A few days ago my husband joined me on a small shopping trip to Target to pick up a few things. Our bill came to a little more than $30 and after coupons we ended up paying $14.02. He was surprised at the low amount and made the comment that it was people like me that would cause stores to stop allowing coupons because of the low amounts we pay. I explained to him that every coupon I had was legitimate and that Target would get reimbursed by the manufacturer for every coupon I used, allowing the store to lose no money on the transaction. He knows that they are reimbursed, but thinks that these types of transactions will cause alarms to go off somewhere in corporate where they will re-examine the whole coupon policy.
It’s difficult to say how many consumers are actually using coupons, but when I make a trip to the grocery store, nine times out of ten I might see one other person who is using coupons. I think this low use of coupons is what causes the hesitation of some cashiers to accept coupons. In some cases they may be inadequately trained, but how does a store intend to train them on coupons if people rarely use them. Coupon use may be on the rise right now because of the economy, but how many people will continue to use coupons once the economy or their financial situation improves.
We don’t use coupons because we are in a dire financial situation. We use coupons because they help us save money in one area, so that we are able to use that money in another area. Many people think that you have to be poor to use coupons, and it’s simply not the case.
Don’t be afraid to use coupons if you are using them the way they were intended. On the other hand, if you have a coupon that makes something free, don’t purchase twenty of those items in the same transaction. It makes cashiers seem uneasy about giving the store away, causes them to call the manager over, and may cause you more frustration in the end with your entire coupon order. If a cashier or manager refuses to budge on the acceptance of a coupon, I’ve found that it’s easier to ask for the item to be removed from the order, rather than argue twenty minutes about it causing further frustration. Most of the time if you ask for an item to be removed from your order, they figure out how to push the coupon through.