I used to be big into couponing. I started about 2 1/2-3 years ago when I was working a second part time job. The place I was working was completely dead...no I mean I would work an entire 6-10 shift and not have a single customer. It was great! I mean, besides the owner calling every 2 seconds asking if any customers had been in and every other call pretending to be a customer to test my knowledge of our products and see how enthusiast I was about trying to get people in, it was wonderful sitting around (actually laying around...it was a mattress store), watching movies and eventually teaching myself how to coupon.
I did it for a while and then stopped. I couldn't remember why I had stopped so about 8 months ago I started up again. And then I remembered why I stopped. Yes, free stuff is great. And everyone I know constantly says "you have to teach me"...but here's the thing....free stuff is fantastic, until you realize that it takes a lot of time, effort, arguing and believe it or not, money. You spend all your time matching coupons with deals. Your house becomes ridiculously cluttered, because no matter which way you do it, it doesn't work...or it's too much work. You have thousands of coupons to organize so that you are able to find them quickly when a deal comes up. I've tried every method to date and nothing works for one reason or another...
Then after you spend all that time matching coupons to deals, you head out to the store being as organized as possible...which coupons go to which stores, which deals, what sizes, how much everything will cost pre-coupons, how much it's supposed to cost after coupons, how much you're supposed to get back in extra care bucks, up rewards, target gift cards, register rewards, points...then there are many deals that you need to print the coupons from online which means installing a coupon printer, and blowing through tons of paper and ink. The paper I didn't mind since I got it for free from couponing ha! But ink is very expensive.
And then you have to learn each store's coupon policies...who accepts how many coupons per transaction, per item...are you allowed to stack? Do they allow overage? Then each store has limitations...CVS you need 10 different cards because they usually limit deals to one per card...same with Rite Aid...Walgreens does, but you can do multiple transactions...but wait, don't use register rewards to pay for something that gives you RR....and don't use points for something that gives points....
It's not easy...and then when you finally think you have everything down to a science, you get a stupid f***ing cashier that doesn't know their own policy. The reason I stopped couponing: it is ALWAYS a fight with a cashier, manager, etc.
One per item does NOT mean one per transaction! Do not double means the value of the coupon is not to be doubled...not that I can't buy 2 of the same item!!
Also, after you spent all that money and turned it into RR, ECB, UP etc....there's not any good deals for 2 weeks and they end up expiring and the store will not accept them.
So free is great...but not necessarily always worth your time and effort.
RSS Feed