I only hate coupon-users who are absurdly slow and clog up the whole line sorting out their coupons. If you're going to use coupons, don't wait till you're at the register to figure out which ones you're using!

Coupons themselves, I am too lazy to use, although if my BF loses his job that might change!

@nicemarmot617:

Those people behind me can kiss my ass. I'm finding that coupon!

I just hate it when the cashier forgets to run the coupons the customer put in a big stack right in front of him / her and processes the payment, and then the customer gets pissed and I have to move lines.

Other things hot people often get a reprieve for: rudeness, stupidity, bad driving, chronic lateness, speeding, child endangerment, high seas piracy, and arson.

@nicemarmot617:

I like to wait for the cashier to total the transaction before saying, "Oh, wait, I've got coupons!"

@nicemarmot617: And they will inevitably write a check.

i've always been a coupon clipper - and i'm only 25 - i try to be stealthy when i'm in an aisle and going through them (also, to avoid the aforementioned clog at the line, i hate those people too). i store them in a cute little purple accordion file that fits in my purse.

but yeah, my friends make fun of me for cutting them out until i hand them over in line and get like $10+ off my grocery bill. i'm the grandma... *sigh*

@ratnerstar: You forgot murder.

I generally like coupon users. Usually they remind me that I just picked up a coupon in aisle 5 for those Trix that I would have forgotten about.

When the people behind me in the Publix line last night were watching my total quickly drop by $55 their mouths *were* slightly agape - sadly, I don't think it was because I'm also hot. I know my coupons save my family from the soup kitchens and I think that matters more than a stranger's fleeting opinion.

*Note - soup kitchens are awesome but their resources are best used on people who truly need it. That's not us, yet.

@nicemarmot617: Yeah as I get each item in the cart, I put it's corresponding coupon in my pocket so when I'm at the checkout all I have to do is whip out the wad of coupons.

Did someone turn in their paper late? Methinks the results don't speak to current events.

@nataku83: How does that even happen? Why would the customer go through paying for it if the coupons are still right in front of them?

"Researchers proposed that the reason for the coupon-hating is "the modern consumer tends to prize status and luxury over thrift.""

No, I think most coupon hating comes from the delay. It's the same thing with those morons, er, kind hearted souls, who spend several minutes to pay with exact change.

Whoops, outdated research! I think this one is a little more on the money:
[www.cnn.com]

Here's another interesting quote from the uManitoba/uAlberta study:

"Recent work in marketing has focused on consumer stigmatization related to cultural backgrounds (e.g., Mexican immigrants), age, literacy levels, and certain subculture affiliations (e.g., Star Trek fans)."

That's a double-whammy for coupon users who also happen to be Trekkies.

The problem with coupons is that most of the time they are for products that are the most expensive anyway. Meaning that if you picked a less known brand you would get it for cheaper than something even with double the coupon.

Coupons aren't bad if they are the kind that come in the mail from manufacturers, those you just scan and they come off. What I can't stand are the people that bring Safeway coupons to Albertson's or something like that, and the cashier has to manually figure out the difference between Safeway's 3 for $5 price and Albertson's 4.89 price for every single item, or something to that effect. That is when it's good that I do not own guns.

I have more of a problem with people who write checks at the grocery store.

I don't pay attention to their coupon use, I'm too busy judging them on what's in their cart.

@surfsimply:

Or the odd triple threat: Coupon using, Mexican immigrant- Trekkies :)

@EBounding: Oh, by far...while asking 3 times if they got their senior discount. Note: it's never the hard-up people doing this - it's always the old guy driving off in the late model Lincoln Continental.

@surfsimply: And a triple whammy if you are a Mexican immigrant Star Trek fan using coupons.

@majortom1029: That's coupon myth #482.

An ex-girlfriend of mine was a coupon queen. When we lived together, she would spend about 30 minutes on Sunday going through the coupons in the paper. She'd cut out ones for items we buy all the time anyway.

Then, she'd check the weekly ad, pull out the coupons that matched, and buy those items with the coupon. It was a-freakin-mazing how much she would bring home for $50.

