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Just getting started? Here are some couponing basics.
First, some definitions:
Manufacturer’s Coupon: A coupon issued by the manufacturer. Can be found in the Sunday paper, online, on tear pads at stores, in “blinkie” boxes at stores (little coupon boxes on shelves), in product packaging, magazines, etc. A manufacturer’s coupon is valid at any store that accepts coupons & sells that product.
Store Coupon: A coupon issued by a store. This coupon is only valid at the particular store who issued it (or perhaps at another store that “accepts competitor’s coupons”). These coupons are usually found in that store’s ad, but can also be obtained via home mailer.
Purchase: Each item you buy is considered a Purchase. People often will confuse a “purchase” with a “transaction.” These are different when you are talking about coupons. If you had 10 coupons for the same item, you could buy 10 of those items & use all 10 coupons at once, so long as the coupon reads “per purchase.” However, if the coupon reads “per transaction” you would have to break up your items by purchasing them 1 per transaction. Here are two examples of these differences:
First, the more common coupon…
Typical Coupon Example: $1.00 off Nature’s Source Natural Cleaner
The fine print: Limit one coupon per purchase.
Translation: You can only use one coupon for each bottle you buy. This is on there to prevent people from trying to use 5 coupons on one bottle (wouldn’t that be nice?). Notice there is no limit on how many “purchases” you can make within one “transaction.”
Now, the not-so-common coupon…
Rare Coupon Example: $3.00 off NutriPals
The fine print: Limit 1 coupon per transaction.
Translation: It doesn’t matter how many packs of Nutripals you buy in one transaction, you can only use one coupon. Have more coupons & want to buy more? Break-up your transactions.
Let’s say you are buying 10 bottles of the Nature’s Source Cleaner. You have 10 of the coupons (shown above) and the cashier tells you – sorry you can only use one coupon per purchase. Simply respond by asking the cashier how many bottles you purchasing.
Double Coupons: A promotion in which you use ONE manufacturer’s coupon and the store will double the value of that one coupon, usually up to a certain amount. Sometimes this happens automatically, while other stores require a coupon doubler (this is Albertsons’ preferred method of doubling coupons. You must have that coupon clipped from their ad & combine with your manufacturer’s coupon).
Now some rules:
Rule: You may use ONE manufacturer’s coupon per item.
There are some exceptions to this (for example, some coupons state “when you buy 2″ and in that case you would need to buy 2 items to use that one coupon) but for the most part: 1 coupon per 1 item.
Rule: In General, you may combine ONE manufacturer’s coupon with ONE store coupon.This is the policy of most stores. The store is covering the “cost” of their own coupon, the manufacturer is covering the cost of the other. For example, you see a coupon in the Fred Meyer ad for TreeTop Apple Juice. It is on sale 2 for $3 with the store coupon. You have a $1 off TreeTop manufacturer’s coupon. You can buy one bottle, use both coupons and pay $0.50.
Rule: You must follow the “rules” of the coupon.
Do not use expired coupons. You must also buy the product specified on the coupon. You must buy the size of the product specified on the coupon. You must buy the quantity of the specified product. All of this information can be found on the coupon.
Also…
It is good to know that Stores MAKE MONEY off of coupons. In addition to the amount of the coupon, stores get an extra $0.08 per coupon to cover their handling costs. I have read that it actually costs stores somewhere between $0.02-$0.04 per coupon to “handle” it, so they make at least $0.04 more per coupon off of a coupon shopper than a shopper who uses no coupons (kind of makes you wonder why so many cashiers get so cranky, huh?). This makes sense, if stores were losing money to coupons, they would have be done away with long ago.
More questions? Feel free to email me or post a comment.
