Comments on: Coupon Fraud: Short Term Gain but Long Term Loss

By: patti

patti — Mon, 16 May 2011 03:58:31 +0000

The first couple times I saw that show Extreme Couponing I was amazed. Then I figured out it’s not realistic at all. I live in Florida and we get the short end of the stick on a lot of coupon policy. I have yet to find a store that doubles a $1 or $2 Q, if I give a cashier a $1.50 Q for a $1.40 product, they take off $1.40 so I’m not making .10 on the deal no matter what store I’m in. and everytime I’ve asked a manager to pre order large amounts of a product, I’m turned down. If I have a lot of Q’s that make for a great price I want to use as many as possible but not if it’s going to deplete an item completely. I’d feel guility about it because I know how I feel when I find someone has done it to me. (and it happens alot). That being said.. I get a LOT of flack from uninformed cashiers that act like I’m trying to rob them. Yes there may have been someone in front of me givin them a hard time but it’s part of the job. Be glad you have one cause there are a lot of out there that don’t

By: valoreem

valoreem — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:21:51 +0000

I work at Target and got to this website trying to find out how several men are cheating Hasbro toys with a coupon scam. I hear what you say about trouble with coupons at Target and I know from first hand experience that some coupons don’t go through the system and it’s frustrating for the paying customer. But I will tell you that the cashiers are not lazy. If people have to wait 2 extra seconds to get checked out they b**** their heads off and ask for a manager. The cashiers just want to customers to have a good experience and let the coupons go through regardless. All of you would be surprised at how morally flexible scores of people are when it comes to saving money. Target seems like a big corp who won’t miss the money but you have no idea how many scammers come through the doors on any given day. I can’t help but think that every thing we buy would be cheaper and coupons wouldn’t be necessary if we all didn’t have to pay extra to make up for what has been cheated from manufacturers through fraud of some sort. You can bet that the manufacturers aren’t loosing money, we are all paying more every time some woman goes into a store and get 212 serving of coffee for free. Just sayin’ . . . . .

By: SUSAN

SUSAN — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:00:12 +0000

I CAN’T BELIEVE THE STORES SOFTWARE CAN’T CONTROL THE REDEMPTION OF COUPONS FOR THE PROPER ITEM. SEEMS AS IF THEY ARE LOSING MONEY OR ARE WORRIED ABOUT FRAUD THEIR SOFTWARE SHOULD BE WHAT STOPS THE FRAUD, OTHERWISE THE EMPLOYEE HAS TO SLOW UP THE LINE TO CHECK EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN BAGGED. IF THE CASHIER IS WRONG, ARE THEY FIRED OR IS IT A SYSTEM ERROR THAT IS OUT OF THEIR HANDS? I HAVE SEEN IT BOTH WAYS. CASHIERS ARE TOLD TO TAKE WHATEVER SCANS, SO WHO IS AT FAULT IF THE WRONG COUPON GOES THROUGH? I HAVE HAD COUPONS REFUSED AND NOT SURE WHY.

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:55:45 +0000

Namealreadyinuse

My mother works 40+ hours a week and still manages to get all the same deals the other couponers get. So what if she has a 1$ OFF Coupon for that face wash that was on sale for a 1.50$? If you complain about not getting the deal because you work then obviously you don’t want the deal bad enough.

By: NameAlreadyInUse

NameAlreadyInUse — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:52:05 +0000

Personally, I think that all you coupon bloggers have ruined it for everyone. There USED to be a time when it was up to the shopper to hunt through the ads and coupons and find the deals. Now everyone just goes to cincinnaticents or moneysavingmom or some other blog and prints off that week’s deal list! And by the time I get to the store, which is after WORK, because not all of us have the luxury of being stay at home moms who make money from blogging–All the deals are SOLD OUT!

By: Angela

Angela — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:45:33 +0000

Beautifully worded and I admire your strong stance. I have referenced this post in my own blog where I recently came up with a “coupon code of ethics.” THANK YOU for your willingness to say straight up how you feel about this.

http://www.thecouponproject.com/the_coupon_project/coupon-ethics.html

By: Wayne Altman

Wayne Altman — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 07:32:31 +0000

Mercedes, This is an excellent post!!! Very refreshing to see responsible articles like this. Saving money is fantastic, but not at the cost of our integrity. The economy will never get so bad we have to resort to cheating and theft. LOVE IT!!!

