With the recently light of 2 people STEALING coupons from newspapers, I thought today’s coupon 101 would be a good time to just recap the things that we as couponers should NOT do when Couponing!
DO NOTS of couponing
- Do not steal coupons, do not take them out of newspapers in the newspaper machines or out of the newspapers at the news stands.
- Do not use expired coupons (unless you are military stationed overseas or your store allows it)
- Do not use more then one manufacturer coupon per item
- Do not use coupons for the different products than what is listed on the coupon
- Do not cut your coupons in a stack (yes it is more time efficient however when they get to the coupon processing coupons that are cut identically can be rejected because it can seem as if they were mass cut)
- Do not photocopy coupons (you can not make photocopys of coupons you have printed or any other coupon)
DOS of couponing
- Use coupons on the right product. Yes a coupon may scan for a different product but that does NOT make it right, always read the coupon, do not go off of the picture on a coupon.
- Do not buy coupons from clipping services. Yes I know people do it and people say it is ok but the coupons say on them specifically they are void if they have been bought.
- Do ask stores, news paper companies and your friends and family for their extra coupons if you are wanting more
- Do Use one manufacturer coupon per item (you can stack the manufacturer coupons with store coupons and loadable coupons from places like cell fire and Saving Star
- Do print coupons from sites that are legit like Coupons.com, Red Plum and Coupon Network
- Do be cautious when printing PDF coupons, make sure they are directly from the company or you can get to the coupon from a companies website.
- Do Learn the coupon policies of the stores that you shop at
Remember that companies put out coupons as a way to advertise, they are not putting them out so we can save money. Their goal is to have us save money to try their products. Companies are starting to put limits on their coupons because of people’s actions. Things like Extreme Couponing and the recent theft of coupons (you can see my article here about 2 recent incidents) are causing companies to crack down on how they have been doing things in the past with their coupons. It is sad that it has come to this and because of people not following the laws when it comes to coupons it is something that companies are having to do to protect themselves. Using coupons fraudulently hurts everyone, even those who do not use them because companies then need to raise their prices to cover the losses they have had.
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Thanks for this post, i dont really use alot of coupons but i have been tring to tart using more… but i always forget out them! 🙁 I cant beleive people were stealing them out of newspapers!
Thanks for the post, just starting out couponing. I think your 2nd DO should go up to the DO NOT.