I won’t mention any names, but another deal blogger popped over on my Facebook page and said hi. In return, as a common courtesy, I liked their page, so of course the deals & stuff that they do are showing up on my feed. I was really disappointed when, in their feed, was a post about misusing a coupon and imo, encouraging their readers to do the same. And some readers were posting that they had in fact done the same thing. They even posted that they had to, in some instances, get a cashier or front end supervisor to override it to accept the coupon. The coupon says, in very plain and bold print “One coupon per transaction.” There’s really no misunderstanding it. We can argue ‘one purchase per customer’ all day long, but one coupon per transaction, that’s pretty specific.
Fine, I’ll be Miss Goody Two Shoes and spoil the party. What’s the harm? Well, lots actually. This is how I foresee the events unfolding. First the formula manufacturer will recognize what’s going on and contact Walmart. Walmart and/or Abbott will issue a memo that will go out, reiterating what the coupon already states and urge the stores to follow the instructions printed on the coupons. Store managers will filter this information down to front end supervisors who will then filter it down to cashiers. And, Walmart cashiers, who already are notorious for NOT accepting coupons even when you are following policy to the letter, will become even more discriminating and refuse to take even more of your coupons. Rather than risk their jobs and get in trouble, they will choose to err on the side of caution and just not accept any coupon they are leery of.
And Abbott, who just issued a very generous $5 coupon, will go back to offering $1 coupons. And moms who really need formula and need those high value coupons to save money won’t be able to. All so that a few couponers could score some cheap paper towels and soda and weren’t smart enough to figure out another way to do it.
Don’t do it-don’t misuse coupons or go against what the wording is. If it specifies a size, variety, flavor, combination of items, limit per transaction, whatever…just follow it. Misuse of coupons and coupon fraud hurts all of us. When someone makes a counterfeit printable, it makes stores leery of accepting all printables. When someone goes against the wording of the coupon, it causes all cashiers to further scrutinize all your coupons, which is a hassle.
There are still enough good deals to be had without breaking the rules. A freebie, moneymaker or great deal is so much more satisfying when you do it the right way!
ETA: And just because you’re donating it, doesn’t make it ok!
Amen.
I think anyone who has been couponing for a while has made an honest mistake with a coupon before, but to knowingly misuse a coupon is unacceptable.
WOW! That’s terrible! I am in a group on yahoogroups and they were talking about extreme couponing saying that THEY were cheating the system! They should read this article, because that’s cheating the system!
Too bad a few bad eggs need to ruin it for the rest of us!
Hi,,your right , its sad when people mis-use because it AFFECTS all of us! I struggle financialy like everyone else and if i couldnt use coupons i just couldnt shop,,my daughter-in-law is learning now to do the food part of the coupons , she does well with the non food items and im teaching her about the printables and how to stack store coupons with man coupons, if mis-use becomes an issue that also will stop retailers from allowing coupons ,,,,
Well, the blog post and the fb post are no place to be found. Wonder if they saw my post, or just had general remorse?
Hi, Are you on facebook? because i would TOTALLY like to add you to my favriotes, The article right here, is going to stand out to the ones who actually COUPON THE RIGHT WAY!