We received the following question from Pocket Your Dollars’ reader Julie and thought we would ask you, the readers, to share your thoughts:
“I have several coupons for baby formula, diapers and dog/cat food. I have no children or four-legged pets and I know all these items are expensive. Is there any place I can send them? I would like to be of use to people who really need it.”
Julie isn’t talking about using the coupons to get low-priced products, then giving the products away, but has an interest in paying her coupons forward. Personally, I’ve left some of my unwanted coupons in the children’s church area at my church and passed them on to friends, but it isn’t anything I routinely do.
Your turn: What thoughts do you have about how someone could get their unwanted coupons easily into the hands of someone who would value them?
About Carrie Rocha
There’s a coupon trading board on Babycenter:
http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a6685365/coupon_trading
I was at Target once and saw coupons taped to boxes of Wheat Thins. I took a box with a coupon and it was expired, but the cashier still honored it. You could go in and sneak them into the sections they’re useful for or tape them on. IDK if that’s like plugging someone else’s parking meter, and maybe the store would be mad, but it might be worth a shot. Or offer them to someone in that section.
I leave coupons occasionally in stores by products but I have heard from some store employees that when they find coupons like that they toss them. I would love to find some way to pass on the coupons that I won’t use!
I love to see someone’s face light up when I hand them a coupon I’m not going to use. It’s like I just handed them cash. They can’t believe it.
With the baby items you might want to take them to a pregnancy support center. The moms there would surely appreciate the extra items! You could also look into if there is a local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. (http://www.mops.org/) We have one at our church and often share coupons like that.
I also love the taping coupons to items idea! And I can’t imagine they would get upset because they get the money back from the company, right?
I have left them on the shelf where the product is or asked someone shopping in that section if they can use them!
I was wondering this EXACT same thing!! I have no kids or dogs (just a cat), and some of those diaper and dog food coupons are really high value. I feel terrible just throwing a $3-$5 coupon away but I don’t know what to do with them! Same thing with the “free gift card with new rx” coupons Target puts out.
I love people that leave coupons in the store! It’s like Christmas when I find a coupon for something I was buying and didn’t have a coupon for. It never even crossed my mind that I could do this with the diaper and dog food ones. I too wonder if stores get mad though.
You can always send your coupons to an overseas military base, they can use coupons up to 6 months passed expiration! Here is a link to more info… http://www.ocpnet.org
Also some stores have a spot for you to get/leave coupons. Coborns I know has this and another smaller local store as well.
I think I’ve seen this at the St. Paul Whole Foods near the front door.
Thanks!! I’m gonna do this…
I usually give my flood of baby coupons to our child care center. I have to go there anyway for my three-year-old so it’s no big deal to drop those off. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if food pantries can pass them on. They had been asking for pet food help at one point. If nothing else, maybe their volunteers can use them? I heard some no-kill shelters like discount coupons, but I haven’t looked into that myself lately since I have so few pet food coupons vs. baby coupons.
I thought this website started a coupon train months ago?
I’d love for a coupon train!!!!
I have lots of baby, pet, and other food coupons that I don’t use each week.
there was one or more started on this website but then it was never talked about again (or I missed a follow up posting).
I post on craigslist in the free section that I have these coupons available and if people want them they can send a self addressed envelope. It has worked well for me in the past.
sorry self addressed STAMPED envelope. I will not pay to send these to some one.
I don’t see why Stores would mind coupons being left behind…if they are Manuf. ones, they are reimbursed either way.
I leave them (when I remember) at my local MOPS group. Their is a trading basket out.
I have a coupon trade with two of my coworkers. We cut the coupons we want each week, then trade inserts/books so we can benefit from each other! It works great because we are all at different stages in our lives with different pets and eating styles, so most of the coupons get used!
Some of our local libraries take in unwanted coupons and have a coupon basket for all patrons to use. It all started when people would drop off their coupons inserts at the branch, thinking others could use them. Now I clip the coupons and organize them and it’s not just grocery coupons but restaurant and retail store coupons, too.
I’m also a big fan of coupon “dropping” by an item in the store.
I tried to start a coupon swap via mail through my friends on Facebook, but only got three people to join. =/ Anyone here interested? Its sort of a traveling coupon envelope with about 25-75 coupons. Take what you need, and replenish with coupons you have and you want/ don’t use. I have kids so I am always looking for the baby ones, but other people look for pet ones, etc that I don’t need. Once someone is done it gets passed on a list to the next person, and so on in a loop.
How much do you think you ended up spending in postage each month when you did this with your FB friends?
Lately my sister and I have been sharing our coupons. I clip what I want, then pass on the coupons to her for her to clip what she needs. She does the same with her coupons by passing them on to me. This helps a bit as she has a child, and I do not. I have a dog, and she does not.
I occasionaly will leave coupons on the shelf in the store, but it is usually a coupon I have decided not to use.
You could also leave them in the breakroom at work.
The walgreens i work at has multiple customers who send or give their coupons to cosmetics girls, who then pass the savings to any customer purchasing the products. They have a whole bucket of coupons that they-themselves clipped for customers or have been given by other customers all organized. Check to see if your walgreens does the same.
