Couponers, Am I wrong here?

[Gummypony]

okay my sister in law is into coupons and I've been doing it awhile without much help. Anyways there are two stores that have double coupon days, BUT here's the catch you have to have a $25 transaction before you can get the double coupon.

Alright so I'm explaining to my SIL that this is not a deal really. If you have to spend a certain amount or buy something in order to get a deal then it's not really a deal. She said she spent $40 on groceries to save $23,but when I look at it I see you spent $25 to save $23 and that to me is not a deal. It's deal when you go in and ONLY get the items you have coupons for and get double savings on them.

[DialgaBritesMom]

I guess my question is, did she buy stuff she needs and will use to save $23? If so, it's a deal. If not... Well...enguinaspin:

[Gummypony]

Originally Posted by DialgaBritesMom

I guess my question is, did she buy stuff she needs and will use to save $23? If so, it's a deal. If not... Well...enguinaspin:

That's about the only thing I thought would justify it. The store is also higher priced than most others hence I won't shop there,but I guess if it's stuff you want then for her it works.

[ristvak]

I don't coupon but going off what I see on TLC's show it seems like as long as its stuff you'd use you might as well get it. You might have to buy 13 boxes of cereal to get the deal, but if you're going to eat all of them, well... Then you don't have to buy cereal for another 6 months so it probably does save money.

Now the teenage boy with 24 boxes of maxi pads that he has "just because they were free"... Thats a little nutty to me lol.

::edit:: though it would be interesting to compare the "spend $25 you hadn't planned on spending to get the deal at a pricier store" coupon price to the basic "warehouse" type store price...

[DialgaBritesMom]

Originally Posted by Gummypony

That's about the only thing I thought would justify it. The store is also higher priced than most others hence I won't shop there,but I guess if it's stuff you want then for her it works.

Aha, well the pricier store thing puts another spin on it. What ristvak said about comparing.

[Gummypony]

Originally Posted by DialgaBritesMom

Aha, well the pricier store thing puts another spin on it. What ristvak said about comparing.

Yeah that's what I'm also calculating in on this. So if you have to spend $25 before you can get double credit on coupons up to a $1.00.

Most of the stores I've been shopping at have it posted that they do not accept internet coupons or free item coupons. Ain't that something?

[xayide2]

My area doesn't double coupons at all, so I think that's a pretty low spending threshold to have the double coupons start. I only shop once a week and can easily spend $25 on groceries.

I'm also lucky to have some stores accept Internet coupons and have coupons attached to my shopper's card. There are a few that won't take them at all or only if they have a regular barcode on them and not just the new data bar.

Then I need to remember to bring my reusable shopping bags for a 5 cent credit per bag at 2 stores (Target and Harmons) and 5 point credits towards a gas coupon (Smiths).

[Aadra310]

I hardly ever find coupons for the products I normally buy. That's why I don't really get this extreme couponing craze. Did you need it or did you just buy it because it was a good deal with the coupon in which case, you didn't get a good deal since you spent money you didn't need to. My in-laws only buy stuff on sale/with coupons BUT they buy it JUST BECAUSE it's on sale! This is a mild type of hoarding, IMO.

We don't have double coupons in my area, either. The fact that you could buy enough cereal to last 6 months grosses me out. 'Course, I'm in the health field so that just screams processed "food" and what I tell people to try and limit! They don't make coupons (at least where I am) for fresh fruits and veggies or for decent ply toilet paper.

[DialgaBritesMom]

Originally Posted by Aadra310

They don't make coupons (at least where I am) for fresh fruits and veggies or for decent ply toilet paper.

This!!

But *sigh*, I think the Keeblers and Nabiscos and Perts and.. whatver else's make plenty of profit off their stuff compared to the sellers of fresh foods, and can thus afford to give us coupons, I suppose. Sad commentary. I'm so used to the status quo, it never occurred to me to wish for fresh food coupons. No wait... sometimes I see coupons for bagged salads and such. Semi fresh... I prefer not to get them, but it's a start...

[Gummypony]

I agree usually the stuff I get have no coupons out there or if they do you have to buy 3 or some amount over 1 in order to save less than a $1. I don't need that many because I most likely won't use it fast enough. Also sometimes the coupon saving is so pathetic like 30 cents it doesn't pay because I spent more on gas and tax that it's not saving me anything.

I know of only one store chain that offers the double coupon as I said. It's Copps/Pick N Save. They are owned by the same company so the deal is the same just different days of the week I think.

I've seen people attempting to extreme coupon at Wal-mart, they got the binders and stuff,but really I don't see how it's a mega save since there's no double coupons. Plus I really do think people buy things a lot of times just because they have a coupon. I don't buy it unless I know I'm using it.

I don't buy 10 energy bars or 100 things of orange of tic tacs because I can get them for nothing. I saw this episode on extreme couponing. If you look at their shopping carts you do not see meat or produce. You see random things that aren't usually items you'd make a meal with. I've seen them wipe shelves clean with no shame for anyone else. I have seen them order their stuff on pallets before the sale so they don't wipe out the store and then donate it which I think is a really worthy cause,but some people do it for themselves. It's like it really is a hoarding issue.