I have asked a dear friend of mine, Dr. Charles Weinstein, PhD in Business Ethics and founder of the James J. Hill Center for Ethical Business Leadership, to chime in about the ethics of couponing. Chad believes in helping the good guys win by doing the right thing, which I agree with whole heartedly. Applied to couponing Chad has this to say:
Who doesn’t like a bargain? Free stuff? Done right, it’s a win-win. Merchants and product makers offer coupons to attract new customers to their stores and products, and to reinforce and reward loyal customers. On the other hand, a little Internet searching reveals lots of opportunities to take advantage by illegitimately duplicating coupons that were offered as part of a specific loyalty program, for example, or using coupons for products they are not intended for. That’s cheating and I have a case against it.
Misusing coupons is stealing. I doubt that someone trying to sneak a coupon through for a product different from what was intended considers it that way, but I do. Reminds me of a time when I was a kid – an undisclosed number of decades ago – I saw a man walk back into a drugstore, and pay for a candy bar that he had inadvertently forgotten to purchase. The clerk thanked him for his honesty, and he smiled and said, “It’s not that. If I’m going to become a thief, it will be for more than a Snickers.”
Also, people tend to use coupons for more than just economic reasons. Sometimes the bargain hunt is an end unto itself. Cheating defeats that purpose. If you don’t play the game by the rules, what fun is the game? Isn’t that what we tell our kids when they want to make their own shortcut on Candyland? If you are going to play the coupon game, play by the rules, and take legitimate pride in your savings.
Carrie here again: Before I open this up for a friendly (here that, friendly, I say, friendly) dialogue about the ethics around coupons, let me interject my two cents.
It truly is all about following the rules. Coupons are great, deals are great, but I believe in living by the rules. That brings me to the most commonly asked question I get in the coupon ethics camp. ”What about coupons that say ‘do not double’ on them? Why do you suggest they be doubled?” I have a logistical and a moral answer. First logistically, I cannot tell which coupons say “do not double” when I put the shopping lists together and I do not print every coupon myself, so logistically it is impossible for me to know which ones say that. Second, morally, when I first noticed coupons that say “do not double” I became concerned that I was breaking the rules – this is long before Pocket Your Dollars was even a twinkle in my eye. I explicitly asked a number of staff at the Rainbow Foods where I shop about the wording on the coupons and what they suggested I do. They told me that they are okay with me using those coupons for a variety of reasons which they shared with me and that settled the issue for me. For you, however, I suggest you settle it yourself. Ask at your store, get an answer and be willing to live with what they tell you.
If an internet coupon is too good to be true, it probably is. Most internet printable coupons are totally legitimate. However, there are a few bad apples out there. If you ever question the legitimacy of a coupon, then check out the list of fraudulent coupons put out by the Coupon Information Corporation. Illegitimate coupons are typically “try me free” coupons distributed as pdf files, which means there is no primit limit. Any coupon that limits the number of times you can print it is legit. Those that don’t limit the number of times you can print may also be legit; if the original source is legit – like the manufacturer’s website , for instance – then it is fine. I check out all those things before I publish coupons on Pocket Your Dollars and sometimes you’ll find coupons on other websites that I won’t list for these reasons.
Enough deep thoughts for today, back to happy couponing!
Your turn: What does ethical couponing mean to you? (Remember, this is a friendly place so even if we disagree with one another let’s be respectful and courteous)
About Carrie Rocha
Last week when I went to Target, my target printable coupons were not working (I had printed them off that morning from organicgrocerydeals.com…I’m thinking my ink cartridge allignment might be off.). The cashier called over one of the customer service managers and she informed me that if they don’t ring up then I must have photocopied them and thus they are fraudulent and Target couldn’t accept them. She told me that I could go over to the kiosks and print the coupons there and try again.
Afullcup.com and the above mentioned site have MANY coupons on them while the Target site only had 11 coupons available to print when I looked (none of which I had wanted to use that day).
