Community Crazy Couponers -

[melty]

Couponing is a hobby popular mostly with SAHMs who are either too busy to, or don't want to, get a job, but still want to contribute to household finances.
Some people become obsessed with it, treating it largely as a challenege/game and stocking up on enough to last several lifetimes worth of nuclear winters.

Mama June is an avid couponer.

It has (had?) a show on TLC

Discuss couponing/crazy couponers/annoying ppl who coupon, or alternatively if you do it yourself

 

[GentlemanFaggot]

It has (had?) a show on TLC

Holy fuck, I think this is giving me Tumblr PTSD. Having flashbacks to when I was a cashier and not good ones at all.

 

[Loxiozzz]

That show was great. I love how everyone just stares in shock when the bill comes to like five bucks when they buy a hundreds of dollars worth of junk. Those poor cashiers

 

[dunbrine47]

I like how the coupons are being stored like pokemon cards.

 

[hotcheetospuffs]

nothing is worse than being in line behind someone with a binder full of coupons and ads with items circled.

I don't know how people manage to get all this stuff. Birthday freebees tho!!! Other than that, I tried to coupon a few years back when I was between jobs and most places won't let you "stack" coupons and they don't take coupons you print yourself. They also make you feel like a douchy cheepskate for trying to use coupons.

I've read about people going to jail for making fake coupons so I guess that's why the stores are paranoid.

 

[Cheesegirl78]

nothing is worse than being in line behind someone with a binder full of coupons and ads with items circled.

I don't know how people manage to get all this stuff. Birthday freebees tho!!! Other than that, I tried to coupon a few years back when I was between jobs and most places won't let you "stack" coupons and they don't take coupons you print yourself. They also make you feel like a douchy cheepskate for trying to use coupons.

I've read about people going to jail for making fake coupons so I guess that's why the stores are paranoid.

I was never made to feel bad by the cashiers, but I had my coupons in order and made sure they were for the proper item and weren't expired.
Never got into it like these people did. It's a full-time job keeping track of sales and driving to different stores. Fuuuck that.

 

[Zvantastika]

I use a coupon every now and then but this is just nuts.
Although I would love to hire one of these people to do my grocery shopping. I mean, think about it, these people will do what they love most, also they would be getting paid for it, and I would get all my stuff really cheap and I wouldn't had to worry about it for months, win - win.

 

[Cheesegirl78]

I use a coupon every now and then but this is just nuts.
Although I would love to hire one of these people to do my grocery shopping. I mean, think about it, these people will do what they love most, also they would be getting paid for it, and I would get all my stuff really cheap and I wouldn't had to worry about it for months, win - win.

But do you really NEED 97 bottles of mustard?

 

[Hen in a tie]

The problem with the Extreme couponers show is that it over exaggerated deals that didn't exist. The producers of the show would talk to a super market to make up coupons to that the sales could seem more "Extreme".
What's worse the Extreme couponer had to go back and pay for the goods that didn't have the real coupon.

 

[Barbarella]

Oh god, I did it. I was good at it too, I could get $200.00 worth of groceries for $14.00 regularly-my best was $400 for 17.00. (I got applause). I could read the coupon bar labels so I know what the coupon was really good for (not always what it says in writing). Some coupons are good for anything in the store, even though it says Monostat 7 on itor something. I went way,way overboard. I'd have 50 coupons a trip, knew which stacked, doubled, etc.

To my (hopefully) credit, I always shopped at 7:30 am when the store was empty and I always warned anybody not to get behind me as it would be slow. If they had one clerk (rare) I'd ask for a manager.

A shopping trip could take two hours. You have to read everything-you aren't buying for what you need, but for what you can get for pennies. You store it and eventually you don't need to go to the store, you have everything.

I finally realized it was a stupid hobby when I had more barbecue sauce, pasta, salad dressing,TP and tooth paste than I could use in years, and I was running out of places to store it. Unlike Mama June, I didn't want shelves of product everywhere. Plus, I wasn't poor, I was a hobby. I did donate to shelters but they were not so interested in sauces as they were toothpaste. It was a full time job to sort coupons, plan your trip, know the stores revolving sales, when certain items would go on sale, etc. for a while, I wasn't working so it was ok but when I started working it was too much.

It took a full year after I gave it up to stop feeling guilty for spending money at the grocery store though.

This feels like powerleveling but you asked..I considered it a busy time in my life. It was a hobby, I got good at it but it wasn't fun after a while, it became work and I'm not fond of work as a hobby! Now I just spend my money like a normal person. The guilt is gone and I have no desire to do it again.

But I know how it works, so that's a plus....?

 

[Quijibo69]

I hate people that do the online grocery shopping then bring a shitload of coupons when they come to pick them up. It kinda defeat the purpose of ordering them online in the first place. Same thing with fast food when they go though drive thru with coupons.

 

[ES 148]

I hate people that do the online grocery shopping then bring a shitload of coupons when they come to pick them up. It kinda defeat the purpose of ordering them online in the first place. Same thing with fast food when they go though drive thru with coupons.

Can't you enter serial numbers and stuff online to apply discounts?

 

[Zvantastika]

But do you really NEED 97 bottles of mustard?

Don't you?.
Nah, being serious, maybe not going to that extreme but if I can get lots of the thing I actually use, it's the particular brand I like and it doesn't expire, why not?. Of course, the whole point is to do this just once so get a lot of it and forget about shopping on the next few months.

But I know how it works, so that's a plus....?

I can understand the passion behind the idea of getting things for cheap and the advantages of doing it, but where would you draw the line between actual hobby and mental illness?, because this kind of almost sound like a hoarder syndrome, kind of.
I'm no psychologists or anything but buying stuff you won't ever need is kind of the proof that this might be a problem, in your case it's obvious it was a hobby thing but I'm guessing you knew of people that took this too seriously or stuff?.

