Extreme Couponing

[stitchlovestink]

How is it rude? They are doing nothing wrong.

I clip coupons every week. I am no where near an extreme couponer, but then, double coupon promotions are not available where I live. If they are not cheating the system, then I say go for it! If you are a casual coupon user and don't want dirty looks (which I have never gotten) then go to a store that has a u-scan register section. You can avoid all interaction with anyone who may look at you weirdly.

Agreed! How is it rude? Only problem with u-scan register idea is our target self checkout won't allow a customer to scan coupons. You have to go to a cashier if you want to use coupons. But I don't use coupons to annoy other people, I use them to save money. I am truly sorry if you are inconveinenced in my using coupons but maybe you should take that up with the store for not have enough help...

I'm not really sure how this couple would be able to get $ back at Walmart given their coupon policy. It actually states that they will give overage on a coupon but no $ back. in other words, you have to have another item to eat that overage amount. I also thought Walmart had a coupon limit. I don't remember what it is, but I'm pretty sure there is one.

Nope, WalMart's policy is to give money back...

Well, can't disagree with that, and I won't wait behind 6 people with 1 cart each, so I'm certainly not going to be the one stuck behind 1 person with 6 carts.

I do stand behind my statement - my business or not - that I don't see the point in the 6 carts of stuff. And I REALLY stand behind the multiple rings comment. If you're in line, you get one transaction per cart max. Any more than that, go back & get in line again. At least with 6 carts, I can SEE that the person ahead of me will take a long time. There's no reason 1 person with 1 cart needs to take 5X as long as everyone else.

Well that is your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it, but the store doesn't agree and until they change the policy the customer ahead of you is entitled to ring their purchases that way. Your choice is to wait, go to another line, leave, or complain to management about it. But as of right now, that customer is completely within their rights.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Well that is your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it, but the store doesn't agree and until they change the policy the customer ahead of you is entitled to ring their purchases that way. Your choice is to wait, go to another line, leave, or complain to management about it. But as of right now, that customer is completely within their rights.

Yup, that is my opinion. I find it INCREDIBLY rude to ask for multiple transactions when you have a line behind you. Anyone who does that has obviously decided THEIR time is much more valuable than those behind them. Allowed or not, it IS rude.

I don't begrudge anyone coupon use. I'm all too happy to use them myself. And it really doesn't add any time to the transaction.

 

[Beckypooh1972]

I really dislike the Extreme Couponing show. I watched it twice to see what it was and was a little angered by it. I think people who use coupons to save money for their family are very smart. My DH lost his job when my DD was 4 months and didn't find another until a little over a year later. For our family, using coupons was/is extremely important.
That being said, I think SOME of the people who go to the exteme are selfish. One of the two shows I watched, showed a woman with shelves lining her entire basement loaded with items she used to get coupons. She had 20+ boxes of toothpaste, bars and bars of soap (too many to use in a lifetime), and boxes and boxes of diapers. The kicker was that she didn't have a child nor was she pregnant. The appearance is that they purchase these items just because they "can" and almost treat it like a sport. They hoard items and who do you think pays for their "free" stuff? Not the companies...other consumers!! In those cases, I think extreme couponers are selfish.

I agree! It's so frustrating to get to a store with my one or two coupons to buy something at a great price and the whole shelf is wiped out! Of course, I'll admit my judgement is tinged with envy. I'm not as good at the extreme "sport" that is couponing

I wouldn't mind to have a stockpile of things I actually use. But I wouldn't buy so much that I can't even use it before it gets bad!

 

[disykat]

I feel for the cashiers being asked to do this. Extremely large orders with lots of coupons is a situation ripe for mistakes. Those cashiers are probably trying to avoid those orders in order to KEEP thier job. IMO a certain number of coupons should trigger a manager alert and require the manager to sign off to protect the cashier.

 

[adisneymama]

I have nothing against coupons. However, the problem is with store policies. If a store is going to allow the extreme couponing then it should require a manager to check them out and they should have a seperate lane available.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Yup, that is my opinion. I find it INCREDIBLY rude to ask for multiple transactions when you have a line behind you. Anyone who does that has obviously decided THEIR time is much more valuable than those behind them. Allowed or not, it IS rude.

I don't begrudge anyone coupon use. I'm all too happy to use them myself. And it really doesn't add any time to the transaction.

I haven't done this in a couple of years, and I used to ALWAYS let people go ahead of me if I was doing more than one transaction, but at a certain point when do you say when. I say this is a store issue for not staffing the store well enough. They have cut back on their employees too much! My time is no more valuable than yours but yours is no more valuable than mine. When I did do this years ago, I was EXTREMELY organized and was faster than if the salesperson had waited on 6 different people as I had my method of payment out and ready to go. I found that all to often, when you do a larger transaction things get screwed up and then it is a BIGGER mess to try and figure out what happened and where and what went wrong. I lost credit for too many coupons this way. It takes time to clip, organize, prepare, and then actually shop the store. There are some people who do it to TRULY save money for their family because they are a one income family and that is how they contribute to the running of the household. They don't do it to annoy other people, to inconvenience them, or any other such thing...
When I did shop with more coupons, I tried to shop at non peak times. That way the person trying to run their lunch time errand didn't get stuck behind me in the check out lane. Not everyone is rude, like you want to imply. But my time is just as valuable as yours...and that was how I contributed to making our household budget go further.

I have nothing against coupons. However, the problem is with store policies. If a store is going to allow the extreme couponing then it should require a manager to check them out and they should have a seperate lane available.

I don't know about the manager checking customers out. Probably not a cost effective use of management. But a HIGHLY trained cashier would be a good idea!
The seperate lane is an excellent idea!!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I haven't done this in a couple of years, and I used to ALWAYS let people go ahead of me if I was doing more than one transaction, but at a certain point when do you say when. I say this is a store issue for not staffing the store well enough. They have cut back on their employees too much! My time is no more valuable than yours but yours is no more valuable than mine.

