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Retailers getting tougher on couponers

May 16, 2011 by · 2 Comments

Tonight ABC news ran a segment on the backlash from Extreme Couponing. I’d love to post the link, but I can’t find it.

ETA: LINK! It was available Monday morning.

First, what made me cringe is that while they are interviewing one blogger about coupon fraud, they are showing clips of another couponer. One who does not commit coupon fraud. Which is unfortunate for her. I actually happen to know that person, and I have a feeling she’s going to be upset about it.

Keep in mind, that just like with anything, the actual amount of people who commit coupon fraud is very small. Most people are doing it honestly. And that’s just what we need to do, keep being honest about it. Even though it feels awkward at times to get tons of free stuff, if you’re not doing anything wrong, don’t worry about it. And fine, be a party pooper and if you know someone is doing something that is fraudulent, report them. If you see a site that is discussing fraudulent use, send that link to our friend Bud Miller at the CIC. If you have questions about the validity of a coupon, ask hotcouponworld. They’ll add it to their fake coupons list, if it is indeed a fake, so word gets out.

It’s easy to stay away from the sketchy sites, they make themselves known pretty quickly. There are many big sites and blogs, with thousands of followers, that post things against a particular store’s or coupon’s wording. And when they’re called out on it, they either delete the comment, ban the user, ignore it or whatever.

I really hate when stuff like this happens. Coupon fraud hurts all of us. Will be interesting to see what the backlash is as a result of all of this.

Filed Under: Extreme Couponing Tagged With: , ,

Some resources to help tornado victims with couponing

May 3, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Before I had kids, I had more time. Stating the obvious, I know! But because I had more time, I took advantage of a LOT more deals and had a much bigger stockpile. And if you remember, earlier this decade, there were lots of organized efforts to help the troops, when we first entered the war. My parents’ church had an ongoing donation drive and for a long time we had a running joke that via coupons, I was outfitting our troops much better than our own gov’t was. Every time I saw my parents, I’d give them bags & bags of stuff, and if you also remember from that time period, there were many news reports about how our troops were lacking necessities. Anyway……my point is, couponing is a great way to help those who need help, without reaching in to your own wallet. All it takes is a bit of time & tenacity.

Right now there are two other coupon bloggers that are promoting helping the tornado victims down south. Here are their posts if you want more information on how to help.

Couponing to Disney

AFC

Filed Under: Extreme Couponing Tagged With: ,

On My Soapbox again: Shelf clearing

May 2, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

If you came here to commiserate with someone because you found empty shelves at a store, this is not the place. I’m very PRO-shelf-clearer.

I was having a conversation with someone that I’m introducing to the world of supercouponing, and when I asked her about a freebie deal she was going to look into she said, “Nah, I didn’t get any. I went there and there were only two left, so I felt bad.”

What is that? Since when do we feel bad about taking the last item off of a product shelf? Tell me this. Let’s say you’re buying a car, a very expensive one at that. You go to the Mercedes dealership and find one that you want. It’s the only one, on the entire lot of 300 cars, that has all the features you want. You were planning on paying $85k for this car. Do you say to yourself “Nah, even though this is the only car that has all the features I want, I’d feel bad if someone else wanted it and I bought it. I won’t buy a new car today.” So why is it any different with a $2 something that you’re going to pay for with coupons?

Look, I’ve been there. I’ve seen a freebie or a really hot deal, got all my coupons clipped & sorted, only to go to the store and there are none left. It’s disappointing. It is. But if you come upon an empty shelf, you don’t know if 50 people came and each bought one, or one bought all 50. And frankly, it doesn’t matter. As long as I am not violating any laws, coupon or store policies, I am free to purchase as many as I wish.

I used to feel bad about taking the last free somethings during a deal, until one time I read a comment from another supercouponer and moderator on hcw. She said “It’s not my responsibility to ensure that there is enough product there for the next customer.” That was my a-ha! moment. It’s not my responsibility. It’s the store’s responsibility. And what if you leave those items and no one comes to get them? How will you even know?

You can’t justify or validate someone else’s purchases. You can’t. And you shouldn’t. Because there are too many gray areas. And really, it’s only the couponers that get mad at finding the empty shelf, particularly when they know that that item can be had for free. Tough. That’s the way it goes sometimes. Focus on what you can control-talk to the store manager or dept manager about preordering, try a different store, go earlier in the sale, go near the end of the sale and try again.