Anyway…has anyone else run into this? I haven’t had a chance to call customer service about this but the e-mail response that I got from Target just gave me their coupon policy (which doesn’t address this specifically) and told me that I had to call them to discuss specific issues. I want to use coupons within the rules set forth so I’m hesitant to print coupons off of the other sites now!
Thanks for your help/advice!
Great topic Carrie!
I wish everyone couponed by the rules. If that were the case I bet the cashiers would be much happier people.
I won’t use an expired coupon, even at stores that say they take them. I just feel weird about it because the manufacturer put that date on there and I feel like I should honor it. Plus it clears out some clutter in my coupon box!
Question for you fellow couponers though… If a coupon is missed or takes off the incorrect amount, I speak up. But if it is in my favor, I tend to keep my mouth shut. Like in cases where they give me overage for a store coupon (I know for manufacturer coupons they still get reimbursed the full amount so I don’t think that’s wrong). Do you speak up? Do you think that is unethical?
And the other thing is those Target coupons where you can get something free (like the artisan breads). Where do you set your limit? I only pick up a max of 6 per visit, but I’ve heard of people printing a ton and clearing out whole shelves…
Thanks for sharing this Carrie! Especially for new readers. As a new couponer, the “Do Not Double” statement bothered me for a while too – and I did not feel right using them – until I understood what what it meant. If a store offers double coupon days, the STORE is the one offering the double coupons to get customers in the door. The MFR does not “get hit” twice. The store is “taking the hit” for the double. Or think of it this way, MFR and Store coupons can nearly always be combined for the same item – on double coupon days, the store is in essense offering a “Store Coupon” for $X to match any of your MFR coupons.
What I believe “Do Not Double” to truly mean is that if you have a coupon that says “$1 off two” which says “do not double” and then you have another coupon that is “$0.50 off any” – you should not double these up. I think the same applies if a coupon says “Buy X get X Free” – if THAT coupon says do not double, you should not use another coupon for the first item that you bought. However, any “Do Not Double” coupon can always be combined with a STORE coupon – which is how I now understand “double days” in my head.
Excellent post Carrie!! I will definately be linking this one on my site!! I wholeheartedly agree about coupon ethics and it is very important we do not abuse the system OR manufacturers and stores are going to start offering less and less. I also try very hard not to post coupons that are not legit. There are so many ways to save money, it is not necessary to CHEAT the system. YOU DID NOT WIN THE GAME if you cheated!
As far as the comment asking about do I speak up about overage – I’ll admit for change I do not – sometimes I do not even notice. BUT I had a cashier the other day when I had $1 doubler competitor coupons think that she was supposed to double EVERY $1 coupon I had 3 times because I had 3 doublers. She took $12 off 3 times!! I had a very quick battle of conscience (milliseconds) when I said NO NO NO, you only double 3 $1 coupons. BUT I admit I was tempted.
Good for you, Lynn. I think we all have times we are tempted. I’ve walked out of the grocery store a time or two and realized I had soda on the bottom I forgot to tell them about, and there’s always that, “Do I go back in and tell them or just be glad they made a mistake?” moment. There have been time when I go back in to tell them, and they just wave me away and say not to worry about it, but I’m always glad I’ve tried and feel better for it.
For me, I was told way back when by a store manager – I think this was probably when I was in Texas in college – that as long as the store carried the specific item / flavor that is on the coupon, substituting a similar item was okay. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t abuse this. But in my mind, using a Cottonelle “Aloe” coupon on regular Cottonelle is pretty much a wash – they sell for the same price, are both on sale, I just prefer the other flavor, and the store is going to get their money back from the manufacturer for the coupon either way.
I am feeling *a little* bad about the DiGiorno coupons I used last night on the pizza-for-ones, now, though. Although in my defense, I had pulled them because the ad stated that the DiGiorno flatbread pizzas were part of the sale, and since Rainbow changed the terms of the sale to be just the small pizzas and flatbread melts, I went ahead and used the coupons anyway. :-P was sort of how I felt about it.
Also, I do think that most store managers I’ve talked to take the attitude of, “If the register accepts it, we take it and it’s legal” and simply rely on the register programming. So I tend to rely on that, too. Right or wrong? Not sure.
