Whenever we go to Uncle Albertsons, Someone stops in the store to open an app and look for coupons. Someone regularly looks for coupons and his buying is influenced by what he finds.This drives me to distraction, for I am on a mission to buy what is planned and get out ASAP. When one is initially dating someone, one ought to ask some basic questions like are you a smoker/are you religious/which way to you vote/what do you find funny. ‘Do you clip coupons’ may be one to add to this list or crucial questions. I did not grow up in a ‘coupon-using’ household’ so I find the whole concept bewildering. To me, coupons seem suspect on two accounts:
A. They get you to buy things you weren’t wanting in the first place, now being bought on the grounds the coupon cuts the cost. For example, you are not intending to buy yellow gumdrops, but on the Albertsons app there is a coupon for 30% off, so you buy some.*
B. The money the manufacturer or store saves is passed onto others viz. Urs Truly, who doesn’t clip coupons.**
So far as I can tell, thems clipping coupons mostly do so to save money. Time is more valuable to than money for me, so the time used to browse the ads that regularly show in the post doesn’t seem worth few dollars the coupons may save me. Sometimes I am in the grocery checkout line behind a person (always a woman, I don’t see men with coupons) with a handful of clippings that accumulates to 5-10 dollars savings. I guess this could be an important savings for her budget. Sometimes this hypothesis is questioned after looking into her cart at the expensive imperial tidbits in she is purchasing. hohoho.
Another type of coupon-user is thems who feel good for paying less than others. In the early 90s, Robert the Roommate regularly bought a thick book of coupons for local restaurants and carry-out places. He did this not because he couldn’t afford to go out, nor was he originally planning to go to these places. With 15-20% off each purchase he felt good to do so. He called these coupon booklets “Jewish food stamps” and they often influenced what we would be eating on a weekend. ***
Apparently the process how store coupons work is a complicated time-consuming process I shan’t bore you with. It makes me wonder why on earth the maker of coupons bother, but I suppose ‘they work’ , otherwise why bother? Perhaps coupons are an overall ‘loss’ but not enough for thems who make them to scuttle the system. I know ‘anti-coupon’ types who feel their use supports a complicated exploitative system. I don’t follow the logic to this if anyone can help me out here.
Funny that while I never bother with using coupons, I enjoy delight in reading one of two blogs who regularly write about their use of coupons. These crafty dames obviously know how to work the system, clever girls they are! I wonder though do they start with wanting product “A” and go find the coupons for it, or they find a coupon for “A” and go buy “A” rather than “B”.
I will end this entry with an exception to my rule. Bloodbath and Beyond continually sends us coupons, which Someone collects in a drawer so when we want a kitchen gadget or something he scoops them up and applies all of them at checkout towards the purchase. I am grateful for this savings. I wonder how BBB manages to survive doing this sort of thing. Someone says they aren’t doing very well for this reason.
In the end coupons seem to be an intriguing combination of economics, psychology, and anthropology I find fascinating.
Do you use coupons?
Do you use them for things you wanted to buy or the other way around?
Does your Significant Other think you nuts for using or not using coupons?
*Based on a true story. Oh the pain.
**Pharmaceutical representatives are very big into providing coupons for their products. In theory the patient gets a free or heavily discounted first month. The process how they are activated and work sound even more complicated than the paper coupons process. I always have to hold my tongue not to say rather than coupons why not just lower the price to something reasonable for everybody?
***He assured me this was a very funny and acceptable expression at Temple. He made a comparison to Vics Vapor Rub as being called ‘A sacrament of the Lutheran church*. It still sounds awful and I would never use it. However, to this day when I use a coupon, I think of Robert, the dear !
35 comments
September 19, 2021 at 8:27 AM
Dwight W.
I don’t use coupons , my mother does have some sort of arrangement with CVS where we seem to get money off every time we visit. Our Favorite Grocery does BOGO a lot , buy one get one which is a great thing because they include things we actually consume . I always struggled to pay for groceries and gasoline , when I was in Professional school. I promised my self I would never look at the amount on a gas pump or a grocery register after I graduated and I haven’t. Although at the beginning of the Pandemic and before vaccination, when we were buying three weeks of groceries at a time, I admit to having blinked nervously once or twice.
September 19, 2021 at 8:30 AM
Urspo
CVS and others seem to have pacts with others to provide discounts in return for your soul.
September 19, 2021 at 8:55 AM
Lori Hawkins
I can sometimes find coupons for household cleaners, or bath and beauty items that we routinely use but I’d never use them for items I don’t already use or want.
