We’ve all the seen the devastation an extreme couponer can wreak on a display of deodeoants, if not firsthand, then on the TLC show aptly named Extreme Couponing. Sure, it’s awesome for the couponer, but what about the average customer who just wants to buy one shampoo, not 23, and there are none to be found? Stores have been adjusting their policies in certain regions as a result.
The Detroit News (via Time.com) profiles one such extreme couponer, who, in the course of getting 11 cents back for each of 34 cartons of milk after combining coupons, had her goods rung up one at a time as separate transactions, resulting in 34 receipts. For her, that’s a moneymaker. For the sales associate, it’s just plain annoying.
Stores are taking note: at places like Kroger and Wal-Mart, the number of coupons that can be used in one transaction is being limited, and other policies shorten expiration dates. Meijer agrees that empty shelves make shoppers angry, but a spokesman says they’re waiting to see what rules national grocers successfully implement before they do the same.
Kroger went the extra mile to kill double and triple coupons in North Texas stores, and in one case, refused to accept a pile of coupons at a store in Atlanta.
The stores say the point isn’t to do away with coupons altogether so that retailers make the most profit, just to allow customers to enjoy savings without going overboard and ensuring everyone else can have a good shopping experience.
Walmart didn’t comment on the specific changes they’ll be making, but Kroger says they want to enforce the rules to keep shelves from going bare.
“We encourage couponing as a way for our customers to stretch their food dollars,” said Kroger spokesman Dale Hollandsworth. “We want all customers to be able to get the products they want when they are shopping in our stores.”
For anyone grumbling over new policies, take note — only three-tenths of one percent of the 80 percent of consumers who use coupons regularly are considered “extreme.”
Extreme couponers push some retailers to tweak the rules [Detroit News]
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Walmart is not limiting the amount of coupons you are using. That one woman assumed because one manager made her split up the transactions. I had a manager do that to me one time, and then I called corp on her..and ya..got an apology 2 days later. Even though I think she is stupid for buying all that milk…she’s an idiot if she actually thinks that walmart has changed their coupon policy.
Here is their policy..does it look like they are limiting coupons to you???
*The following are guidelines and limitations:
We only accepts coupons for merchandise that we sell.
Coupons must be presented at the time of purchase.
Only one coupon per item.
Item purchased must be identical to the coupon (size, quantity, brand, flavor, color, etc).
There is no limit on the number of coupons per transaction.
Coupons must have an expiration date and be redeemed prior to expiration.
If coupon value exceeds the price of the item, the excess may be given to the customer as cash or applied toward the basket purchase.
SNAP items purchased in a SNAP transaction are ineligible for cash back.
WIC items purchased in a WIC transaction are applied to the basket purchase and may not be eligible for cash back. Refer to state-specific WIC guidelines.
Great Value, Marketside, Equate, Parents Choice, and World Table coupons have no cash value and are ineligible for cash back or application to the basket purchase.
The system will prompt for supervisor verification for:
40 coupons per transaction.
A coupon of $20 or greater on one item.
$50 or more in coupons in one transaction.
I’ve never really understood the point of the extreme coupon crazies. Why do you want a whole shelf of mouthwash or a garage filled with toothpaste which will take 40 years to go through? Won’t the product be past its expiration date by the time you get to the point of using that toothpaste that you got for free 30 years ago.
If you have a ginormous family and you will use all the stuff you are getting, I don’t really have a problem with that. But much of it just seems like hoarding.
In Massachusetts stores do not offer to double or triple coupons. I don’t use a lot of coupons myself because I am not in the habit of eating the over processed food most coupons are for. I don’t see the value in having multiple tubes of toothpaste or a years worth of soap.
Easy to solve, coat coupons in some sort of radioactive material, if you have too many of them they hit critical mass and Voila, no more coupons or couponer
Fair. The companies issuing the coupons need to set limits if it’s a problem. It’s not any consumers’ fault if they’ve found a way to use the system to their advantage.