Last time Walgreens had Feria on sale, I bought some but didn’t have any coupons. The cosmetics cashier gave me one.
There was a small article on this very subject in the February Issue of ‘All You’ Magazine, page 27. The subject was trading coupons with friends, etc.
The subject was basically about joining an online coupon-trading forum, they suggested these two websites, hotcouponworld.com or afullcup.com. This is what the article says “After signing up, you will receive an envelope in the mail with a pile of coupons (between 25 and 100). Take the ones you like, replenish the stash with coupons you don’t need, and send it to the next person on the list. The train travels in a continual loop, with each person taking from and adding to the supply.”
I haven’t tried this yet, but was wondering if anyone else has tried this. I personally don’t have small children, so I would be more than willing to pass on the diaper coupons. But I do have pets and also donate pet food when I can at the local animal shelters, so any pet coupons would be welcome.
I was wondering if you found a group to create this coupon train with? I would be happy to join in as well!
Thanks!
Nicole
PS
I do a coupon club at work and can add all those leftover coupons too!
- Just a side note, just checked these coupon trading websites, not sure I want to sign up for anything else just to trade coupons.
Would it be possible to trade coupons on this website?
Like have a Daily Ask the Reader – ‘Coupons to Trade Today 02/23/11′. At the end of the day, the entire post can be deleted for that day and started over the next day with a new coupons to trade for that particular day. ~Something like that. :) Just my two cents. Thanks.
Would anyone be willing to get together during the week (I’m not available weekends) and have a swap? I must say, I have an entire bin full of inserts spanning the last 5 or 6 months (multiples), and I would LOVE to trade out the ones I don’t use. There are A LOT. I’d like to get at least 5 people. Between 2:30-5 works for me Tues-Fri. Anyone? I’m in Roseville, but where ever central location may be will most likely work. Can we get one together for next Tuesday?
i would be willing to be in a train.
i live in maplewood. hilary728@yahoo.com
I’d love to do a train going forward, but I’m really looking for an in-person get-together next week to just get a bunch of swapping done at once, as many of mine won’t be good much longer to pass on, and I’m searching for multiples of certain ones where I don’t want to pay for a stamp for one or two repeatedly.
I swap coupons with a friend sometimes. I also sometimes give my insert to a friend who doesn’t get the paper and let her go through it. There are a lot that I don’t clip because I don’t buy a lot of packaged goods.
I put a few high dollar ones on ebay for 1 cent for my time and have them pay for the stamp. I know other people do it for money…bet you can do free on ebay somehow. I also organize them and when I am wondering around target…say the baby area. I look and see if anyone is buying a product I have a coupon for, then give it to them. I catch this at the registers a lot of times too. Or you can put them on craigslist.
Babycheapskate on Facebook has a coupon trading “Discussion” that I have found extremely useful. Especially for things like formula, clothing store coupons and those coveted Amazon.com diaper coupons.
I usually will put any coupons that I have and won’t use on top of the product where I shop. That way someone else can use it! I like to pay it forward!
My neighbor and I trade coupons – we take what we want from our own and then swap our whole inserts…
I have been bringing mine to the office and they disappear – where they go – I’m not sure…
I use specific coupons –
I’d love a place where I could post which coupons I am looking for from said insert and everyone can somehow magically get them to me!
I’d be happy to do the same!
Any coupons I have clipped that are getting ready to expire & I haven’t used, I generally leave on the grocery store shelf near the product in the coupon. Hopefully someone uses them before the store cleans up.
LOL this is something I always thinking about. My mother and I swap. The left over ones we know we will not use, I sometimes put by the product…no taping because the stores frown on that and if the coupon expires before it is purchased the stores feel the need to honor them although they will not recoup the money and the customers get upset. So I think taping on the product is not a good idea. But if you just drop them by the product, on top of the product, beside the product..etc…it is obvious the store has nothing to do with the coupon if it looks like it was cut out by someone else. If I see bulletin boards, I put them there, too.
We are group of about 10 at work that pass along our coupons. What I don’t use, someone else most certainly will. (I’m glad I’m not person #10 getting those cut up ads…)
While walking through the grocery or big-box store, I put nearly expired or coupons on top of items I will not be purchasing. I always appreciate it when someone else does the same and I benefit.
I recently went to Cub, and handed some women coupons for orange juice and cereal I knew I wouldn’t use. How ectastic they were…..
Store employees are directed to toss them. I wish I knew a better way to get them where they can be used, especially the Dollar and more off coupons.
I like the All You idea. Sign me up……
I was wondering what happened to the trians too. I work at a school and I know there are a few others that are fellow Pocketeers. I was thinking of setting up something in the breakroom. Anybody who is looking for something can put a request on the front of a multi-pocket folder. The others can provide their unwanted coupons in the correct slot (by name or catagory??) and then add their request to the list. I thought this might work faster than the train, as we could read Carrie’s lists at the beginning of the week, find the ones we are interested in and make our requests before the deal expires. This should work in and company with a variety of people at different stages in their lives (young mothers, pet lovers, etc.)