A question, though, along the lines Abby said about the people printing off a ton of Target coupons and cleaning off the shelves: what about me, where I order extra coupons of items we really like from some place like The Coupon Clippers? I just ordered 10 more DiGiorno flatbread melts coupons because the one I bought last night I just LOVED and want to get more. Is that abusing the system, to buy that many, when they really are not meant to be used in bulk like that? I know the manufacturers probably don’t put the coupons out expecting people to scavenge for 10 or 20 of a certain coupon, but the coupon clipping services make it so darn easy. Is using them ethical? Is the service they provide ethical in the world of couponing?
Great topic! Being new to the couponing way of shopping, I was a little hesitant about the $1 Target coupons, but I was pretty sure Carrie would not be putting them on her lists if they weren’t by the rules. After I had a run-in with my Target coupons, I went to the Target website and searched out their policy and, I must say, I not only feel better about using them, I will insist from now on if I ever come across the cashier supervisor who wouldn’t let me use them and insinuated that I was trying to pull the wool over Target’s eyes!
As far as the speaking up about overages, I have had overages that I did not notice until I got home, which it was obviously too late. But, there was one week at Cub when I went in to take advantage of the good deal on Morton’s Saver Salt and gave the cashier 3 coupons for $1/2. I had picked up a couple of other things and when she gave me my total of approximatley $6, I knew she had done something wrong and pointed it out to her. In that instance, it amounted to many dollars instead of a few cents, so I could not have in good conscience let it ride.
Thanks again Carrie for all the great topics and your great website!
Thanks for the post, Carrie.
My biggest problem is with people clearing out shelves of “free” items, as a previous commenter noted. I follow coupon rules exactly, and the artisan bread coupon, for example, says one per transaction. And that’s how I do it. I don’t think it’s fair to all the other shoppers and couponers out there to take 2 or 4 or 6 of the same item at one time. I probably end up with just as much “free” stuff, but I do it one coupon per transaction, one transaction at a time. I just have to go more often. I found it nuts when I bought a “free” item and there were dozens on the shelf, and the next morning I went back to get one more (my transaction for the day :) ), and there was just one left. It has happened with every good deal at my Target. I just don’t think it’s fair or ethical. People can justify it however they want, but I’ll be following the rules and playing fair.
THIS IS A GREAT TOPIC..I THINK TOO WE SHOULD PLAY BY THE RULES OTHERWISE MANUFACTURERS AN STORES WILL START MAKING IT HARDER FOR US TO GET THE GOOD DEALS..YOU CAN SEE NOW HOW WE CANT PRINT COUPONS AS MANY TIMES AS WE WANT LIKE WE WERE ABLE BACK IN THE DAY..THE SAME WITH TARGET I BELIEVE IF WE START GIVING THEM TOO MUCH TROUBLE WITHOUT REASON THEY ARE GOING TO STOP GIVING AWAY THOSE PRINTABLE COUPONS. I SPOKE WITH CORPORATE (TARGET) AND THEY TOLD ME THAT WE CAN USE THOSE $1.00 OFF COUPONS THAT ACTUALLY MAKE THINGS FREE LIKE THE ARTISAN BREAD AND THE GERBER BOTTLES.AND THAT ACTUALLY THERE IS NO LIMIT PER TRANSACTION..THAT YOU CAN BUY MULTIPLES IF YOU WANT EVEN IF IT SAYS ONE PER TRANSACTION!?.OF COURSE SHE REMIND ME “NOW YOU TAKE WHAT A NORMAL FAMILY WILL USE” SO YOU GUYS YOU HEARD HER..WHAT YOU WILL USE!!! SO DONT TAKE 12 PIECES OF BREAD ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE FREE…YOU KNOW THEY ARE GOING TO GET BAD AND YOU WILL END UP THROWING IN THE GARBAGE,NOW THERE IS PEOPLE THAT MIGHT ACTUALLY USE IT AND WONT BE ABLE TO GET THEM BECAUSE YOU JUST TOOK EVERYTHING THAT WAS LEFT.OF COURSE IF I SEE SOMEONE TAKING THE 12 PIECES WITH THEM I DONT JUDGE THEM..THEY MIGHT ACTUALLY HAVE 8 KIDS!
