- If a coupon doesn't beep, then it's totally legit to use it. Here's my example: The Huggies coupons that are out there, work on any Huggies product. You can use the $1 diapers, to buy wipes. It doesn't beep, so I don't see a problem with it. I guess Manager Rob's statement that "the company just wants you to buy their products" makes sense to me.
- If a coupon states "Limit one per person" the most I will do is 2, since my daughter is usually shopping with me and she counts as a person. Also, I don't think that 2 is going to clear out stock, now if you're talking 5, 10, 15...that's when you're cutting into the fun of other couponers. How much does it suck to get to the store and none of the products that you are looking for are there? I personally had to limit myself with the recent Reynold's Wrap sale because I had lots of coupons that I had bought off the internet, but I didn't want to clear out their store. After a few trips and a few different stores, I ended up with 13 anyway!
- If a company puts a coupon in .pdf form, then it is okay to share it. If you have a .pdf coupon, then it will not have a unique barcode (ex: The Blue Bunny $1 coupon), so it is perfectly okay to share with others. It is not okay to post copies of coupons that you get from the paper or that have unique barcodes (like the coupons that you print on coupons.com).
- I will take extra peelies and tearpad coupons to use at other stores or at a later date, but I always try and make sure that I am taking what I will use and that I am leaving some for the person who is buying that product right now.
I guess that overall, I try and make sure that I'm not doing anything that will make it so that a company doesn't get their money back from the manufacturer. Like, I just found a bunch of $5 formula checks in my "craft" room(also known as crap room, cause it has become the dumping ground) and boy was I tempted to use them - I mean it's $5!!! But I knew it wasn't right, so I just resigned up at those sites to see if I was eligible to receive more. Yep, they just came in the mail the other day.
What are your rules? How do you use coupons and feel good about the deals that you got?
6 comments:
I can't seem to find the new coupon? I totally agree with you. Some people ruin it for everyone! If only everyone had your ethics.
Oh, I don't think that I'm a saint at all! I totally mess up sometimes. The coupon is on the first page of the SlickDeals forum at the bottom of the post with the bright pink letters: NEW--train.pdf
I agree with you -- I try to only use what we'll use! If I can get a couple extra coupons on something we can stock up & use then I'll do it -- but, I am not one to break out oodles of coupons just because I can!
Plus, I remember once at Albertsons about a year ago they actually cut me off at 25 coupons total... so, now I am just afraid to have too many, ha! :)
I generally agree with your rules. I also try know the policy of the store I'm at and not break it. It's good for me because then I don't get a "reputation". It also helps if I know it and the cashier doesn't- when the check with a manager, I don't have to be afraid!
I won't take more than 4 coupons from a blinkie at a time. I'm only one person, so I don't need more than 4 of much. Though, if I go back and it's something I like and use, I'll take 4 each time. (For example I have about 8 Deli Creations coupons, and 8 hansens sparkling non-juice thing coupons).
I totally agree about not buying out the store! I really wanted Oral B refill's last week and went to 4 Wallgreens and all were sold out! : ( Oh well!
CJ
cj,
About the Oral-B thing, I decided to try a new tactic that a manager at Rite-Aid suggested: Have the cashier ring up the item (they can just grab the tag from the shelf) and you give your coupons and pay for it, get your RR, you just don't get the product until they restock. Kind of like a pre-sale! Way easier than trying to get a raincheck with the whole RR thing (most cashiers don't know how to do this) and I can just go get the product when I go back to the store. At Rite-Aid they just noted that I had already paid on my actual receipt. Walgreens wrote me out a raincheck, but wrote "already paid" on it. May save you some driving.
I don't post any PDF or JPG coupons on my blog because many of them are counterfeit or companies declare them unusable at their store some time after they issue them due to problems with people printing hundreds and selling them on eBay. I will tell my readers how to get these coupons if they can get them directly from a companies website. I wish that companies would stop posting PDF coupons because they are just asking for those with less ethics than most coupon users have to abuse them.
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