Kroger sends me coupons on items we routinely buy there such as cases of water, butter, toilet paper, etc. For some reason I am always getting coupons for free English muffins. I pick them up for breakfast sandwiches.
My husband laughs at me because when I get coupons in the mail from somewhere telling me I will save 20 or 30 percent I always say I will save 100 percent by not buying it.
September 19, 2021 at 9:45 AM
Urspo
that’s what I always think: I will save more for no purchase. I guess it is a glass half full/empty approach.
September 19, 2021 at 9:06 AM
Old Lurker
Did WordPress eat my comment? Stirges.
September 19, 2021 at 9:45 AM
Urspo
They do that
Blogger.com regular eats mine. Skunks.
September 19, 2021 at 9:38 AM
Debbie W.
I am squarely in the camp of: my time is more valuable than money. If I happen upon a coupon for something I normally purchase, I will use it, but I do not actively seek out coupons. Again, my time is valuable, and the less time I spend in any store, the better. However, I do join you in enjoying blogs where the writers are “couponing” on a regular basis, and with great success. More power to them – I shall enjoy their success vicariously!
September 19, 2021 at 9:46 AM
Urspo
I suppose that is why I like seeing their coupon victories; they make me smile.
September 19, 2021 at 10:08 AM
David Godfrey
Nope, I don’t bother. If I can’t afford I don’t buy it. Life is to short to obsess over a few dollars. On grocery shopping I buy what looks good, or I know I need.
September 19, 2021 at 1:07 PM
Urspo
Like your men.
September 19, 2021 at 11:03 AM
Parnassus
Amy Dacyczyn, an extreme economizer, just came up on Sam’s blog. Mrs. Dacyczyn generally disliked coupons because they often were not a good deal, were only for name brands, and often only for things like unhealthy snacks or sugared breakfast cereals. While I do love bargains, I think that life is too short to bother with coupons. I also have a general impression that a long time ago they were worth more and didn’t expire so quickly.
–Jim
September 19, 2021 at 1:08 PM
Urspo
I did a little more research on the topic. It seems a sizable percentage of thems that use coupons do so not because of economics but the pleasure having not paid full price.
September 19, 2021 at 11:31 AM
janiejunebug
Before I grocery shop, I look at the store’s app and activate coupons for things I need or will need before long. I don’t buy things because of the existence of a coupon. When I was young and married and he was going to grad school, I cut out coupons and quite often saved enough with them to keep us from starving. He was fine with my coupon use because he liked to eat. Now I have no significant other so I can do whatever I like with coupons; however, I would prefer it if the stores simply lowered prices for everyone rather than giving out points and having store coupons and all the silly things that are required to save money.
Love,
Janie
September 19, 2021 at 1:09 PM
Urspo
Since scribbling this out I did learned the main users of coupons are young folks viz. thems needing to watch their finances. I thought it was the oldsters who were the majority of coupon users, mostly out of habit than necessity.
September 19, 2021 at 11:55 AM
Debra She Who Seeks
I will use a coupon for something I’m going to buy anyway, but rarely will I use one to buy something I don’t want unless it’s a product I’ve been wanting to try.
September 19, 2021 at 1:10 PM
Urspo
I think that is what Someone does most.
He likes to buy something at times simply because it is a good bargain. I’ve learned to say this whenever he questions a purchase of mine. “but it was a good bargain!”
September 19, 2021 at 12:46 PM
Linda Practical Parsimony
I have been a regular coupon user since the 80s. However, coupons and rules have changed and not for the better. I rarely buy something I don’t already use. I will buy something I rarely use, like Vanilla wafers or something I don’t need because of my health. Often, there are coupons for things that are not groceries and that I do need or use.
Buying a $4 paper on the off chance I will get coupons is not worth it. However, I could go online where a list of coupons is the paper is produced each week. When I can get more groceries for the money, I am not against a little work on my end. I use less coupons because there are less good coupons aka coupons for things I use.
September 19, 2021 at 1:11 PM
Urspo
Are coupons going paperless or are the still mostly clipped from newspapers, do you know?
September 19, 2021 at 1:39 PM
Glenda
Our grocery issues a loyalty card and each week emails a selection of coupons that you can load onto your card such as the ones in Sunday newspapers. I only use these for things i intended to buy anyway.
September 19, 2021 at 3:25 PM
Urspo
Uncle Albertsons has something similar; when we are ringed up it tells us what we saved.
