I get Dibs on This...

[NateTheChops]

Have you ever had a customer that was so desperate to use a coupon for two or three dollars off that they wound up spending more?

Coupon Lady = CL
Artist Suffering For His Craft = Me
New York Times Writer = NYTW

Had a mother in my line with her daughter, buying school supplies. Her order comes to just forty-four dollars but she wants to use the 5 dollar off coupon, which requires a minimum purchase of fifty dollars.

So I convince her to buy some copier paper, since there is a rebate on it. But she still needs to buy something else because the paper comes to just below 50. I covince her to buy a couple pens, because we're supposed to be selling these promotional pens.

That puts her total just barely over 50, but the coupon doesn't cover sales tax, so I convince her to buy a couple more pens.

At this time she turns to the gentleman in line behind her.

CL: I'm sorry to hold you up.
NYTW: Oh, don't worry. I'm going to be writing an article about this later.
Me: *Wisely keeping my mouth shut, but amused no less*
CL: Oh?
NYTW: Yeah, I write for the New York Times. Don't worry though, I'll change the situation to protect the not so innocent. (His actual words. Still not sure if he was referring to me or the customer, but he said it with such perfect Irish Diplomacy that neither of us was phased by it)
Me: (To CL) So, you're total just came over and now with the coupon...your total is 49.86.

So, the end total was actually five dollars MORE than what she would have paid if she had not been so gungho about using the five dollar off coupon. But not a bad deal for me because the front end manager is so gungho about selling those pens and I sold more than my daily quota for the day to this lady.

After she left I rang up NYTW guy and asked if his article would make it to the Times website by any chance.

NYTW: Well, I'll write it but it's up the editor if it gets published or not.
Me: To be fair though, I should probably let you know that I'll be blogging this later. But you'll probably have a better claim to it, moneywise.
NYTW: Go for it.

[Mikkel]

At least she got some useful things, it's nice to have extra of both pens and copier paper. Did you give NYTW the address of this site?

[NateTheChops]

I didn't think it would be a good idea. Just incase I was the "Not so Innocent" person he was referring to.

With my name badge on and everything it might have been shooting myself in the foot so to speak.

[MoonCat]

I actually did that once (long-suffering sigh...) It was one of those family things, where if you point out that you're actually spending more than you would have without the coupon, it would just cause an argument. So I used the coupon, but honestly, if I'd been thinking faster that day, I'd have just paid for the stuff we initially wanted--instead of buying more just to quality for the coupon--then chucked the coupon secretly, and we'd all be happy.

[greek_jester]

I've actually done that, but in my case it was only an extra £1.50 to qualify for a '300 points if you buy over X amount' Boots voucher (which translates to £3 when I've accumulated enough to buy something with it). In my defence it, it was something that I was going to need (face wipes) but didn't really need for another couple of weeks.

And it's working, I'm only £4.56 away from being able to use my points card to buy my mum's favourite perfume for Xmas! That's nearly £50 I don't have to find in my bank account

[jjc927]

This week we have a coupon where you can get 3 bags of chips or pretzels for $5 but you need to spend $10. This one guy at the Uscan has nothing but the chips and then asks why isn't it 3 for $5. I tell him this, and he proceeds to spend a few minutes running to different isles to get a few more things so he has $10. The price of the chips without this coupon? $1.99 each. Yes, all of this trouble for $.97!

[DeltaSierra]

I've never done something like that for a couple dollars, but I have been in situations where the cashier has told me that if I bought something for a buck or 2 more, I'd save $10 or more off! I'm always so thankful when they do something like that and am sure to write a very positive comment card or speak to the supervisor praising them if that happens. I once saved 50% off my entire bill at Staples because I spent an extra $1.50 (saved $25!)

[MoonCat]

I've never done something like that for a couple dollars, but I have been in situations where the cashier has told me that if I bought something for a buck or 2 more, I'd save $10 or more off! I'm always so thankful when they do something like that and am sure to write a very positive comment card or speak to the supervisor praising them if that happens. I once saved 50% off my entire bill at Staples because I spent an extra $1.50 (saved $25!)

Yes, in a case like that, it's great! I bought some beads online from Fire Mountain, they have a pricing system that gives you discounts when you order over a certain amount. I saved about $25 on the stuff I bought.

Forgot to mention the "best" part in my other post. I reimbursed the driver for gas money since it was a very long drive, so I ended up spending more than I saved. Oh, well...

[Merriweather]

Well, as long as she was buying something she'd have to buy at some point later on, she's still saving the $5 - she's just more or less saving it at the point she'd have had to buy the extra supplies (and now won't have to) rather than right now. I do that now and then, like getting an extra week's worth of an item to use a coupon, I don't save now, but I will next week when I don't have to buy that item again. However, I've seen people buy stuff they don't need and will never use in order to get a discount, which makes no sense at all.