Comments on: The Ethics of Couponing

By: Gina

Gina — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:31:35 +0000

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

By: Doreen

Doreen — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:12:16 +0000

Thank you! That helps.

By: Carrie Rocha

Carrie Rocha — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:46:41 +0000

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.

By: Doreen

Doreen — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:55:34 +0000

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.

By: Helen Martin

Helen Martin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:10:26 +0000

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

By: Lynn

Lynn — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:26:20 +0000

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?

By: Lynn

Lynn — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:19:39 +0000

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.

By: CJ

CJ — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:53:24 +0000

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.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:56:29 +0000

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?

By: Val

Val — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:57:37 +0000

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.

By: Christina

Christina — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:34:01 +0000

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?

By: Tonya

Tonya — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:48:16 +0000

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.

By: Carrie Rocha

Carrie Rocha — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:18:38 +0000

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!

By: Anita

Anita — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:33:18 +0000

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.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:22:02 +0000

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!