September 19, 2021 at 1:54 PM
Bob Slatten
I will use a coupon only if it’s for something I was already planning on buying.
I make a very strict list and we stick to it. I don’t like the grocers enough to spend any more time there than necessary.
September 19, 2021 at 3:26 PM
Urspo
Good for you!
I tend to buy whatever I want without thinking. Happily I am not greedy nor a spendthrift, just thoughtless.
September 19, 2021 at 2:03 PM
Gigi Rambles
With the exception of Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons…no, I don’t use them. Mainly, because (like you) I realized a long, long time ago that it was rare to find one for something I’d actually use/need. The Husband does all the grocery shopping and does not use coupons either. BUT, he will snap up a bunch of *whatever* just because it was on sale, not because we NEED it. To be fair, the *whatever* he buys is something we will use – but tell me, just why we need to have 8 bottles of ketchup in the pantry and two (opened – why???) in the fridge?
September 19, 2021 at 3:27 PM
Urspo
I have never seen a man in a grocery store using coupons.
I suspect the menfolk see coupons as something women do. I do not have data to support this surmise .
September 19, 2021 at 2:28 PM
Blobby
For a while we TRIED coupons, but more often than not, they sat in pouch and expired. It was not worth the time and effort. As for Roommate Robert, I’m somewhat offended by the “Jewish Food Stamps” comment…….even if it DID go over in his Temple, which I’m really guessing it did not.
September 19, 2021 at 3:30 PM
Urspo
Robert (may he rest in peace) sometimes said it just to see me gasp and say again that can’t be proper. Whether others at Temple found it funny, well, all I had was his word.
September 19, 2021 at 8:40 PM
BadNoteB
The Sunday morning ritual at our house is for me to work the Times crossword while My Darling diligently clips coupons from both Wednesday and Sunday editions of the local news rag. What makes no sense as a frivolous waste of time to me is a cathartic and therapeutic exercise for him, so who am I to judge?
Friction develops, however, when unrecognized and usually inferior brands begin appearing around the house… I want facial tissue that continues to properly dispense to the very last one in the box. I expect toilet paper that doesn’t pill around its intended target or puncture at the slightest pressure when used. I don’t eat catsup, I want Hunt’s with my fries. Mayonnaise is an emulsion I make with eggs and oil, a sandwich requires Best Foods or I prefer to pass on the whole idea. I couldn’t care less if imposter brands were free; “kinda close” doesn’t cut it.
After 20 years we seem to have worked things out sans serious injury to either party. But it wasn’t an easy process!
September 20, 2021 at 11:16 AM
Urspo
that sounds charming ritual. I wonder how much was saved for this routine.
September 19, 2021 at 11:20 PM
Pipistrello
You Americans are very funny sometimes with your pastimes. As far as I’m aware, Coupons have not made the transition to our shores, notwithstanding our Free Trade Agreement with you having all manner of cultural stipulations and hoops. Reading all the above makes me wonder if it’s just a case of a tiny population with only a handful of brands to chose from.
September 20, 2021 at 11:18 AM
Urspo
Coupons are another zany thing about not addressing directly the high cost of something.
However, there is a lot of information people feel better for having saved some money over just paying what something is worth.
September 20, 2021 at 5:21 AM
wickedhamster
My mom was an inveterate coupon clipper. I attempted this myself for a bit, since that was obviously the “responsible” thing to do, but found I always forgot them at home, left them in the car, or simply forgot they were on my person. This frustration was too much and I gave up.
September 20, 2021 at 11:18 AM
Urspo
Sensible fellow.
September 20, 2021 at 7:25 AM
Robzilla
That Just For U program is pretty good. Both Albertson’s and Vons have the same system. I do clip coupons for things I regularly buy, and at the end of the month I’ll cash in my rewards to get some savings on the last shopping trip of that month. It works out fine.
September 20, 2021 at 11:18 AM
Urspo
A testimony !
Always good to hear these things benefit someone.
September 20, 2021 at 10:31 PM
wcs
I, like many others here, use coupons sparingly and mostly for things I was going to buy anyway. Our supermarkets’ registers spit them out for things that some algorithm thinks we will buy based on our shopping habits. Most of them are for pet food and such. Some are for wine. And most of them expire before I get around to using them.
Back in the golden olden days of my youth, I clipped coupons from the newspaper in an attempt to save what little money I could. As I got older, I noticed that they didn’t make coupons for the things I was buying. I guess my tastes changed.