"Q: I am a cashier in a grocery store and am writing to you about the dark side of coupon use. You don't have a concept of the abuse we go through daily at the hands of our coupon-clipping customers.
I am amazed at the number of people who feel it's acceptable to make copies of Internet coupons and try to pass them off as legitimate. Clipping off an expired expiration date, then screaming at the cashier because she won't take it is also unacceptable.
Tying up a checkout lane so you can buy 75 jars of spaghetti sauce with coupons is rude to other shoppers.
Calling our corporate office because the cashier would not accept 30 of the same bread coupon, when each coupon states "One per customer."
Jill, don't you think you have a responsibility to teach people not to abuse couponing? Saving money becomes like a drug to some people. They will do anything for it."
A: I've always strived to be one of the most ethical coupon teachers working today. I encourage honest, courteous and respectful use of coupons. Coupon shoppers can get fantastic deals at the supermarket without resorting to unethical behavior. In the years I've been blogging about coupon deals at jillcataldo.com, there has never been a single week without one hot coupon deal or another. The deals just keep coming, week after week.
I'm proud to use coupons correctly, and I implore all of my readers to do the same.
It's never right to make a photocopy of any coupon. It is never correct to cut the expiration date off a coupon, hoping to use it after it's expired. When the store tries to redeem photocopies or expired coupons, they're unable to. Dishonest coupon shoppers are stealing.
The misuse of coupons is a form of shoplifting; These shoppers take groceries for which the store will never be reimbursed. I do not condone this behavior, and I address the issue regularly.
Couponing can be an addiction. Some shoppers feel it necessary to chase around town to multiple stores, getting every possible deal they can.
These shoppers take things to the extreme, especially when they clear shelves and are rude to other shoppers in the process. Stores can and should reserve the right to limit quantities to shoppers, and part of a cashier's job, of course, is to ensure that the coupons a shopper presents are valid.
A shopper who's aggressive to a cashier and makes false reports to a corporate office is out of line, especially if someone loses a job over the issue."
Sounds to me like someone's regretting opening Pandora's box...
It's amazing how I can get just as much (actual) food as they've got junk foods into one small bedroom by buying in large quantity that doesn't take up much space at all--it stacks VERTICALLY INSTEAD OF HORIZONTALLY (think upright 50 lb. bags).
A shopping cart full of pasta boxes can easily be consolidated into 1 50-lb. bag, and yield the same amount of pasta. The same is true for beans, rice, or anything else that can be gotten in 50 lb. sizes--the same quantity in less space, for less cost per pound (even AFTER the coupon math). Think of all the packaging saved!
Another thing I noticed: yes, I saw another rerun of Extreme Couponing (this time, the whole thing), and saw these people going hog-wild with carts full of stuff in REGULAR GROCERY STORES. If they were intent on buying large quantities like that, wouldn't they be better served by going to a warehouse store, where the containers are larger and cost less to begin with? BJ's warehouse club takes manufacturer coupons--just think of the savings they'd get there (in space, time, and money)?
Something else I noticed: most of the crazed couponers were obese, and were buying carb-heavy foods, like sports drinks, pasta, and candy bars, while others were buying sodium-laden jars of pasta sauce, boxes of crackers, and other hazardous foods. I asked myself how good their health insurance was, because their "food savings" is only going to be spent down the road on drugs, procedures, and even premature death expenses.
Not as one of these shoppers even aimed their carts toward the produce section! If they had a garden, they could "hoard" fresh vegetables and fruits. But no--and only one lady was buying anything resembling fresh meat (her one and only chicken), which surprised me at first, but then didn't. Meat very seldom has coupons (at least, the meat I'd eat, and not the usual: bologna, bacon, Spam, etc.).
In fact, I think the coupons alone drive their shopping--if there isn't a coupon for it, they don't buy it. This is fine with me--it means low demand, and low prices for me (and you) without having to resort to coupons.
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