Coupon Etiquette

Like many of you know, I am a couponer.  Before my husband lost his job, I was a stay at home mom and I felt it was my job to not only take care of the house, meals, and the children, but to also save us as much money as possible.  One way I went about saving money was by couponing.  I am in no way an extreme couponer, well unless you consider me totally throwing a fit today when the first two stores I went to were out of my papers, but I do stockpile certain items.  Items I know we are going to use a lot of…things like peanut butter, cereal, pasta, etc.  But when I say stockpile, I’m talking about maybe 6 boxes of cereal at a time…not 106. This brings me to my coupon etiquette tips.

Last night, after catching up on a couple episodes of TLC’s hit Extreme Couponing, I couldn’t help think about how weird these people are.  And I’m sorry if this offends anyone, but some of these people have more food than they know what to do with…more toilet paper than they could ever use in a lifetime…and my personal favorite…enough diapers to last through several babies when they don’t even have ONE baby.  So I decided to poll my friends on Facebook and my favorite online forum about their coupon etiquette tips and pet peeves.  Here’s what they came up with:

1. There is no need to clear the shelves at the store.  Items go on sale in 6 week cycles.  Buy what you need for that 6 week cycle.  No need to keep things for the next 4 years. ~Brandi from Flip Flop Mama
2. If you absolutely MUST buy an obscene amount of of product, call the store ahead of time to see if they can order the amount you need and hold it for you so other people are able to take advantage of a good deal, as well. ~Arianne
3. When people try to use two different coupons for the same deal.  For example, buy 2 yyy and get xxx FREE.  You cannot use a coupon on the FREE item. ~Monique from Arms of a Sister
4. I hate the inconsistency from one cashier to the next.  To avoid this, I go to the same store at the same time/day each week so I can get the same cashier.  ~Jessica from Mommies 2 Cents
5. If you have coupons that are about to expire that you aren’t going to use, leave them on the store shelves for other customers to use.  ~Jen from Jen Spends
6. If you absolutely MUST buy a ton of pretty much every item in the store, donate to your local women’s shelter or food pantry.  ~Arianne
7. Using coupons is great, but PLEASE be prepared before you get to the store.  Searching your purse for coupons is not fair to all the customers waiting behind you in line.  ~Nolie from Nolies Place
8. If you see a pad of coupons or a blinkie machine, don’t take all of them…2 or 4 are good enough!  ~Jen from Jen Spends
9. You cannot photo copy computer generated coupons.  It’s fraud.  When you do this, you make it difficult for other people to use coupons printed from the computer because stores are leery of accepting them.  Print the amount allowed and be done with it.  ~Monique from Arms of a Sister
10. Keep a copy of a the stores coupon policy with you.  Most of the time, if there is an issue, it can be taken care of quickly by showing the cashier or manager a copy of the store coupon policy. ~Arianne