Unfortunately, a lot of folks aren't nearly as courteous as you. That said, no my time isn't more valuable that yours, but if you're doing something that can be done on your time WITHOUT involving MY time.......well, you can see how folks get annoyed. For example:

What I typically end up behind is something like this: 1 cart maybe 1/2 full.
*1st Ring - this is all my stuff, here's my check
*2nd Ring - this is my mom's stuff, here's her cash
*3rd Ring - my daughter needs to pay for the Barbie herself
*4th Ring - my son needs to pay for his Hot Wheels himself
*5th Ring - Oh, I need a carton of cigs for Aunt Sylvia. They're not in this lane? Oh, where are they? Here ya go, here's her $10. Oh, they're more than $10? She only sent me with $10. Well, how much for 2 packs?

Uggh. Just pay for your @#$% and sort the money out at home, not HERE!

When I did shop with more coupons, I tried to shop at non peak times. That way the person trying to run their lunch time errand didn't get stuck behind me in the check out lane. Not everyone is rude, like you want to imply. But my time is just as valuable as yours...and that was how I contributed to making our household budget go further.

Coupons are another story. W/O them, you're paying more. And it's not like you can do anything to speed up the process (other than being organized, which most couponers seem to be). My wife had one lady huff & puff behind her one time when she whipped out the coupons. No more than 30 seconds later, the cashier said, "And it looks like you saved $57.63 today with your coupons". Gal when from huffy to pretty quick

 

[stitchlovestink]

Unfortunately, a lot of folks aren't nearly as courteous as you. That said, no my time isn't more valuable that yours, but if you're doing something that can be done on your time WITHOUT involving MY time.......well, you can see how folks get annoyed. For example:

What I typically end up behind is something like this: 1 cart maybe 1/2 full.
*1st Ring - this is all my stuff, here's my check
*2nd Ring - this is my mom's stuff, here's her cash
*3rd Ring - my daughter needs to pay for the Barbie herself
*4th Ring - my son needs to pay for his Hot Wheels himself
*5th Ring - Oh, I need a carton of cigs for Aunt Sylvia. They're not in this lane? Oh, where are they? Here ya go, here's her $10. Oh, they're more than $10? She only sent me with $10. Well, how much for 2 packs?

Uggh. Just pay for your @#$% and sort the money out at home, not HERE!

I agree Gumbo courtesy is a 2 way street. My intention (even now as I do try to use coupons when possible to save $$ but I don't extreme coupon) is Never to inconvenience anyone be it other customer or employees. And I Always TRY to remember my manners to say PLEASE and Thank You. I'm not saying I'm perfect cuz Heaven knows I'm not. But I have found that a little bit of kindness and courtesy makes everyone feel a little bit better. If the sales clerk doesn't ask me how I am I address them and say how are you today. I've even go so far as to tell a sales clerk or two that has had their butt chewed by the person ahead of me to shake it off that he/she was just having a bad day and don't let it ruin the rest of theirs. One poor clerk was almost in tears! I witnessed the whole episode and I went directly to management after I checked out and relayed exactly what happened so if that jerk of a customer tried to get that poor girl in trouble the store manager had an unbiased opinion of exactly what happened. I've taken my time (which truly could be better used doing other things cuz I had to wait and wait and wait some more) to talk to a store manager to tell them what a nice job a young man did helping me in a store. Why? Because IMO, he was a VERY young man (teenager) probably a new employee and I think he went above and beyond IMO and he deserved a pat on the back. I think it would encourage him to continue to do such a great job. What took me 90 sec to tell the mgr took me over 10 min of waiting time for them to come talk to me. But I felt it was worth the wait for him.
I'm sorry you have been inconvenienced by others. I'm sure it's frustrating. But not every couponer is inconsiderate....

Coupons are another story. W/O them, you're paying more. And it's not like you can do anything to speed up the process (other than being organized, which most couponers seem to be). My wife had one lady huff & puff behind her one time when she whipped out the coupons. No more than 30 seconds later, the cashier said, "And it looks like you saved $57.63 today with your coupons". Gal when from huffy to pretty quick

About a month ago, I had a lady stop while I was checking out and she was watching the clerk. Her friend asked her loudly what are you doing? She told her I'm watching this woman's coupons! I went from about $98 to $45. (I don't remember the exact number I got down to, but it was over half off). The woman said to me how impressed she was. I did have some good high value coupons like the $3 pantene coupons and a couple of $5 off of dog food. I probably had 15ish coupons and I only had 1 item that I didn't have a coupon for. So I really don't think I inconvenienced anyone time wise. Now my complaint is when the coupons don't scan correctly! and I have to pull the item out of the already packed shopping bag to prove that I purchased the correct item! That's NOT my fault... Please don't blame me when that happens. I have used my coupon fairly and legitimately. I can't help it if it doesn't scan and I have bought the right product.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Like I say, I really don't have issues with couponers - that'd be awfully hypocritical if I did

I probably have more issues with general disorganization than anything else. There are lots of things that can add time to a ring - fresh produce, writing a check, whatever. As long as you have your act together & I can see progress, that's a plus.

That said, even if someone were a mess & holding up the line for no reason, I couldn't bring myself to say anything unless I thought I could help in some way (ran into that at the DMV one time with someone who didn't understand why her safety inspection had to be redone & the gal behind the counter wasn't explaining it in a way any normal person would understand ). As irritated as I might get, I know it's not on purpose. And it really wouldn't make me feel better to be mean to someone else. Now, if the cashier decides to poke fun at the previous customer with me, I'll sure chime in once they're gone