SARA BETH THANKS FOR THE DONT DOUBLE EXPLANATION,IT REALLY HELPED.!
I also am very cautious of using coupons they way they are meant to be used – maybe it’s just the honest scandinavian in me…
One of the concerns/questions I’ve had most recently is around travel sized items and getting so many of them for free. I always pay attention and will not use a coupon when it says that it is not valid on travel size items. However, on the tide/all/almay 1.00 coupons that many of us have used to get free travel size items, they didn’t state anything about not being valid on travel size items. However, in the fine print it says, “redeem ONLY by purchasing the brand sized indicated,” which I take as the picture on the coupon (what else would be indicated besides a picture and of course the picture of course has the full size items not travel size items). I know a lot of you out there use this coupon for free detergent on travel size items – but does it seem valid and ethical? Advice?
Someone earlier mentioned not using expired coupons even though a store will take them. My husband is stationed in Germany. Our commissary takes coupons 6 months past expiration. I gladly take advantage of this policy since I often don’t get coupons from friends until close to expiration and because my friends will send me their expired coupons. I also know that many people take advantage of a good deal and leave the rest of us who are legitimate couponers holding the bag. I was told by my commissary that any coupon printed out from the computer that said FREE item would not be excepted. Only those from newspapers would be taken. I love a good deal and feel that coupons help us all smart shop!
I am on board with coupon ethics 100%, but I think it needs to go both ways. I have heard so many stories of uneducated cashiers turning away legit coupons because they are policy-ignorant or in some cases, I feel, just controlling of the customer. If grocery chains are going to accept coupons, they need to make sure their policies are followed by all cashiers, not randomly by some and not by others. There are so many variations from store to store within the same chain, so obviously, there is mis-communication about couponing, and that is plain bad customer service.
Good topic! I agree with Carrie that you should ask the store manager and go with his or her answer. Many stores are happy to have you as a customer and are willing to bargain on a product or two. If the store is fine with you using the coupon, that really should settle the matter; trust that they are able to make intelligent decisions for themselves and save your guilt or worry for another matter. You aren’t tricking or being dishonest by using an expired or doubled coupon, if the store has given you the go ahead. Communication is the key!
What a great post!!
With the Target coupons, all of them say “one per transaction.”
So every time I get up to the cashier at Target I always ask “I have a lot of coupons, so do you want me to separate these into several transactions, or would you prefer for me to do them all at once?” I am more than willing to separate everything, but every time the cashier has always said to do them all at once.
On another note, I very much agree with SarahBB that the stores need to do a MUCH better job of educating their employees about coupon usage. It is definitely a two way street and those of us who use coupons correctly should not be treated like criminals by cashiers.
This is a great topic, and I wish more couponers would consider these points. There are so many legitimate ways to use coupons for free and inexpensive items, I don’t know why people spend time thinking up ways to cheat the system.
About Do Not Double coupons — I really don’t understand why coupons say this since it is the store that pays for the doubling. I know which stores in my area will double no matter what and which ones will follow the DND label and prepare my shopping lists accordingly.
About shelf clearing — If there are only two or three items left and that’s how many I planned to buy, I clear the shelf. I have no need to hoard a ton. If I ever do need a large quantity of a sale item, I plan to see if the store will special order that quantity for me.
I totally agree, Carrie! What a wonderful post… and what perfect timing!
I, too, like Rachel from STS always make sure the cashier knows that I have several coupons. I let them decide whether or not we do multiple transactions, or just one.
I have also run into having coupons that state, “do not double.” However, at my store, their register automatically doubles every single coupon $1 and under. I asked my cashier one day (who is also a manager) why it did that, and she said their registers were programmed that way. So, I am certainly not going to argue with that! As someone above said, that is the store’s option to do that.
