how many millions of dollars companies spend just printing the coupons, and that's before the redemptions are paid!

Sadly, as I'm sure many of you couponers know, the redemption amounts for products has drastically decreased, the budgets for coupons are lower and lower every year. It's a weird cycle, people don't buy the product b/c they don't have a coupon, the products sales go down, the marketing/coupon $$ for the brand are then decreased.

I don't think I added anything to the discussion, I just wanted to let you guys know that there is a crazy amount of work going on behind the scenes to even get the coupons out there! And goofy shows like 'Extreme Couponing' give a negative view of people using coupons. I read my coupons very carefully!

Great post Rekenna. But what I really want to know is...where is Zombie Falls, KY?

 

[Mickeyflower]

Not one store around me doubles either. The only issue I've ever had with a coupon is when I got one for a free box of John Frieda Hair color foam. The only issue was the value was high ($11.95) and the register would not take the amount, the cashier was very nice, called a supervisor over, who took care of it, and bingo, I walked out with my free hair color

I think it's stupid to buy 200 boxes of tooth paste and have your entire basement/garage filled to the rafters with food. The only one I saw that I liked was a couple that donated everything they get to the local food bank, and another who gave it to military families. THOSE, I can get over, and the stores looked like they were really bending over backwards to help them.

 

[Evi]

I feel everyones pain. I've been couponing for years but I've never gotten the kind of deals I've seen these people on tv getting. Though honestly I'm not a horder so I wouldn't look for those kinds of deals. Nonetheless I do find myself a little irritated that now when I go to the stores you have cashiers treating you like your stealing when you use a coupon. I've had to ask for a manager on several occasions. At this point I find it so agrivating to use them that I don't want to bother many times. I also noticed many coupons are expiring within a month of being issued. Soon they will not be worth using because a few people had to get super greedy.

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

Yesterday, we went to Target at lunch to get a few things. I had the Target coupon booklet they recently sent out and found out that there were some good deals on both Crest and Colgate toothpaste.

I found on the 50% off shelf in Health and Beauty a few boxes of Crest and Colgate, each were marked down to $1.48. Each had an extra item attached to it (extra toothbrush in the Colgate, travel toothpaste in the Crest). The Crest coupon was $1 off of 2 or more Crest items. The Colgate was $1 off of any Colgate item.

The cashier rang up everything (we also got cat food, pull ups and razors) and when I handed her the two coupons, she read them and then she pulled the toothpaste boxes out of the bag. She compared the toothpaste boxes to the photos on the coupons, and read each box throughly then read each coupon again throughly. I ended up getting the Colgate for .48 cents and two boxes of Crest for $1.96, but I felt...well, BAD. Like I had done something wrong because I found marked down toothpaste and had coupons.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

If this guy would have tried to keep my coupons (which are like cash to me) I would have threatened to call the police because he is stealing from me!!!

I cannot stand when cashiers and supervisors treat the average couponer like a common criminal for using a coupon properly... it drives me insane... so much so that I stopped couponing.

We have switched to eating mostly perishable fruits, veggies, and lean meats and buy very few processed/boxed foods. The coupon for perishables are few and far between in my area although I know other areas can get them. I actually spend less now (and am 91 lbs lighter) now that I have stopped couponing and buy mostly perishable, fresh food items.

I now save my receipts and am doing Beer Rebates because I live in a no beer purchase required state.

I also live in AL, you must tell me about these Beer Rebates, where do you get the rebate forms? We shop the Commissary and they don't sell alcohol, just might stop at the Class Six though.

I noticed one or two coupons that said DND on them the other day when I was clipping, but since we shop at the Commissary, they don't double anyway. I am not sure if any of the other stores in town do or not, because I only shop the Commissary.

I got questioned at Target the other day, I had 2 coupons and I had the 1 item for each and the cashier asked me if I had purchased both, I thought she couldn't possibly have just rung that up and asked that question, I didn't have much, it wasn't like she shouldn't have been able to remember that.

I am just happy that I am now able to save on average $25 per shopping trip, before we were able to use the Commissary, we shopped at Walmart and I might have $1, one time I had $10, but that was once in a blue moon. I am not an extreme couponer and may never be, but I can already see how those that are are hurting those of us who aren't. While in Target, I wanted a couple of the velveeta mac and cheese that was on sale for $1.00/box, this woman was scrambling to shove all of them in her cart and take off, I was not happy.

 

[PebblesMom]

I can feel the pain on both sides of this coin. I have been using coupons for years and I have really seen a lot of changes lately. I am also in managment at a store that gets a lot of coupons. I have seen two people fired in the last few weeks for taking coupons that they should not have taken. One was a supervisor and the other a cashier. One took coupons for the wrong size and the other took photo copied coupons that were printed online and then the customer photo copied the ones printed online. They were both fired and now the company is fighting unemployment based on coupon fraud (theft)!

Personally I think that it is unfair, but I am going to be watching every coupon that goes through my register. It is nothing personal to everyone using the couopons, I just have to really watch my back. I have been doing this for 11 years and I have not seen anything like this. On one hand we have "extreme" couponers who push the limits on what is right and ethical and on the other hand we have upper managment at these stores who are out to watch their bottom line and have become more and more strict with policies. In the middle are those of us who use coupons in the way they were intended and the cashiers, supervisors and managers who want to follow company policy and still be customer service friendly. Walking that line is hard.

 

[Evi]

I can feel the pain on both sides of this coin. I have been using coupons for years and I have really seen a lot of changes lately. I am also in managment at a store that gets a lot of coupons. I have seen two people fired in the last few weeks for taking coupons that they should not have taken. One was a supervisor and the other a cashier. One took coupons for the wrong size and the other took photo copied coupons that were printed online and then the customer photo copied the ones printed online. They were both fired and now the company is fighting unemployment based on coupon fraud (theft)!

Personally I think that it is unfair, but I am going to be watching every coupon that goes through my register. It is nothing personal to everyone using the couopons, I just have to really watch my back. I have been doing this for 11 years and I have not seen anything like this. On one hand we have "extreme" couponers who push the limits on what is right and ethical and on the other hand we have upper managment at these stores who are out to watch their bottom line and have become more and more strict with policies. In the middle are those of us who use coupons in the way they were intended and the cashiers, supervisors and managers who want to follow company policy and still be customer service friendly. Walking that line is hard.

I'm all for people checking to verify that they are correct and match product sales etc. But I'm not for people who show that they are aggravated that they have to bother to check or for those who act as if the customer is wrong for using the coupons and I think that is the problem. Maybe its time for sales to be sales where with or without a coupon the item goes on sale and you limit it to one item per person. So that vendors and consumers don't need to get aggravated.

 

[Rekenna]

She then told me she called P & G directly and talked to a corporate exec. who said that is fine to do.

That customer is full of baloney, good grief! Get a grip, it's a coupon. Yep P&G has corp execs answering the phone, happens all the time...

Great post Rekenna. But what I really want to know is...where is Zombie Falls, KY?

It's in a mysterious part of Northern Kentucky where Zombies do not stand a chance of survival! DS5 is training to be a Zombie killer as we speak, just ask him, he will tell you all about it - over and over and over and over....

 

[budafam]

We have a grocery store that doubles no matter what the coupon says (even if it says no doubles or triples allowed). I haven't really noticed MUCH of a difference except for less deals available. 2 years ago at this time there were excellent deals... I could load up on body washes and lotions and make money on the deals. I haven't seen deals like that for a long time.