She too had the tiny accordion file to store them, and organized them by type (breakfast, desert, dinner, household).

I don't have the patience for such activity.

Coupon Cashers > Check Writers

Use a Debit Card!

I'd rather throw my money around on fun stuff than pay extra for groceries.

I am a staunch and avid coupon clipper/user. I too have a small accordion file that I use to organize them (it's also pink, at the missus' discretion) and there's an empty pocket in the front. Whenever I pick up an item I have a coupon for, it goes into the front pocket. At checkout, BAM! there they all are, like so many tiny frugal Emerils.

I do everything I can to avoid holding people up, because I'm considerate that way and I understand that the earth does not rotate on my axis. If, after all my preparedness, they still want to think I'm cheap, then fuck 'em, what do I care. My attitude is further supported and justified as I drive off in my 10-year-old Hyundai.

It's just as annoying as people complaining about prices that are 3 cents off for a can of soup or the coupon saving 5 cents not scanning property or something. I realize that stuff adds up, but wasting 5 minutes of my own time as well as everyone in line behind me is not worth 8 cents. I've paid people in front of me to forget the coupon before. "here's a dollar, let it go".

I, for one, find coupon users extremely hot--regardless of what they look like :)

I tend to have a problem with cashiers trying to find any reason to deny the coupon. This happens mostly at walmart. Walmart must HATE coupon users & teach their cashers to try & find any way to refuse a coupon.

I hate using coupons when I have people behind me because the cashier is usually the one that holds up the line scrutinizing my coupons like I am trying to pass off poorly counterfieted cash. I have my coupons out before my stuff is even scanned.

@youbastid: Typically because you've already swiped your CC while they were scanning everything. Most swipers let you swipe at any point, but you do have the danger the cashier will run the transaction then w/o your coupons. Which, at my grocery store, means I have to go to customer service and have them run them all. It's annoying.

I'm a pretty big couponer and there's one cashier I NEVER run my card in advance with because she NEVER remembers the coupons. Otherwise I rarely have a problem. I just let them know at the beginning of the transaction and give them the stack, and they usually remember.

@nicemarmot617:

I don't use coupons as much as I used to, and I try to have them sorted before I get there. But I sometimes have cashiers who have no idea how to ring up coupons (especially for free items) as well as cashiers who don't know their own stores policies (especially with internet coupons).

There are a ton of times I've had to tell cashiers how to use their own POS systems or the price of an item.

@tande04: You are correct, Claudette Longet

@Tambar: I also think it depends on where you live. Frugality's still a virtue where I am (smaller midwestern city), so while people might be a *leetle* embarrassed at their couponing ways, most folks approve. I'll even have people in line say, "Oh, man, I wish I'd remembered to cut out that Tide coupon!" when they see me pulling out mine.

Also depends on when you shop. I most often get groceries during the daytime on Tuesday when it's retired people, two stay-at-home-moms, and ME in the store. Going after work on Friday when the store is packed to the gills and lines are six people deep, getting a full cart, and using coupons is going to get you a lot more dirty looks than going when the store's 1/2 empty. 3 a.m. is also a great time for couponing if your store is 24-hours!

@majortom1029: Yeah, we talk about this one every time coupons come up!

It does demand smart shopping; there are plenty of coupons for nasty overprocessed expensive convenience food. But most of us don't clip coupons for crap we don't need!

First, if you have brand preferences in some product categories, brand coupons are great; you're not buying the generic anyway. (My husband is way particular about his syrup -- Hungry Jack microwaveable. I get coupons for that all the time, it's great.) Or if you buy organic, coupons on organic brands are very useful.

Second, there are plenty of coupons for staples. I bake and cook from scratch a lot; I get coupons for sugar, flour, baking soda, milk, etc. Coupons on spices are especially useful and tend to be generous.

Third, sometimes coupons do drop the price of the name brand below the price of the generic. (I don't buy a whole lot of name brands, but I'll often see this with chicken. Buying a name-brand raw whole chicken will be $1 cheaper with the coupon than buying the store-marked raw whole chicken.)

