Have you ever tried to print an online coupon only to be told that you need to download the coupon printer, but you know you have already done that? Frustrating, isn’t it? Hopefully, those days are gone once you learn these tricks.
Bricks coupons. Most problems occur with “bricks” coupons, which are online coupons that start with http://bricks.coupons.com. Following that start is a long string of characters that look like gibberish to me. Here’s an example url for a bricks coupon: http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=qdtlcux99738770&bt=$&o=55781&c=KX&p=ymlIfoq5. These instructions are targeted solely to bricks coupons.
Your internet browser. That long string of gibberish-looking characters needs to be compatible with the browser you use to surf the internet. Let me walk you through a couple of the major browsers:
Internet Explorer. To print this coupon using Internet Explorer, IE, you will need to replace the “$” with either a “wi” or “vi”. Do this and you will be able to print in IE.
Firefox. To print this coupon using this link in the Mozilla Firefox browser you will need to replace the dollar signs in the link above. Simply change the “$” in the link above to “wg” and you will be able to print this coupon in Mozilla.
Safari. To print the same coupon, but using the Safari browser, you will need to change the “$” above to “xs”
Troubleshooting the link. You will often come across bricks coupons with one of the codes already in them such as “vi”, “wi” and “wg”. The code tells you which browser it is compatible with. If you are using a different browser, then all you need to do is change those two letters.
Your turn: Did it work? Can you resolve some of the printing problems now? What problems are you still having?
I based a large portion of this content on an article from eHow.
I have tried this with Safari and it did not work. I also get me a message about changing my printer settings.
what perfect timing! i was having issues printing Huggies coupons from savingabuckblog today (telling me i had to install the printer).
there wasn’t a dollar sign, but there was a ‘vg’. i changed to ‘vi’ and voila! it printed!
thanks carrie!
THANK YOU !!! This was the perfect timing! I haven’t been able to print in the last week due to this problem. Thanks so much! It worked for me by switching the letters.
I can not say enough THANK YOUs!!!!!!!!!! Loving your website.
Thanks! I ran into similar symptoms with a different root cause last week, thought I’d pass it along in case anyone else has this problem. Last week I suddenly couldn’t get the sites to recognize that I had the coupon printer installed, and tried reinstalling it a few times to no avail.
Turned out our internet security software (Spyware Terminator) was updated last week and it was blocking the coupon printer, probably because the coupon printer tracks information about your computer to keep track of how many times you’ve printed the coupon.
So now I turn off the realtime spyware monitoring just before I click the coupon print link, then turn it back on as soon as I’m done.
Another printing tip –
To stop wasting so much paper on those annoying coupons that print 1 per page with extra graphics that use up the entire page under the coupon, change your printer page size to “half letter (5 1/2 by 8 1/2)”. Also change your margins to 0.25″ on all 4 sides.
You can still feed the printer full sheets of paper, the coupon prints fine, but if there is an extra graphic, that gets cut off halfway down the page, leaving you a nice clean half sheet to print something else on by flipping the page around (or if your printer can handle half pages, by cutting off the half page for later reuse)
this post has been shared and bookmark since earlier!!! and right now i wanted to print the Cheerios brick coupon and it would not work!!! i wanted my FREE cereal so i came back and made the changes.. i will have my free cereal manana! thank you very much!
This is the first time I’ve ever been able to get the bricks coupons to work!! Thank you!!!!
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Hi Carrie,
Thanks for all the work on this! Say, when I go to print the Brick coupons my mumbo jumbo looks like this:
http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=qe2nfaz5875125&bt=vg&o=53710&pt=&lang=&ws=&ct=&ci=&cl=&cp=&eb=l&c=JT&p=15502730000&z=&r=&pc=&tc=
So, got any suggestions for me when I can’t seem to find that “$” to replace?
Thanks!
I have tried numerous times printing coupons from the smart source website, only to be told I need to enable Java…which as I checked it, it already was. A Java security warning window comes up saying that this application requires a previous version of Java and forces me to either choose “run” or “cancel.” I have tried both and then tried to print again…no luck. ARRRG! Any suggestions?
I use Firefox for my Internet browsing, so sometimes I have trouble with coupons, too. The way that I remedy it is through this Firefox addon:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419
All I need to do when I’m having trouble with a coupon is click the Firefox symbol in the right side of the bottom bar and it switches the page to be viewed in Internet Explorer. This usually remedies my coupon printing issues without having to change anything in the URL.
Hope this helps!
I can’t get the Target coupons to print, I’m using Safari. Any ideas? It just keeps saying they have printed when they haven’t.
Thanks
I use dial up and AOL. I can’t print from Target site as it causes aol to encounter an error then relaunches aol and Target thinks I printed it. Also the colgate site does the same thing and unablel to print from that site. I can print from other sites like coupons.com and betty crocker,, coupon cabin…. Any ideas?
I am on a Macintosh using Firefox 3.5.7. I have been going right along printing coupons from all sources with no problems at all, until 2 days ago. Nothing on my end has changed. I have not installed any security updates, printer drivers or anything else at all. Now, the Bricks coupons act as if there is something wrong with my printer settings and I can’t get past that screen. I HAD been using the Bricks tips above with great success, always changing it to “xs” and they worked like a charm. Until now. Coupons.com and RedPlum both keep asking me to install the software. I have run the “uninstaller” and then the installer over and over again to no avail and I can’t get past that screen. Strangely, I can still print the Smartsource coupons. I read somebody’s troubleshooting tips that suggested that I delete my cookies, so I tried that but it didn’t help. I only have one printer, and it is set as the default printer. I can print from other programs with no problems. I have read all the troubleshooting tips on everybody’s websites and there is not anything to help. Any ideas?
I’ve been having the exact same problem with Firefox 3.5.7 on a Mac, except I can’t use SmartSource, either. I’d always had trouble with some Bricks coupons, but now none of them work.
Hello… I have done everything possible to change my “vg” to “wg” and it takes me to a page that it says “your coupons are printing” it shows a shopping cart… but NOTHING… it has been two weeks, any idea??
Monica – Which browser are you using?
I have IE and FF but it dosen’t work even if I change the link :(
When I try to print the red plum online coupons I get a “need to have cookies installed”? I don’t know what that means