BTW… I came over from Alyssa’s link on KFM :)
I know that when I first started couponing, I was unaware of some of the ethics involved. I believe I made some mistakes that I didn’t even know about at the time. Now that I know, it’s my responsibility to use coupons the way they were intended to be used. I also added a post about ethics to my series for new couponers: http://savingandgiving.blogspot.com/2009/05/start-saving-part-11-couponing-ethics.html
Hopefully I can help people not make the same mistakes I did. Thanks for raising awareness and getting the word out!
I have this issue with this site yes Pocket Your Dollars and unfortunately other sites have the same problem. On Hot Coupon World you CANNOT discuss Rainbow’s double policy being the “shelf price.” They have contacted the company (I have myself also) and they clearly state the policy is after store sales and store coupons but not after manufacturers coupons. Now, apparently the cororate policy is being handled differently by different stores. A Full Cup also talks about “shelf price.” Yes, I would love to be able to get the “shelf price”. But what I wonder about is I found a person who also shops at my store but she uses the “shelf price” and is still able to get the doubles?? So is it the store or the staff? If it is automatic then everyone who goes to that particular store should get the same “shelf price.” I think we need am employee to enlighten us.
Anita and others – I think all this conversation will lead me to a second post on coupon ethics later next week where I can provide some of my thoughts on the topics and questions raised here – like shelf price versus sale price and coupon doubling. I am enjoying hearing everyone’s thoughts!
Thank you Carrie for posting about this. I, like many other who posted above, think that if we act responsibly and ethically with our coupons Target is going to keep giving us great deals, But if we abuse the hand that gives us stuff, it is bound to get yanked away, and buying more than a few items of something free with Target coupons, is abusing the system. Target(at least the one in Fridley) will not take coupons that don’t scan with their registers, so don’t print them out in fast draft form….or you will be disappointed. I think the difference between how well the cashier’s are educated at Target, then say Cub may have to do with being Union and non-union….but who knows.
I have also always wondered why some coupons say “do not double”. If the store is picking up the tab for the doubling, then why would the manufacturer care? I wonder if the coupon is referring to some other kind of situation when it says “do not double”. I also am curious why Cub can accept expired coupons but other stores can’t. Do they have some agreement with manufacturers that they will still get reimbursed for the coupons? Or does Cub just eat the cost for the coupons they don’t get reimbursed for?
For Christina, Re: expired coupons, I asked a cashier at Cub one time about why they take expired coupons. She said that since they mail the coupons to a clearinghouse, there is a grace period of about 2-3 months on what the clearinghouse takes. Even those stores that only take a coupon up to the actual expiration date, obviously by the time the clearinghouse goes through all the coupons, a lot of them would be expired. As she explained it to me, the store still does get reimbursed for the coupons. It made me feel a little better to know that the store is not out the money they get for taking the coupons. I’m not sure why other stores don’t take expired ones if what the cashier told me was true. If anyone else has asked a cashier or manager about how and if they get reimbursed for expired coupons and it’s been explained differently, please share with us on here.
I don’t think it’s common policy anywhere for taking expired coupons. My mom lives in MI and she still has a few grocery stores that let you double coupons, but none that take expired ones.
I don’t go to Cub too often, but I do save my really good expired ones for when I do make a trip there. I appreciate being able to use them.
I wonder too about the ethical implications of having so many multiples of coupons. I buy multiple copies of the Sunday paper – ok? I have some friends who give away coupons they won’t use to someone who will – ok? I have another friend who delivers papers and has extra inserts to give away sometimes – ok? Coupon clipping sites and other services who circumvent the law against selling coupons by charging for their time clipping instead – mmmm, not so sure about that one. I’ve taken advantage of the first three many times, but I’ve never been able to bring myself to “buy” extras even if they’re really good and I’d truly use the products. Am I being too sensitive, or not sensitive enough?