By: Responsible Couponing | Common Sense With Money

Responsible Couponing | Common Sense With Money — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:05:42 +0000

[...] coupons in a responsible manner is something that I feel strongly about. Using coupons in a way other than what the manufacturer intended is wrong. This includes using [...]

By: Mercedes

Mercedes — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:12:00 +0000

Looney,
Yes, part of it is the cashiers repsonsibility but most of it is the user’s responsibility. There are ton of coupons that scan with no beeps for items for which they are not intended. There are also tons of coupons that beep eveb when used on the product they are intended for. But I think that as users we shouldn’t have to put the cashier in a position to have to make the decision to take the coupon or not.

And just for the record, I am not better than any one. I have infractions received at HCW to show for my lack of judgment. sure I was surly at first, but then I saw it as the lesson in ethics that it was.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Thank you! I’ve deleted a couple of blogs that I had bookmarked because their behavior with coupons is questionable and I don’t want to support them. I’d rather have integrity than save a few more bucks.

By: looney

looney — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:21:00 +0000

There was a postsecret post about someone who would get a really talkative cashier every time so she could distract her while she used coupons that weren’t for things she bought…
I think it’s up to the cashier–if the coupon doesn’t scan, they need to INSPECT the coupon and product and refuse it if it isn’t valid for the date/product.
Some cashiers are lazy and just key it in manually without checking.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:09:00 +0000

I agree and I get so frustrated sometimes when I see questionable coupons being abused. For example I used the Lipton Tea q’s at target to get free Green Tea packets even though you know they meant them for the large boxes. I only got 2 or 3 at a time though and I saw on HCW where some lady used the $1 Archer Farms coffee to get 212 bags of single serve coffee without paying a cent AND she even told the Target store she was going to print 212 coupons from their kiosk! That kind of excess totally made me rethink my own sneaky packets of tea and makes me understand better why Target employees can be so snide to couponers…

By: Marcy

Marcy — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:49:00 +0000

Great post!

By: Elizabeth F.

Elizabeth F. — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:40:00 +0000

Great post! I love getting a good deal, but if you misuse a coupon how can you get home and really feel good about it?

By: Mercedes

Mercedes — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:56:00 +0000

MJ,
The only questionable part I find about your dilemma is whether is Ok to clear your stores shelves. I think that if you find an opportunity to stock up an item for free I would do it. usually what I do is take a reasonable amount of items when the sale starts. If you can hit several stores close to you that’s even better. Then on the last day of a sale I would get even more items. I do this because empty shelves are a common complain among couponers and it is also not nice to buy other people out of a great deal.

By: Mercedes

Mercedes — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:50:00 +0000

Megan,
Yes, printing from coupons sites is safe. I also pinting from the companies websites directly is safe. One thing I don’t recommend is looking at “buying” internet printables in a place such as Ebay. I would trade for themw tih someone you trust. Finally, hotcoupon world has a forum called “It’s got to be real.” They take the time to contact companies to make sure a questionable IP is real. It also holds a list of counterfeit coupons. Check it out! the linkto the website is on my rightside bar.

By: MJ

MJ — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:35:00 +0000

It is like Target. You can print as many as you want. I went today and bought 3 packages of frozen potatoes, which had a mealbox coupn for $1 off. I used 3 coupons, and none of them beeped, so I figure it must be ok, right? But I still feel like I shouldn’t use tons. For example, there was a coupon today making pasta free – I used 3 (which I feel is a reasonable amount), but I COULD have used 30. I’m just not sure that’s right, kwim?

By: megan k

megan k — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:34:00 +0000

I just started using coupons. I’m shocked that this is happening. I only shop at Wal-Mart due to the fact that’s all there really is where I live. If I print from coupon sites am I safe? How do I make sure one I printed isn’t fake?
Thanks for the helpful info!! Gosh, a simple thing turned ugly huh? Sad really.

By: Mercedes

Mercedes — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:52:00 +0000

No, I don’t have a meijer. how do their coupons work? Is it similar like the Target coupons, they are posted on their website and you can print as many as you want. or is the number of coupons available to customers limited?

By: MJ

MJ — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:38:00 +0000

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately too. Do you shop at Meijer? If so, what are your thoughts on using multiple Mealbox printed coupons?