I have received a decent number of coupons in the mail lately, so I decided to see how much I could squeeze out of a mega couponing trip. I didn't stop with grocery shopping - I went to the mall and bought dinner too. In the end, I bought $88.25 worth of items for $36.23 - 59% savings.
I started with JC Penney - I get coupons from them all the time. This one was the best - $10 off a purchase of $10, no restrictions. I found a pair of sandals I really liked to replace the cheap flip flops that gave me blisters while walking around our hotel room on vacation. They were originally $22 marked down to $10. My mood quickly changed when I got to the register. This wasn't like in the "Extreme Couponers" commercial where the sales associates are circling around and cheering for the person. The cashier didn't look at me in the face and gave me a curt "have a nice day" as I left with a free pair of sandals. Which makes me wonder, did I just break a couponing "code of ethics"? Am I supposed to use it as a discount and spend money? On the one hand, I am just taking advantage of the store's inefficiency, and on the other I just stole a pair of sandals from Penney's. Thoughts?
I moved on to Kroger, which recently sent me a number of store coupons in the mail. A few of them were straight up free items (bacon, sausage, canned vegetables, etc) and then there was a $5 off $35. After doing some research on the store's website and adding in some manufacturer's coupons, I was able to save $27. But this brings up another ethical issue: the $5 off $35 coupon wasn't supposed to be valid for another 3 days. For some strange reason, there were 3 of those coupons in the pack and each one was for a consecutive time period with the exception of a 6 day gap (which included today). I tried using it anyway and was successful. I didn't do any damage to them (if I would have gone 3 days later, I would have paid the exact same amount) but was it unethical to knowingly use a coupon that wasn't yet valid?
I finished off the trip with a stop at McDonalds. A simple "buy an angus burger, get fries and a pop for free" - no ethical questions there.
In the end, it was rewarding to save money, but it wasn't a true "extreme couponing" trip because I wasn't getting 10 packs of diapers for a quarter. The coupons were very restrictive (no combining with other coupons, limit 1) so I don't see how the people on TLC do it. I will continue to use coupons where I can (as I usually have) but I don't think it would be possible to repeat this trip because the Kroger coupons I was randomly sent gave me the most savings.
6 comments:
Yay! I'm glad you tried it!
Technically you committed coupon fraud with the Kroger coupon...but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it =). On the first episode of "Extreme Couponing" there was a lady who did it and got busted by viewers is now getting all sorts of shit for her couponing methods. I don't think you're at that level yet =).
Grace and I are both jealous you get to shop at Kroger. Grace says that they have some really really really good coupons and special deals. Consider yourself lucky, sir.
All in all, that was a pretty successful go in couponing. I don't like what you said at the end- you can totally repeat those savings!!! It'll just take a little effort, that's all. At least that's what we've learned.
I'm definitely not the person to ask when it comes to a coupon code of ethics, but it seems to me you were in the right.
I haven't seen the commercial, but I think it would take more than a $10 pair of sandals to get the salespeople to cheer for you.
Yeah, what you need to do is hunt down a hundred of those JCPenny coupons (go dumpster diving at a local recycling center!) and then got buy 100 pairs of sandals. That'll get em' cheering for you- well the customers at least. I imagine bringing out a 100 pairs of sandals would be a little annoying for the sales person.
You'd be set on sandals for life, and you could donate all the extra pairs to charity and feel like a good guy. Or gift them for birthday or Christmas presents. We could call you "Adam Sandle-r" for fun.
Don't most coupons say something like, "limit 1 per purchase" or something? I would think there would be some sort of restriction against buying 100 pairs of free sandals.
Haha, but I like the idea of Adam Sandal-er
Geez.... Sandler? Good one.
Haha, best I could do. Sorry =).
Yeah, there are probably restriction on the JCPenny coupon. You could, however, do 100 separate transactions. I'm almost positive the sales person would hate you beyond belief, though.
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