Because it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if I buy 1 or 1001 items. And it doesn’t matter if I pay for that item with coupons, cash, credit card, check, food stamps, wic, pennies, catalinas, gift cards or sand. If the store accepts it as legal tender, I’m good to go. And it doesn’t matter if I eat it, sell it, donate it, trash it or set it on fire in my back yard. I paid for it and it’s mine to do whatever I want to do with it. And it’s none of your business. And it’s none of my business how you pay for your items and what you do with them afterwards.

There will always be other deals. Yes, it’s disappointing to miss out on a good deal, but there are others.

Filed Under: Extreme Couponing Tagged With: , ,

If TLC is ‘The Learning Channel,’ what are we learning?

April 14, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Last night was another episode of the TLC show Extreme Couponers. Once again, I chose to watch The Middle and Modern Family. Once again, all the various coupon boards and deal blogs are all a-buzz with chatter about the show.

Me? Meh. I’m already bored with it and think the show has run it’s course. I certainly understand the voyeuristic appeal of the show, especially for those who don’t coupon. Just like I enjoyed watching a woman eat several rolls of toilet paper per day, I see how some like to watch this. But after watching the toilet-paper-eating woman and the woman who sleeps with her blowdryer, I got bored. And watching people redeem coupons is not that exciting.

Sure, I’m mildly annoyed that the show is giving so much mileage to a woman who commits coupon fraud regularly. She’s even getting more PR today as she is on my Yahoo feed. But watching someone commit coupon fraud is about as exciting as watching someone commit insurance fraud. And I don’t see TLC scrambling to make a show on that. And what she shows is crazy. The Yahoo article quotes her as saying that for one trip, she and several friends clipped ten hours a day for four days. Seriously? I can only imagine what that conversation is like–me trying to convince my friends to clip coupons for me, for 40 hours. They deserve to be portrayed as loons if that’s what they’re doing.

Apparently last night’s episode showed the guy taking his haul and donating it to the troops. How quaint and American. That’s our battle cry, so that you don’t think we’re nuts. “But weeeee dooonnnnnattttttteeeee!” we whine in unison. So that you don’t instead nominate us for the other TLC show Hoarders. Look, I get dozens of coupon inserts every week, I clip lots of coupons, redeem lots of coupons and have a huge stockpile of free stuff in my basement. And lots of you think it’s quirky and odd and all those things. I really don’t give a shit if you think I’m nuts. Yes, I donate. Tons of stuff actually. But I could care less if you even know about my donating, I don’t need your validation thankyouverymuch. I find it peculiar that so many do need validation. I think some of the interests that lots of people have are odd, it’s just that TLC isn’t necessarily making a show of it. I think it’s weird that some people dress up in outfits from another era in time, and then gather with other folks who are similarly dressed. I think it’s odd that some people reenact battles. I think it’s odd that some people can recite every.single.statistic for a particular sports team, know every fact about them going back 50 years. But just like I wonder why they would fill their head with that much information, they wonder the same about me–and how I know the coupon policies for every store within ten miles of my home. I sort of get, but still don’t, why so many couponers feel the need to explain themselves as a result of this show. I do what I do and was doing it long before it was cool. Mrs. Duggar makes absolutely no apologies for what she does. Why should we? People are going to think what they’re going to think, regardless of what we say.

In closing, I’ll share two articles I’ve been asked to share. One is from the Coupon Information Center which investigates fraud. The other is from one of the deal sites, and has some good points about things that the show doesn’t show you. Personally, I do think it encroaches upon the principle of “he doth protest much” as far as explaining ourselves, but overall a good essay.

Let’s get back to the deal talk. And I completely understand that getting multiple coupon inserts and supercouponing is NOT for everyone, so I promise to not only focus on that. I try to make this sort of a ‘couponing for everyone’ blog that everyone can participate in, at their own level of interest.

ETA: And if you’re not watching ABC on Wednesday nights, I really think you’re missing out. It’s not often that my husband actually laughs out loud at a tv show, but Modern Family and Better With You had him doing just that. I love The Middle because the writing and acting is so good, you really believe characters like Sue are real. It’s a good night on tv, the first one we’ve had in a long time, watch it!

Filed Under: Extreme Couponing Tagged With: ,
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