Fourth, even if coupons are on "luxury" products, maybe that's when you buy them as a treat. I like Pepperidge Farm cookies (mint milanos ... mmmm) but I only buy them when I have a coupon. I know they're more expensive than, oh, generic oreos, or than cookies I bake myself, but sometimes I want a mint milano!

Someone being frugal is fine by me. But don't you dare write a damn check when I know you have that little plastic card in there that says Debit.

Clearly they're forgetting about how annoying it is to be behind the person who has dozens of coupons, all of which must be scanned in one at a time.

Also, obsessive coupon collectors tend to be particularly rude about it, and demand that coupons be redeemed even if they are expired or pertain to other items. I know this is why my local grocery store has shifted away from coupons and now just pushes the loyalty card real hard and then mails you a flyer every few days detailing all the deals loyalty card users have access to.

@LoveNoelG: My girlfriend and I have cardinal rules of grocery store checkout line selection. Rule #1 is NO OLD PEOPLE. They pull out the coupons, shuffle through them, realize they don't have the correct product, ask the cashier to announce over PA to bring them the right kind of grapes so that they can save $.07/lb, then they pull out the checkbook... meanwhile, the lines on either side of you have cleared 5-6 customers in the same amount of time.

The main reason for these rules is so that whenever we stand there languishing behind some old crazy cat lady doing the coupon/wrong product shuffle, instead of saying "*GRUMBLE GRUMBLE* old people, coupons etc." we say "I broke THE RULE! And now I'm paying the price!"

@myabloodyvalentine: Working in retail (CVS) in my teenage years gave me awesome respect for the power of coupons. My 20% employee discount, combined with coupons, meant I routinely got $50 worth of stuff for my household (the bane of working at CVS: your family calls every shift with, "oh, on your way home, could you pick up...") for about $15.

The deals aren't that good anymore but I still get the Sunday paper mostly for the coupons. (Which are, mysteriously, delivered on Saturday.)

@ratnerstar: If cable television has taught me anything, its that being hot is a free ticket to get anything you want all the time, no questions asked.

@oldheathen: That's how he's able to afford the Lincoln, silly.

@youbastid: It can also happen fairly easily if you're not paying attention. Most of my local supermarkets have really bad cashiers who really need a lot of customer oversight to get things correct.

Coupon users aren't bad as long as they get the right item, don't try to pass an expired coupon and have everything ready to go. When I used to work as a cashier at a grocery store back in high school, this didn't happen quite a bit. Double/Triple coupon days were notorious for bringing out all the bad coupon clippers from the woodwork.

Another study demonstrating the obvious.

Here's the results of my own personal study:
- Coupon users are irrelevant if in any other line than mine or if located behind me in line as they have no effect on the speed of my exit from the store.
- All coupon users located far in front of me in the line are obnoxious as they are delaying my exit from the store.
- Coupon users directly in front of me in the line are obnoxious as they are delaying my exit from the store.
- Hot female coupon users directly front of me in the line are excluded from the previous statement as the opportunity to ogle eye candy is always welcome.

Now that I have published the preliminary results of my study I request a press release and $100,000 for a follow up study where I will conclusively demonstrate that as hot females waiting in line wear fewer and tighter clothes my overall mood improves.

so what? Who cares what the money wasters think!

@myabloodyvalentine: I use coupons too. If I have a lot of coupons, I usually go to the self-checkout line. That would normally mean I have more actual items to check out, and it aggravates me when people with a whole cart full of items go to self-checkout, but what's another pack of cheese going to do? By "a few more items" it's usually two bottles of juice instead of one, or two boxes of cereal instead of one.

@GMFish: Or the dinosaurs who still pay with a check.

I'd rather be judged a "cheapskate" by trying to live within one's means than one who just helped drive the world into financial turmoil by participating in the ponzi scheme of easy credit.

As little as I want to, I'll probably be judging a few people living in their SUVs (the ones that weren't repossessed) soon.

Bushtown, USA