 

[Barbarella]

I can understand the passion behind the idea of getting things for cheap and the advantages of doing it, but where would you draw the line between actual hobby and mental illness?, because this kind of almost sound like a hoarder syndrome, kind of.
I'm no psychologists or anything but buying stuff you won't ever need is kind of the proof that this might be a problem, in your case it's obvious it was a hobby thing but I'm guessing you knew of people that took this too seriously or stuff?.

I didn't really know others who did it, except in online forums and stuff. None of my friends did it.
But I could totally see how it could go from hobby to obsession to hoarder.

It's hard for people to turn down free stuff. So even normal people go overboard at first. I don't like ketchup but it was free so I had 20 bottles. I think a lot end up like me though-it's just too time consuming and you don't want to live in grocery stores, and yeah, you realize you don't need 84 jars of mustard and the homeless don't either. So why keep on doing it? I broke the code, for me that's all it was.

But for some, I guess it never stops. I've seen Mama June's house-she's wealthy now, why is she still stocking up on TP? Because she can.

Stores have caught on too. The store I shopped at doesn't allow double coupons anymore and limits how many items can be purchased. I haven't read a bar code in years but I'm guessing that they don't have 5.00 coupons that will ring up on anything in the store any more. I think those TV shows have exposed it too much. Stores and companies knew what we were doing but we were a small part of the population. Once it's on TV, that changes. I've never seen Extreme Couponers, but if they are showing people how to read bar codes and stuff, I imagine companies have changed them

 

[Cheesegirl78]

I didn't really know others who did it, except in online forums and stuff. None of my friends did it.
But I could totally see how it could go from hobby to obsession to hoarder.

It's hard for people to turn down free stuff. So even normal people go overboard at first. I don't like ketchup but it was free so I had 20 bottles. I think a lot end up like me though-it's just too time consuming and you don't want to live in grocery stores, and yeah, you realize you don't need 84 jars of mustard and the homeless don't either. So why keep on doing it? I broke the code, for me that's all it was.

But for some, I guess it never stops. I've seen Mama June's house-she's wealthy now, why is she still stocking up on TP? Because she can.

Stores have caught on too. The store I shopped at doesn't allow double coupons anymore and limits how many items can be purchased. I haven't read a bar code in years but I'm guessing that they don't have 5.00 coupons that will ring up on anything in the store any more. I think those TV shows have exposed it too much. Stores and companies knew what we were doing but we were a small part of the population. Once it's on TV, that changes. I've never seen Extreme Couponers, but if they are showing people how to read bar codes and stuff, I imagine companies have changed them

There were some people on the couponing show committing fraud, too.
One woman figured out the bar code for a full size $3.00 off coupon could be used on sample sizes, so the stores ended up owing her money. She eventually got caught, but threw a fit when her scam was stopped.

 

[HickoryDickory]

They are the bane of almost every cashiers existence. I've had to deal with a handful when I was one, and not one of them was a pleasant experience.

The ones I dealt with were rude and tried to talk at me when I was reading the dates and other info, making it stressful. Some would mix fake coupons in the bunch, some would try to convince me that words on the coupon would mean something else, some would ask me to exclude the taxes (!!!), some would get snarky when I called a manager, etc.

REEEEE.

 

[Dr.Research]

I asked my boyfriend if he ever dealt with these people when he was a grocery cashier and he told me about this Indian guy. He would try and use expired coupons or redeem the for unrelated things or try and argue with the cashiers.

He also said that most of the people who would be couponing were Indians.

 

[Cheesegirl78]

Don't you?.
Nah, being serious, maybe not going to that extreme but if I can get lots of the thing I actually use, it's the particular brand I like and it doesn't expire, why not?. Of course, the whole point is to do this just once so get a lot of it and forget about shopping on the next few months.


I can understand the passion behind the idea of getting things for cheap and the advantages of doing it, but where would you draw the line between actual hobby and mental illness?, because this kind of almost sound like a hoarder syndrome, kind of.
I'm no psychologists or anything but buying stuff you won't ever need is kind of the proof that this might be a problem, in your case it's obvious it was a hobby thing but I'm guessing you knew of people that took this too seriously or stuff?.

They are the bane of almost every cashiers existence. I've had to deal with a handful when I was one, and not one of them was a pleasant experience.

The ones I dealt with were rude and tried to talk at me when I was reading the dates and other info, making it stressful. Some would mix fake coupons in the bunch, some would try to convince me that words on the coupon would mean something else, some would ask me to exclude the taxes (!!!), some would get snarky when I called a manager, etc.

REEEEE.

This.
You tell them their coupon's expired, and they shit kittens.
One woman was telling me to enter it manually so the register could read it.
No lady, that's not how this works.

 

[NG 070]

But do you really NEED 97 bottles of mustard?

Hey, I'm sure there's food pantries out there that could use 97 bottles of mustard. Hell, if these people bought all this stuff and donated a large majority of their loot to food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters for homeless people or DV victims, I wouldn't judge them too hard.

But 99% of the time, the couponers are greedy assbags who'll end up letting everything go to waste and expire before they can use them all up.

Disgusting.

 

[Cheesegirl78]

Hey, I'm sure there's food pantries out there that could use 97 bottles of mustard. Hell, if these people bought all this stuff and donated a large majority of their loot to food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters for homeless people or DV victims, I wouldn't judge them too hard.

But 99% of the time, the couponers are greedy assbags who'll end up letting everything go to waste and expire before they can use them all up.

Disgusting.

Some of the people on the Extreme Couponing show did just that.
One guy was able to donate around three pallets of food to his local shelters and food banks.