Most of the stores in my area dont double coupons or take expired coupons so neither of those are an issue with me. I don’t believe in buying coupons from ebay or clipping services but that’s just my opinion, I don’t care if others do it. I’ve had a few instances when a cashier took off more for a coup than they should have and I didn’t say anything, but I’ve also had instances when I got less for coupons than I should have and didn’t say anything, so I figure it balances out over the long run. I wish Target coupons were more specific so we didn’t have to battle with the cashiers so much. Coupons can’t show a picture of every product and size they are good for, so cashiers should go by the wording, not the picture. The recent $1 General Mills coupons only showed Cheerios, but they were good for other varities, yet Target wouldnt let me use them on the single serving cups even though the wording didn’t prohibit it. The main thing about couponing that bothers me is people that use a large quantity of coupons for the same item all at once. If someone takes all 20 of an item off the shelves because they have 20 coupons for it, people like me who only have one coupon won’t get any.
I have also had issues and heartburn with the Target printable coupons on a number of occasions. I have done the coupons every way possible, one item at a time, one transaction at a time, and multiple items of the same kind on one transaction. There is definitely no rhyme or reason as to why one time a cashier will take a lot of the store coupon in one order or why they will only take one per item. I finally got so frustrated that I called Target customer service. I questioned the coupon wording and had a lengthy discussion with the rep. about it. She said very clearly that transaction = item – so one coupon per item is perfectly acceptable. I also explained that I personally thought the choice of words of transaction vs. just using the word item was very misleading to customers. I further explained how much frustration this causes on the part of the consumer who is trying to “play by the rules” but also avoid having to make a daily trip to Target just to get the items they would like to purchase with the Target coupons. The rep. told me that Target is working to get the wording better and the coupons revised to be more specific. I let her know that as a “couponer” I appreciate Targets efforts and would definitely appreciate more specific language on the coupons so it would be clearer for me and for the cashier. It was a great conversation.
On, also forgot to mention in my post above, I did get a bunch – 20 or so – of the FREE General Mills cereal cups with out any issues. I purchase about 4 to 6 at at time over the course of the last 3 or so weeks. I also got a bunch of Weight Watchers meals for less than $.50 per meal when those coupons were out about 4-6 weeks ago. I did it the same way. And last week when the Skittles were on sale $1 off per bag, I purchase 15 bags to use at Halloween, each was free with a $.48 overage. I did not question the cashier when she rang it up, I figured that is Target’s responsibility when training their employees. I am the consumer. I don’t work for Target! What do you do in such a situation?
A good friend and I have done a couple of mini-seminars on couponing (with just friends) and on both occasions we emphasized two things more than any others. Aside from stressing that the purpose of using coupons is not to chase down every deal (and then get burned out on the whole thing), we also conveyed our desire to do this right and not “sell our souls” to save an extra dollar off a box of cereal. We said how we not only want to follow the rules, *we want to be known for this* at the stores we frequent.
We have both seen that this earns us the benefit of the doubt when a coupon won’t scan, or other questions arise. I’ve seen cashiers visibly happy for me and impressed. (They buy food, too, and need to get a deal when they can.)
Thanks for posting on this topic as it’s a very important part—a vital one, really—of the quest to be a coupon diva.
:-) Helen
What about doing multiple transactions at Rainbow to get more coupons doubled? Is this ethical? I’m new to this and am trying to think it through. Thanks for your help.
Dorren – I asked the staff at my Rainbow about multiple transactions and they told me, “We set the $25 threshold in place to protect our interest. If you can meet it multiple times then it is fine to do multiple transactions.” If you are uneasy, call your store and ask the question to the Customer Service Manager so you can settle it for yourself.
Thank you! That helps.
I use mostly internet-printed coupons, which can be printed twice.
BUT MY FAMILY OWNS 2 COMPUTERS. So I want to print my favorite coupons twice from each one. However, is the limit meant to be that each family can have 2 coupons, or really that each computer can have 2 coupons?
In my mind, buying an extra computer was my way of “buying an extra copy of the paper” like so many people to do get extra coupons. Do you agree? There are some sites that require me to register to get a coupon, in which case I really truly only get 2 copies. I figure those are the manufacturers that truly intended “2 per family” and not “2 per computer.”
Gina