Extreme Couponing

[underemployeed]

I guess even the ones that spend 8hrs to prepare, make out if they save $500

[Kiwi]

I rarely see any fresh food that they buy, it's all boxed and frozen meat products, sports water, candy bars, jarred or boxed food. They rarely seem to buy fruit, veggies, protien in it's natural form. That and the fact they have perishable foods in their carts for multiple hours getting warm.

I coupon but have never used more than 15 in a transaction and No way I am taking up a room in my house with just food. I would be 400lbs in no time!

[Aethian]

Kiwi, some of them use the savings they make in order to get fresh fruit or meat and the like. But your right a lot of their stockpiles make me sick to my stomach.

[jjc927]

I've thought that too. A lot of them buy those gross powdered mashed potatoes and a whole bunch of frozen things and tons of flavored water. And I would never spend all that time compiling coupons and planning out what to buy in order to spend so little.

[Aethian]

I would spend that much time if I was setting up house for the first time. Like with the laundry detergent, foils, plastic bags, and the like.

[mattm04]

Same here; we're all for coupons and promotions, but spending a full day planning it? No thanks; any 'savings' would be more than offset by the wasted hours.

I watched one where the couponer, at least on TV, showed a day planner indicating they spent anywhere from 6-11 hours each day. They literally had a whole day blocked off for a 6 hour shopping trip.

[Aethian]

Just read where one person commited coupon fraud... How fricken sad

LINK

[mattm04]

Just read where one person commited coupon fraud... How fricken sad

LINK

Wow. Jill's website links wot a WSJ article where the extreme couponer in question admits to matching bar codes and has no problem with it. I will have to take time to read both.

http://blogs.smartmoney.com/paydirt/...e=intromessage

You matched barcodes, as long as they worked, rather than products, right?

Yes.

Do you believe that was the right thing to do?

Yes, I believe that I have done nothing wrong. I’ve even had managers take my purchase and check me out. They’ve told me, “If the coupon goes through at my register, I’m getting reimbursed for it.” I have never been approached by anyone in authority telling me to do something different.

Will you change your methods now that manufacturers are changing the barcode system?

I do not intend to change my shopping habits unless or until the code changes. If it is in fact a problem, the new GS1 barcode should resolve all of these issues.

[Trishlovesdolphins]

I consider myself a good couponer, and my record is $75. People who act like that make it harder for people who aren't crazed maniac SCs.

[Trishlovesdolphins]

Same here; we're all for coupons and promotions, but spending a full day planning it? No thanks; any 'savings' would be more than offset by the wasted hours.

I don't spend a whole day. An hour, maybe even 2 if I'm distracted. I sit down and look at the store's sale's ad online, and match my coupons up to the sales, then the coupons on stuff I need ASAP. I also plan my meals at the same time with my grocery list. My list gets divided up on a spreadsheet so that I don't have to check coupons. All the info goes on the paper, and I just have my 1 list to deal with. I shop, and hand the whole stack of coupons to the cashier. In reality, spending the hour or so doing all that saves me a lot of time searching at the store.

[senor boogie woogie]

I despise coupons. The main reason is that it slows up the line at supermarket checkouts. Between the coupons and with most stores having discount or membership cards (that's another huge beef of mine), the whole process takes much, much longer than it should.

It's also ridiculous to have in store coupons. Just charge the price on the product and advertise the price. Some stores honor other's in house coupons, making it somewhat a nightmare of the checker having to figure out if a coupon is valid, or if the store can accept the coupon itself.

Numerous years ago, I was a night worker and the one main place I used to shop was a super nice 24 hour Wal Mart Supercenter. One night I was in the one line with some woman with fistfuls of these damn coupons from KROGER supermarket, telling the clerk at almost every product that the price at Kroger is this much, and having their in store coupons, again slooooowing down the damn line.

Usually, I am an ass and would ask "Lady, why don't you quit wasting my time, the clerk's time and trouble and take your ass over to Kroger!" But I was in rare form and kept my silence. But still, someone with handfuls and handfuls of these little pieces of paper, in which the clerk, the manager and the accountants at the store and corporate have to account for is ridiculous, ludicrous and asinine, not to mention a waste of paper and TREES.

[Trishlovesdolphins]

But still, someone with handfuls and handfuls of these little pieces of paper, in which the clerk, the manager and the accountants at the store and corporate have to account for is ridiculous, ludicrous and asinine, not to mention a waste of paper and TREES.

Maybe, maybe not. However, coupons are a great help to a lot of people who need to save some money. There is nothing illegal or rude by using them, providing you do so in a non-SC way.

[Primer]

While I realize that most stores don't really care about their front line workers, I'd think that they could get those registers programmed to check expiration dates and matching purchases when the coupons are scanned. After all, it's the *store* losing the money, not just the employees and customers getting frustrated.

[Trishlovesdolphins]

While I realize that most stores don't really care about their front line workers, I'd think that they could get those registers programmed to check expiration dates and matching purchases when the coupons are scanned. After all, it's the *store* losing the money, not just the employees and customers getting frustrated.

At the store I shop at, the register does catch them so it can't be that hard to program a register to catch it.

[ralerin]

Primer: My Aid of Rite has our registers programmed like that now, especially for the "Healthiness + Rewards" coupons. Yay!