Comments on: Using E coupons & Paper coupons

By: Amber

Amber — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:55:48 +0000

I say use em all! I figure its like this. For every ONE of us who walks in there with a stack of coupons there are 1000 others who do not, who do not even look for SALES and who just buy away. My couponing is not hurting any of these guys. Especially considering I can rarely get out of one of these places without purchasing additional “good deals”. Which is exactly what they want so … I get what I want… they get what they want…. we all go home happy!

Kudos for this post! It was very informative!

By: Kristine

Kristine — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:09:13 +0000

I have just come across this site. I love it! We recently moved here to Georgia from Northern Maryland and this site has been soo useful for me! I haven’t shopped at Krogers yet because I have yet to find a Sunday paper in my town that has coupons! I knew Piggly Wiggly accepted IP coupons so that has been my primary shopping place…well until last week when I finally ‘convinced’ the manager of our local Wal Mart SuperCenter that yes indeed it was corporate policy to accept IP coupons ;)
Thanks for all the useful tips and info and I can’t wait to hit Krogers now that I know they accept IP coupons, do they double them?

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:05:21 +0000

2 additional thoughts:
P&G esavers website even tells you that both the ecoupon and paper are allowed. If P&G is okay with this practice, then so am I.

All of these companies still make money. If they didn’t make money they wouldn’t allow it to happen and they wouldn’t be in business.
Therefore, enjoy it while it lasts.

Thanks for posting your thoughts Jenny. It does help me feel better about using all of these coupons. Great site.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 03:39:22 +0000

Last weekend I tried Cellfire for the first time and it didn’t work. As far as I know, I haven’t had problems with eSaver or Shortcuts not working.

With Shortcuts, though, I have had the following problem. I had the coupon loaded twice (different exp. dates) for Yoplait Whips. I only bought one set, yet it came off twice.

Honestly, folks, that shouldn’t be the consumer’s problem. I didn’t intentionally do that to rip off Kroger or Yoplait. But I have started to load up all the coupons just in case I find a deal in the store and I don’t miss out on an ecoupon. I’ve done it for the convenience … which is the whole point of having ecoupons.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:04:34 +0000

I just used e coupons and paper coupons this weekend without any problems so I don’t think your issues were related to that. My guess it there systems are very particular about products and they are not entering all of the UPC codes that are available for the products. Since each flavor of items will have a different code, I think they are entering the main code but any other codes for the same product.

By: Kristie

Kristie — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:45:51 +0000

This past weekend none of my P&G, shortcuts or cellfire coupons worked. This was on 2 seperate occassions at 2 different Krogers. I had a printed list of what was on my card and i took it to customer service where they had me mark what I bought and then they gave me a refund. The manager at one store said he didn’t understand why it wasn’t working since Kroger is the endorser of the e coupons. So I wondered if something was going on. I did have paper coupons for all the items that did not come off my list. Do you think it didnt work because I had paper coupons?

By: jenny

jenny — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:39:54 +0000

I am totally with you on that boat girl! The manager at my Kroger told me that “I SHOULD use the both of them together, as he does, who wouldn’t?” I can not count the many times the loadable coupons did not go thru and I’ve had a “credit” in my account for so long now, it’s not even funny. They don’t work too well, so they are my “just in case” coupons. If this “use only one coupon” policy is gonna really happen, then so be it! For now, I’ll use both!

By: Tosha @ savingsmakescents.com

Tosha @ savingsmakescents.com — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:23:23 +0000

Thank you for this post! I was about to write a similar one myself. If I end up writing it still, I will be linking back to you as back up:)

By: Abbie

Abbie — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:07:47 +0000

I too agree completely. My P&G and Shortcuts coupons were not all working during my last visit to Kroger anyway, I’m so frustrated with e-coupons at this point, I can’t even get them to print correctly. As you said, these companies are out to make a buck, but so am I! I will stick to paper, but if and when I feel that e-coupons are back up and running correctly, I will combine them.

By: melissa O.

melissa O. — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:13:29 +0000

Boy they are trying to stick us every chance they get, huh? I can’t stand it…..most of us need to save all the money we can!

By: Kisha

Kisha — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:46:49 +0000

Thank you for posting this. I totally agree with everything you said. I am all for responsible coupon usage but there are also practical considerations with this one. Until they allow you to choose, or at the very least remove an ecoupon, then I don’t see how they can enforce this without losing lots of business to the ecoupons. I know that I will stop using them if it comes to that.

By: John

John — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 02:44:22 +0000

As another member posted previously, I just had a terrible experience with a Kroger manager in Atlanta, GA trying to convince me that I could no longer combine a paper coupon with an ecoupon. My Mega Deals plan is no longer so “mega”! Not only did he refuse to accept the paper coupons (since I had ecoupons loaded on my Kroger card), but also questioned the legitimacy of printed Coupons.com coupons. I won’t be shopping at this Kroger again. Seems like Kroger is really tightening up as far as coupons in general go. :-(

By: Rita

Rita — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:11:34 +0000

I totally agree! I have had a horrible time with shortcuts and eSaver coupons, so there is no way I would solely rely on those to work. I have them on my card, but I don’t keep up with what’s on there because most of them, they don’t come off anyway. I like paper coupons because I can see that they work and argue if they don’t!

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:17:48 +0000

I agree with you.
I think when they put these things out there, they do it full well knowing they are ALL out there.
And, really, I’d say most people don’t take advantage of the deals anyway, so that’s probably why they don’t do much about it. Because they are making more money off of us then anything.
And, at this day in age, there probably is some sort of technology that could be implemented if they really wanted to do that.
Most of the time I can’t keep track of all the ecoupons (even when I print a list, they change so much, I forget) and it’s more of a surprise when they come off.
A surprise and a guessing game as to whether they will actually work or not!
Drives me crazy! Like you said, part of the time they don’t even work.
I did get a credit from P&G for $4 for one that didn’t work. It took nearly a month and a half after it was loaded to actually even come off the card. I was shocked when it did! I was fixing to call them again and complain about it!

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:40:51 +0000

Word! Nice post and explanation. You’re right on about how we all use CVS. Therefore, none of us should throw stones.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:26:57 +0000

While, we don’t have e-coupons in our area either, I truly appreciate the time you have taken to explain it.
I figure we are in this big game with couponing – paper or electronic. The manufacturer and the retailers want our $$. It’s up to us how much they get! hahaha! That’s more than I can say for our taxes!! haha!

It’s all about abiding by the rules and making it work. There are so many confused people out there. I went to Publix the other day and tried to use a TARGET Q. They told me that Target was not a competitor! HUH? It’s relatively down the road, BUT if I wanted to use an Albertson’s Q I could!! (Albertson’s is approx. 200 miles away!!) Ok where is the logic in this!!

AS far as I see it, since the rules are made up as they go, and change from week to week, I just keep coming here and checking things out to get the best deals. Thanks Jenny for all your hard work!!

GAME ON!!!

By: Julieann

Julieann — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:58:34 +0000

I agree and think that the people who say we are all but criminals are reading WAY too much into things and need to get a better perspective.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:51:51 +0000

I agree with everything you said including not trusting P&G and Shortcuts. There are times they just don’t work so I never depend on them.

By: Merrilee

Merrilee — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:33:39 +0000

I’m with you! They want us to save, I’ll take it! Thanks for all your posts. . .

By: Cathy

Cathy — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:17:53 +0000

Great post-it makes perfect sense:)

By: Sariah

Sariah — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:45:31 +0000

No stones from me either. I completely agree with everything you’ve said – and while in the past I’ve had no issues with using my coupons, recently I’ve started having problems with Shortcuts (none with Cellfire).

I highly doubt that e coupons will ever be my primary savings source, and as such if they go, I won’t miss them and will quickly adjust. They’d be stupid not to try to get me as a user any way that they can.

And if they try to stop me from using both – I’ll just stop using the e coupons. They’re not nearly as valuable to me as the paper ones.

By: jessica

jessica — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:12:16 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for posting.

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:31:56 +0000

Thank you for the clear explanation. I think it builds the case that it is ridiculous to expect consumers to be able to keep up with the e-coupons and not to use a paper one. I appreciate all you do to make our lives easier.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:28:20 +0000

Thank you so much for all this info! I started visiting your blog about 3-4 weeks ago, and I LOVE all the detail you’ve got for the stores. It’s helping me cut down my groceries tab and use coupons better. I’ll post another comment to let you know how well I did after I go to Kroger this afternoon.

By: Delores

Delores — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:22:35 +0000

At this point, it does not really affect me: none of my local stores have the e coupons option. Due to our budget, I am sure I would use both if I could. I tend to agree that if they really are upset about it and losing lots of money then they will figure out a way to take care of it (how hard could it be to make sure the e coupons are used last, then only “use” the ecoupons for which there were not paper coupons?). But, I greatly appreciate all you wrote.